The Post-Holocaust Generations

Abstract

Survivors of the Holocaust of World War II have been described in the psychiatric literature as suffering from a “survivor syndrome.”1 In this paper I would like to discuss the implications of the survivor syndrome on the postgenerations of Holocaust survivors. While the survivor syndrome appears to exist to some degree in all survivors of the Holocaust, the degree to which it has influenced the relationship between the survivors and their offspring varies greatly. The survivors’ post-World War II adjustment may be envisioned as being on a continuum from the least psychopathological reactions to very intense psychopathological reactions. In this paper I will therefore first define the survivor syndrome, discuss the variables affecting survivors’ coping mechanisms, then deal with the second generation’s experience with parents, and conclude with some thoughts on the early findings and implications for the third generation of the survivors.