Between culture and family: Jewish-Israeli young adults relation to the Holocaust as a cultural trauma.

Abstract

This study assessed how Jewish-Israeli young adults perceive the impacts of the Holocaust on themselves, their family, and Israeli society. The written responses of 180 respondents, 90 of whom were grandchildren of Holocaust survivors (GHSs) and 90 were without a direct family connection (NGHSs), connected the Holocaust with issues of security, education, and culture and the impact, or lack of it, on family and self. These responses also suggest that NGHS relate to the Holocaust only through sociocultural mechanisms, and that GHSs are influenced by the same sociocultural mechanisms yet are also divided by the perceived impact of intergenerational processes on their personal and family lives. The overall results of the study suggest that regardless of family connection to the Holocaust, in Israel there are sociocultural mechanisms at work that affect the perception of the Holocaust on the third generation of Holocaust survivors as a cultural trauma.

Vicarious Group Trauma among British Jews

“…The findings resonate with research such as that by Hirsch and Chaitin (2010), which describes Jewish-Israeli young adults, with and without family connections to Holocaust survivors, as fearful because of the Holocaust. Similarly, Lazar et al (2008) relate to trauma anxiety by asserting that it exists among Israeli Jews, including those without direct connection to Holocaust survivors, in the form of needing Israel as a place of safety. Their article connects Jews' association of Israel as a safe haven with political Zionism's focus on the need for a sovereign Jewish state by arguing that the lack of it Bwas one major contributing factor that Jews in Europe, prior to and during the Holocaust, were singled out for massive persecution^ (Lazar et al 2008: 116).…”

“…Alexander 2004a;Freud 1932;Zerubavel 1996;Lazar et al 2008;Kugelmass 1996); however, there is a lack of such research with regards to British Jews, highlighting the necessity for this present study. The evidence provided for the Jewish group is regarded as symptomatic of the impact conflict can have on any minority group.…”

“…The theory distinguishes itself clearly from other theories on trauma transmission, such as Hirsch's (2008) concept of postmemory, as the focus of its conceptualization rests on the transmission of the actual trauma in terms of an emotional traumatic experience rather than the historical knowledge of trauma.…”

“…The survey findings by Lazar et al (2008) suggest that there are sociocultural mechanisms at work in Israel-such as Holocaust education and the country's perceived role as providing security for Jewish people-that influence the third-generation offspring of both Holocaust survivors and non-survivors to perceive the Holocaust as a cultural trauma. 1 Indeed, there are various social mechanisms that can be responsible for the transmission of trauma memory.…”

“…In this way the trauma becomes part of the group identity and can therefore also change a group's Bfuture identity in fundamental and irrevocable ways^ (Alexander 2004b). Carrier groups Barticulate the significance of and represent the trauma for the collective…making it available for communication and shared understanding…They help transform emotional responses into words and images that can be dispersed and remembered^ (Eyerman 2011). Hirsch (2008, for instance, examines how the trauma of the Holocaust is transmitted through the arts, specifically photography, to the second generation.…”