Tyler Harris Wertz-O English 1102 4/2/2014

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Psychological Pain in the Holocaust My research inquiry began with researching the long-term psychological effects of the conditions of the Holocaust in victims and the generations following. Although there is much research out on the psychology and sociology of Jews during the Holocaust, finding research on the aftermath required a bit more work. There were a long range of psychological effects of the Holocaust on survivors, usually reaching climax at the arrival at the death camps. It was then that Jews realized that the rumors had been true, resulting in shock and then apathy, a lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern. In order to deal, victims used a form of denial along the lines of derealization and depersonalization in order to cope. Heightened senses and paranoia then became deeply rooted in the lives of victims as a result (Williams). This interested me greatly, as I never conceived of how going through such trauma could emotionally and psychologically change who someone is. This answered many questions I had on how Vladek from Maus I and II reacted to situations even after the Holocaust had ended. For example, when Vladek is unhappy with the fact that Francoise is picking up a black hitchhiker, it doesnt mean that Vladek is inherently racist. The paranoia that Vladek had during the Holocaust may have followed him the rest of his life, coming out in situations such as this one and making him appear racist. Upon discovering this, it occurred to me that perhaps Vladeks case was different than the norm; perhaps he only developed these traits as a result of extra traumatic events that may

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have not happened to someone normally, including the death of his first son and the suicide of his first wife on top of the Holocaust. Vladek had almost nothing to return to afterwards. Therefore, I began researching more about how the average Jew rebuilt their life after the Holocaust, and whether or not full recovery was possible. Upon liberation, Jews in the Holocaust discovered that most of their friends and family had perished, and that their pre-war home towns were destroyed or taken over. It was the survivors of the Holocaust to cause William G. Nielderland, a psychoanalyst, to coin the term Survivor Syndrome in 1961. In his research working with survivors, he found that symptoms affected both survivors as well as their families. Pervasive and depressive moods, severe guilt over having survive, medical conditions without cause, anxiety, and extreme personality changes manifesting themselves in Holocaust survivors (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). It made sense to me that victims had many adverse psychological and physical effects after the Holocaust, they went through a traumatic life experience that no one today would ever understand unless they lived through it themselves. Although this answered many of my questions, what I was really interested in knowing at this point is whether or not there were permanent changes that affected the newer generation of survivors. I did not think that there were physical differences in Jewish children compared to normal children, but I considered the fact that perhaps the psychological responses of parents affected how Jewish children are raised. Being friends with quite a few Jewish friends, I was wondering if they were experiencing any type of trauma from an event that they werent even part of. My third source looked into the psychopathology in children of Holocaust survivors. The source talks about how initial clinical studies of the offspring of Holocaust survivors show that there may have been a direct transposition of trauma absorbed by the child. There is actually

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evidence that over half of thirty hospitalized children of survivors relived their parents Holocaust experiences at the same age as their parents were (Kellermann). This concept did not make sense to me, as I did not understand how someone could inherit trauma second-hand, even if it was from hearing it first-hand. Reading further confirmed my suspicion that although clinicians have been claiming this for years, there have been great disagreement with researchers over the topic. In fact, the clinical side was lacking great evidence. Although psychotherapists have made many assumptions, they have been controversial and are lacking evidence. However, on the research side, thirty-five extensive studies covering almost 3,300 offspring were conducted to determine the psychopathology in children of survivors (Kellermann).

The research on the mental state of offspring of Holocaust survivors had much more credibility than any of the other claims I have read about so far. The research was controlled and

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included instruments measuring various factors. Though the studies are much more complex, it provided evidence that was much more objective than the subjective interpretations that clinicians were reporting. Most failed confirm an increase rate of psychopathology in the offspring of Holocaust survivors. In other words, most of the studies found little to no difference in the mental health of Jewish offspring compared to the control group. Although there are different variables that understandably affect the data, such as whether both Holocaust parents survived and whether the trauma was ever talked about, it is enough evidence to say that a majority of all Jewish children have no mental health issues. This had answered most of my research questions, though one last question hit me regarding modern times. How has the Holocaust affected my life? Surely my own life living in modern day America would be different if the Holocaust had never happened. From here, I began to research how the Holocaust has affected todays world and culture. Since the Holocaust, the movement towards a Jewish homeland has increased, and protecting and assisting refugees has become a worldwide challenge. It makes sense to me that after Nazi persecution, Jews would try to go somewhere to live where they feel safe and that they belong. After World War II, the UN divided Palestine with one side being called Israel and allowing any Jew to become a citizen under any circumstances (Aronson). The increased effort to help refugees worldwide is great as it increases awareness, and will hopefully keep such a thing from happening again. Although I have covered beyond my original topic of long-term psychological effects form the Holocaust, all of the additional research has done nothing but increase my understanding of what Holocaust survivors and their families had to live through. There is much more research that I will have to do before I actually get to the root of the Holocaust, my

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research allows me to conclude that the Holocaust was a very tragic event that almost 350,000 survivors relive every day, but their children are rest assured protected from the horrifying mental consequences.

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Works Cited Aronson, Shlomo. "Israel Studies An Anthology: The Holocaust & Israel." Jewish Virtual Library. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, Dec. 2009. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. Kellermann, Natan P F. "Psychopathology in Children of Holocaust Survivors." Israel Journal of Psychiatry & Related Sciences 38.1 (2001): 36-46. Print. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "The Aftermath of the Holocaust." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. N.p., 10 June 2013. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. Williams, Sandra S. "Impact of the Holocaust." Papers of Sandra Williams. University of Central Florida, n.d. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.