a. Purpose: to inform my audience about the Jewish Holocaust and its subsequent effects on survivor’s children and their psychological composition; to inform why these long lasting effects are relevant to human psychology and our world
b. The complex and traumatic series of events during the Jewish Holocaust resulted in almost two thirds of the population being killed.
c. Of those who survived, there were many pretenses surrounding the remainder of their lives and their children’s lives due to a newly adopted and pessimistic …show more content…
In 1933, the Nazi political party took power in Germany, the first concentration camp (Dachau) is established, and the Nazis begin to burn books which contain beliefs that oppose their own ideals (Avraham).
b. Hitler establishes dictatorship by combining positions of chancellor and president and becomes Fuhrer in 1934 (Gordon).
THE IMPACT OF THE HOLOCAUST ON THE CHILDREN OF JEWISH SURVIVORS 3
c. In 1935, the rights of Jews are further limited, and their citizenship is revoked (Gordon).
d. Along with their citizenship, the Jew’s right to vote is also revoked. At this point, the rest of the world was still clueless what was happening inside the nation, and During the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, all anti-Semitic propaganda was removed until the conclusion of the games (Rossol). Concurrently, Jewish owned businesses are boycotted.
e. 30,000 Jews are arrested on Kristallnacht, synagogues are destroyed, and Jews must wear yellow stars of David as of 1938 (this replaces their driver’s licenses). Schools become segregated, businesses and luxuries are taken away, and curfew hours go into effect (Rosenfeld).
f. In 1939 WWII begins, and the following year Jews are forced into ghettos, concentration camps, and are murdered for the first time …show more content…
By 1943 80-80% of all Jews who would die in the Holocaust have already been murdered (Rosenfeld).
i. In 1945, WWII ends with Hitler’s defeat, camps are liberated by Americans (although many Nazis went on killing sprees when they discovered they had been defeated). Many survivors were placed in displaced persons facilities, were even more people died from disease, overfeeding, and exhaustion (Leipceiger).
THE IMPACT OF THE HOLOCAUST ON THE CHILDREN OF JEWISH SURVIVORS 4
III. Main Point #2: Survivors developed psychosomatic disorders and habits due to the extreme experiences which they endured.
a. Many survivors of the Holocaust hung onto life for as long as they did because they kept in mind the fact that they would be reunited with their families soon. It
i. is no surprise that survivors carried on the familial line and had children of their own, which was also a way to ‘compensate for their losses’. ii. During a time when identity loss and depression were prevalent, the new generation served as a symbol of victory.
b. Many parents suffered from Survivor’s Syndrome, a term coined by psychoanalyst William G. Nielderland. Symptoms include an inability to work or talk. These individuals fear persecution (i.e. uniformed police officers induce