In this paper, we advance a new approach to the intergenerational transmission of Holocaust experiences, by focusing on attachment theory. The approach is used as a framework for interpretation of the results of three studies on Holocaust survivors and their offspring, from different countries (The Netherlands, Canada, and Israel), and based on different conceptual approaches and methods of data collection (quantitative as well as qualitative). The literature is divided with regard to the extent and depth of long-term effects of the Holocaust. Attachment theory allows the integration of the phenomena of attachment, separation, and loss, which appear to be core concepts in the three studies presented here. The notion of insecure-ambivalent attachment sheds some light on the observed preoccupation with issues of attachment and separation in the second generation. Furthermore, the theme of “the conspiracy of silence” is discussed in the context of attachment disorganisation. Attachment theory transcends the traditional boundaries between clinical and nonclinical interpretations, in stressing the continuous and cumulative nature of favourable and unfavourable child-rearing circumstances. In this context, insecure attachment should be regarded as coping with suboptimal child-rearing environments.
This study focuses on an outburst of verbal violence that happened within an organized Jewish-Palestinian encounter dialogue aimed at improving the relations between the two groups. The turning point in this encounter occurred when a Palestinian female responded to the seemingly reconciliatory move of a Jewish male with a rethorical question that led to manifestations of hatred and verbal violence. From this point on, the conversation collapsed and turned into explosive discourse - exchanges of verbal violence. Through the description and analysis of these processes it might be possible to contribute to the understanding of routes that can cause outbursts of intergroup hatred and violence. One could perhaps learn from the micro-group experiences, how destructive events develop, and thereby better understand what could be done to prevent them.
Die Last des ist ein Basiswerk der politischen wie psychologischen Verstandigungs-Literatur. Behutsam deckt der Autor die psychischen Wunden des Schweigens auf und zeigt, wie durch das Erzahlen traumatische Erfahrungen durchgearbeitet werden und schlieslich ein Dialog mit sich selber und den Anderen begonnen werden kann.
Abstract Alongside the political dispute which is dividing the country today on the question of the administered territories—how and whether it is possible to militarily suppress a semi‐violent conflict—(specifically, the Palestinian uprising) there is discussion among psychologists about their professional duty: can they contribute to a solution of the problem in more ways than through their political positions? One of the questions which psychologists are dealing with is the problem of psychological damage that may or may not be caused to soldiers participating in the suppression of the Intifadah, how it is possible to determine such damage, or whether it exists only in the imagination of those who wish to „prove”︁ such damage because of their political stand. In order to further the discussion of this problem this paper will present the complete testimony of an officer in the reserves as it was presented orally in a work‐shop in group‐dynamics and later written down by that same officer. Upon analyzing this testimony according to the method of narrative analysis (Rosenthal, 1988), we find that the soldier acted correctly but the event he witnessed caused him to recall what had happened to him in the Lebanon war and had almost caused him a latent ‘shell‐shock’. This memory sharpened his sensitivity in the present event which held the possibility of losing control and taking part in a massacre of unarmed civilians. The testimony helps us address the question of what the normal reaction is in a situation like this; we support the position that the soldier's reaction was normal in an abnormal context. This leads us to suspect that other soldiers who, unlike in our case, do not develop a similar sensitivity to similar abnormal events in which they are involved, will develop a delayed reaction (PTSD—Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder) as was found among soldiers in the Vietnam War. Our paper is part of a wider theoretical discussion: perpetrators of acts which are normative in one particular context but are later determined to have been immoral, tend to develop a discrepancy between their morality and the need to maintain their mental health. This discrepancy can only be bridged by a paradoxical morality.
Eighty-nine male patients under the age of 60 were studied after admission for their first myocardial infarction (Ml) to the intensive coronary care unit of a medical center in Israel. The subjects were interviewed during hospitalization and after 6 months as to their subjective evaluation of the event. The attending physicians were also interviewed on the same occasions. Patients who attributed the Ml and its possible outcomes at the end of hospitalization to external, uncontrollable causes returned to work and to regular physical and sexual functioning at a significantly lower rate than did patients who cited more internal and controllable causes. Physicians tended to attribute their patients' Ml and rehabilitation solely to physical risk factors (smoking, obesity, hypertension, heredity, etc.), which were poor predictors of the outcome after 6 months. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
This study attempts to trace evidence of a suppressed moral conflict in perpetrators of the extermination process during the Third Reich and in perpetrators' children. The questions raised are (a) was there a suppressed conflict of morality in the perpetrators concerning their roles in the Holocaust and did such a conflict surface toward the end of their lives, and (b) did the silence around the parents'perpetrating roles affect the development of an independent "moral" self in the children? Twenty-five Protestant and Catholic priests and 29 physicians, nurses, psychiatrists, and psychotherapists were asked about contacts with perpetrators in their relatively secure confessional settings. Only one priest reported a direct encounter with a perpetrator, who confessed his atrocious activities before his death. A physician and a psychiatrist reported hearing similar stories. Evidence shows that some perpetrators allowed a single memory of their experiences in the extermination process to penetrate what they had suppressed. By that memory, they maintained an illusion of their moral selves and were able to prevent full acknowledgment of what they had done or witnessed from threatening their psychological integrity. Also, 30 children of identified perpetrators and 18 children of likely perpetrators (S.S. members who were on duty when and where the extermination process took place) were interviewed in various locations in Germany between September 1985 and October 1987. Most psychological reactions of perpetrator-parents reported by their children can be defined as a "reduction to normality." The difficulty in finding more evidence of the paradoxical conflict of morality in Holocaust perpetrators is attributed, among other reasons, to the "double-wall" phenomenon: perpetrators did not want to disclose their inner conflicts, and others-their children, the potential confessors, and maybe most of us-did not want to know about it. "Why should a wretched man, guilty, we will say, of murder, prefer to keep the dead corpse buried in its own heart...! "Yet some men bury their secrets thus," observed the calm physician. "True; there are such men," answered Mr. Dimmesdale. "But, not to suggest more obvious reasons, it may be that they are kept silent by... their nature. Or,-can we not suppose it?-guilty as they may be... they shrink from displaying themselves... because... no evil of the past [can] be redeemed by better service. So, their own unutterable torment, they go about... looking pure as new-fallen snow while their hearts are all speckled and spotted with iniquity of which they cannot rid themselves." "These men deceive themselves," said Roger Chillingworth.... "They fear to take up the shame that rightfully belongs to them...." (Hawthorne [1874], pp. 159-160) It is true that we often translate our egoistic motivations into more "acceptable" utilitarian ones. It may be that the process of developing moral maturity is simultaneous with overcoming such self-deception. (Boyce & Jensen [1978], p. 218)
The current article presents an analysis of the life stories of three generations of women within a family headed by a Holocaust survivor. Its uniqueness lies in its double analysis of the stories told by these women, with an interval of 12 years between telling. The first series of interviews were conducted in the early 1990s within the framework of a pioneering study in which, for the first time, three generations in each of 20 families were interviewed and their narratives analyzed. The current analyses are based on the perspective that, through life narratives, it is possible to view the transformations of relationships over time and that these transformations in relationships are central to personal development. We will examine the relationships of the women in these three generations, both with significant others and with each other. We will trace processes of development and changes in these relationships over the 12 years. Finally, we will discuss the social and methodological implications of our study.
