Annotated Bibliography: Surviving the Holocaust

Annotated Bibliography

Ayalon, Liat. “Challenges Associated with the Study of Resilience to Trauma in Holocaust Survivors. Journal of Loss & Trauma. 10.4 (2005): 347-58. Education Research Complete.

In her article, Ayalon discusses and expresses disdain for the fact that most of the study that has been done on holocaust survivors is centered around those who had severe problems, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, following their experiences. Though she understands why research would focus on this topic, she also believes that researchers should study those who managed to adapt to normal lifestyles shortly after the end of the holocaust. In short, she is interested in how and why some survivors were able to “survive” better than others. She also feels that researching both types of survivors gives a more balanced view to our understanding of life after the holocaust for survivors. This article is of importance because it provides a fresh and differentiated perspective on holocaust survivors and contains information that, compared to the information found in most relevant sources on the topic, is unique and enables a broader, non-stereotypical view of holocaust survivors.

Epstein, Helen. Children of the Holocaust. Chicago: Plunkett. 2010.

Helen’s book, which reads more like a series of interviews, is interesting in that it does not actually feature experiences from the survivors themselves. Instead, it trains its eye on the children of survivors, as if positing that one need not look to actual survivors to see survivors of the holocaust. In other words, every child of a holocaust survivor is also, to some degree, a survivor of the holocaust as well. The interviews, some of which are included verbatim, with children of survivors, are very telling, and have gone a long way toward proving the point that the effects of the holocaust do not go away and that they continue to affect every generation that has come since the horrific events unfolded. Not all parts of the book are sad, however; there are also messages of hope, supporting the thesis that some degree of healing is possible, though the effects will always remain in certain ways and through certain manifestations.

Kellerman, Natan P.F. “The Long-Term Psychological Effects and Treatment of Holocaust Trauma.” Journal of Loss & Trauma. 6.3 (2001): 197-218. Education Research Complete.

Kellerman’s article takes a very in-depth view of holocaust survivors, following them and their experiences for many years after the holocaust. The reason for the long-term view is because Kellerman believes that the psychological effects, even when not manifested obviously or physically, are further-reaching than most other researchers realizes. Unlike Ayalon, Kellerman does not believe that anyone escapes unscathed from the holocaust and that many people used “adaptive” behaviors as a coping mechanism, meaning that those behaviors are not evidence of true healing. He studies not just the effects on the survivors themselves but on future generations as well. Kellerman also suggests possible treatments for these survivors and their offspring after conducting interviews and psychological treatment for many people in similar situations. Based on his own observations and on common research, Kellerman looks at common behaviors of survivors and indicates signs that these behaviors may merely be measures to try and eradicate guilt, anxiety, and depression. His exploration of survivor guilt is particularly interesting and presents an entirely new reason for some of the behaviors of survivors.

Ozick, Cynthia. The Shawl. New York: Vintage, 1990.

One cannot fully understand “The Shawl,” a short story, without having read “Rosa,” its counterpart. Both stories, which complete one another, are fictional accounts of a female holocaust survivor. The survivor in question appears, by all accounts, to have “adapted,” much in the way Ayalon discusses. However, her adaptation is not genuine. She is so plagued by memories, visions, fear, and even guilt that she does not have a real life in the present. Her interactions with others are stilted. She always has a wall up and walks through life in a dreamlike state. The story almost seems to posit that there is no such thing as a “holocaust survivor;” there are mainly survivors who did not die physically but who have not survived in the sense that they can ever live anything akin to normal lives. While a depressing take on survival, Ozick’s piece presents a much-needed counterargument to the many “cheery” takes on survival, healing, and hope. To Ozick, hope does not really exist.

Pisano, Nirit. Granddaughters of the Holocaust: Never Forgetting What They Didn’t Experience. Georgia: Academic Studies (2013).

Similar in many ways to Epstein’s book, Pisano’s book is more a collection of interviews than it is anything else. The interviews are conducted with ten women, women who, like in Epstein’s studies, did not actually survive the holocaust, but who had grandmothers who did. Nirit is not as interested as Epstein in making a statement about how the effects of the holocaust still exist and affect future generations. Instead of taking so penetrating a look, she seems more interested in the memories these women have, the stories that were passed down to them, and what effects they themselves noticed in their grandparents that they, either at the time and/or currently, believe to be effects of the Holocaust. Later in the interviews, she does take a deeper approach, asking the women what effects, if any, they have seen in their own lives. It is this part of interviews that is of the most interest because the women’s answers reflect that they are unaware of how having surviving family members has affected them, with many believing that no effects exist.

Rosenbaum, Thane. Cattle Car Complex. NPR, 2002. MP3.

Also fictional, Rosenbaum’s Cattle Car Complex focuses on a modern-day lawyer. The lawyer has claustrophobia, which the reader can symbolically infer is an inborn result of his lineage. His parents were holocaust survivors and were once transported to concentration camps in the infamous “cattle cars.” As if some primordial thing has suddenly been unleashed in him, the lawyer, when in an office elevator, is stricken with rage. It is almost as if he is undergoing the very experience his parents underwent so long ago, providing a nice and very effective commentary on how the effects of the holocaust are relevant not just to the survivor themselves but also to everyone in their lives, even those who were not yet born during the holocaust. The story provides excellent “proof” that the effects of the holocaust are very far reaching and have the power to impact future generations, a point that both Sigal’s book and Kellerman’s article support.

Roth, Chaya H. The Fate of Holocaust Memories: Transmission and Dialogue. Chicago: Roth. 2013.

Roth’s perspective is among the most important because she was actually a child survivor of the Holocaust. Though she (fortunately) has few memories of this horrific period of her life, she does recall, quite vividly, the story of a man, a father, who was beaten to death in a concentration camp. She details how the man’s wife and children escaped to Palestine through collected interviews, written accounts, and professional analyses from doctors. The result is an odd but astounding mix of personal account, personal affectedness, and general analysis of how the Holocaust affects all people, including future generations. The brief sections that deal with Roth’s own memories are the most intriguing; they are one of the few accounts available of a child’s experiences and memories with the Holocaust. They also provide a jumping off point for exploration of how memories of the Holocaust were formed in children and why those memories have remained so vivid and powerful.

Sigal, John, and Morton Weinfeld. Trauma and Rebirth: Intergenerational Effects of the Holocaust. New York: Praeger. 1989.

Sigal and Weinfeld present the longest-reaching study of holocaust survivors and the effects their experiences have on their families and future generations. Reaching as far as forty years after the holocaust, the book combines nine years of study into a concise and highly readable format. Not only is the book intriguing, but it is invaluable in that it examines areas of affectedness not explored by any other sources. For example, it discusses the role these experiences play on future generations’ personalities, parenting styles, interactions with other family members, school aptitude and level of education, and political attitudes and opinions. The realization that the Holocaust, even though it happened to past generations, could affect every single part of future generations’ lives has been startling and has given the paper an entirely new focus: a focus that supports the belief that the effects of the holocaust will never go away but that does also support the possibility of healing to some degree.