A Final Solution with No End?

The Transgenerational Effect of the Holocaust

The normal outlets for complaint and rebellion were not available to children of Holocaust survivors, as they may have been for other children. Parents often avoided arguments or signs of disagreement, perhaps because the emotional tools for such arguments were not available, or because they viewed a child’s argument as rejection or ingratitude (Krell, et al., 2004).

Children of Holocaust survivors may not have had alternate sources of care and comfort available to them as means of guidance during emotionally unstable times. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and other family members may not have been accessible for comfort and advise either due to loss during the Holocaust, or differing migration patterns. Photos, documents, and other objects of the family’s past may have been destroyed during the Nazi occupation, resulting in a discontinuity of the historical legacy of the family, and therefore the ability to learn from past examples (Fossion, et al., 2003).

The emotional expression not present in many families of Holocaust survivors may also be tied to the organization and understanding of attachments and relationships. Most Holocaust survivors experienced some form of loss during their struggle; for many that loss came in the form of separation or death of a parent or loved one. Numerous studies have demonstrated a link between the experience of loss by a parent and their attachment relationships with their children. The comprehension of attachment relationships, like those between parent and child, becomes disorganized (Sagi, van IJendoorn, Joels, & Scharf, 2002). The lack of resolution of trauma and loss leads to unresolved mourning by the parent, affecting the bond between parent and child (van IJzendoorn, 1995).

Survivors who were infants and toddlers during the time of the Holocaust have indicated tremendous difficulty initiating and responding to their intimate relationships. The traumatic loss of a parent, or other significant figures, during childhood is coupled with the inability to express emotions of attachment, such as love, sexuality, friendship, and caring. During the Holocaust, many children lost their parental figures, and thereby lost their image for developing a cohesive identity that had the ability and comprehension to bond with others (Mazor, 2004).

It is important to note that infants, young children, and adults were all subject to the effects of the Holocaust. For those survivors who were older at the start of the Holocaust, and had several years of relatively normal family life prior to the terror and stress that followed, a secure and healthy attachment style may have already been created. Therefore, the loss of parental figures to model proper attachment may have had less of an effect on the future attachment style and ability to bond with family members, particularly their own children and spouses (van IJzendoorn, et al., 2003).

Yet, the answer still remains unclear as to why it is that while some children of Holocaust survivors experience anxiety and pain within their family life, others are able to transform the horrifying experience of the Holocaust and perhaps the emotional difficulties of their parents into inspiration and determination. Only speculation can begin to presume why some Holocaust survivors and their children are found to have severe emotional difficulties, while others only experience mild distress, and still others are able to function within a normal range (Krell, 1983).

One such presumption however, is that some Holocaust survivors did not possess constitutional predispositions toward the development of traumatic stress reactions, helping them to survive the atrocities and difficulties of Nazi occupation. Therefore, the lack of genetic vulnerability toward anxious response exhibited by Holocaust survivors may have been passed down to children of Holocaust survivors allowing them to not have been as sensitive to traumatic events in their own lives, or the reporting of the trauma experienced by their parents (van IJzendoorn, et al., 2003).