Language:
English
Year of publication:
2002
Titel der Quelle:
History of the Family
Angaben zur Quelle:
7,2 (2002) 225-238
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
;
Families
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
;
Holocaust survivors
Abstract:
Compares dealing with the wartime past in intra-familial dialogue in families of both Nazi perpetrators and Holocaust survivors, and its impact on the second and third generations. Summarizes the findings of interviews carried out in 1992-96 with 38 families of perpetrators (in Germany) and survivors (in Israel), with a special focus on two families - of a perpetrator and of a survivor. There are both similarities and differences between these families in the process of transmitting the past from one generation to the next. In particular, the perpetrators' families made their Nazi past a family secret; the justification of the Nazi past, assigning guilt to others, and constructing a victim biography for the perpetrator played an important role in their discourse. Their descendants have taken the feeling of guilt upon themselves, they fear being murdered, and they suffer from detailed fantasies relating to the undisclosed family history.
DOI:
10.1016/S1081-602X(02)00093-3
URL:
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