In the Shadow of the Holocaust
The Second Generation

Drawing on interviews and survey materials, Aaron Hass provides a vibrant account of the experiences of Holocaust survivors' children.

Aaron Hass (Author)

9780521589475, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 July 1996

194 pages
23.5 x 16 x 1.8 cm, 0.398 kg

'In the Shadow of the Holocaust is among the very best in the Holocaust literature, an exemplary model for the rest of us who study others and try to make sense of what we see and hear.' Robert Coles, Harvard University

'The most important event in my life occurred before I was born,' one child of concentration camp survivors has observed. The Holocaust did not end with the liberation of survivors after the collapse of the Third Reich, for the legacy of their suffering extends to a generation that never faced an SS storm- trooper. With a rich blend of oral history, memoir, and psychological interpretation, Aaron Hass deepens our understanding of the price of that legacy for the second generation. What are the effects of growing up in the shadow of the Holocaust? Drawing on interviews and survey materials, Aaron Hass provides a vibrant account of the experiences of survivors' children. Now in their thirties and forties, these men and women describe their relationships with their parents and offer their perceptions of the impact of the Holocaust on their families. They give voice to memories and feelings about which some of them have never spoken before. Himself a child of survivors and a distinguished clinical psychologist, Hass writes about the lingering presence of the Holocaust in his own life as well.

Introduction
1. The psychological profile of survivors
2. Intergenerational transmission
3. 'For this I survived the camps?'
4. Recounting the stories
5. Children describe their parents
6. Jews and Gentiles
7. In case it should happen again
8. Can I believe in God?
9. The third generation
10. The legacy
Appendix
Notes
Index of Names.

Subject Areas: Second World War [HBWQ], The Holocaust [HBTZ1]