Recall of traumatic life events at the time of national socialism in (former) Jewish emigrants and concentration camp prisoners

Abstract

Semi-structured interviews with 248 (former) Jewish emigrants and extermination camp survivors in Germany and three destination countries of Jewish emigration (Argentina, Israel, United States) indicate that reminiscence of traumatic experiences suffered from National Socialist Germany occurs in numerous daily contexts. In later life, traumatic memories do not only occur spontaneously and unexpectedly; moreover, they are an essential part of the people's frame of reference for questions about personal identity, perceptions of social relationships, society and societal development, and coping with specific themes. Following a pilot study on subjective reconstruction of the life course in (former) Jewish emigrants and extermination camp survivors, different phases of post-holocaust development are distinguished. Self-ratings for intensity of traumatic reminiscence for these phases of personal development support the hypothesis that traumatic reminiscence increased in old age. People highly differ in coping with stressful reminiscence. Some study participants react with depression, anxiety, feelings of survivor guilt, and withdrawal from social relationships. Others, however, are highly engaged in social relationships, especially with the following generations. They want to give a contribution to the educational work of their society and to prevent discrimination, racism, and xenophobia.