The Holocaust across generations : trauma and its inheritance among descendants of survivors / Janet Jacobs.

Author
Jacobs, Janet Liebman [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
New York : New York University Press, [2016]
Description
ix, 179 pages ; 23 cm

Availability

Available Online

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks RC451.4.H62 J33 2016 Browse related items Request

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    Subject(s)
    Library of Congress genre(s)
    Summary note
    Over the last two decades, the cross-generational transmission of trauma has become an important area of research within both Holocaust studies and the more broad study of genocide. The overall findings of the research suggest that the Holocaust informs both the psychological and social development of the children of survivors who, like their parents, suffer from nightmares, guilt, fear, and sadness. The impact of social memory on the construction of survivor identities among succeeding generations has not yet been adequately explained. Moreover, the importance of gender to the intergenerational transmission of trauma has, for the most part, been overlooked. In The Holocaust across Generations, Janet Jacobs fills these significant gaps in the study of traumatic transference. The volume brings together the study of post-Holocaust family culture with the study of collective memory. Through an in-depth study of 75 children and grandchildren of survivors, the book examines the social mechanisms through which the trauma of the Holocaust is conveyed by survivors to succeeding generations. It explores the social structures--such as narratives, rituals, belief systems, and memorial sites--through which the collective memory of trauma is transmitted within families, examining the social relations of traumatic inheritance among children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. Within this analytic framework, feminist theory and the importance of gender are brought to bear on the study of traumatic inheritance and the formation of trauma-based identities among Holocaust carrier groups. --Back cover.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references (pages 161-172) and index.
    Contents
    • Family narratives and the social construction of descendant identity
    • Ritual and the emotional transmission of Holocaust trauma
    • Redefining the sacred: spirituality and the crisis of masculinity among children and grandchildren of survivors
    • The social relations of inherited trauma: the meaning of attachment and connection in the lives of descendants
    • Reengaging the past: identity, mourning, and empathy at sites of terror
    • Descendants as Holocaust carriers: bringing the past into public consciousness
    • The changing landscape of Holocaust remembrance and future directions in the study of traumatic inheritance.
    ISBN
    • 9781479833566 (hardcover : alkaline paper)
    • 1479833568 (hardcover : alkaline paper)
    • 9781479839292 (paperback : alkaline paper)
    • 1479839299 (paperback : alkaline paper)
    LCCN
    2016023896
    OCLC
    950611276
    Other standard number
    • 12932577
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