Intergenerational transmission of trauma: Holocaust survivors, their children and their children’s children

Abstract

Drawing on my own research, as well as the research of others, the question considered is how trauma may be transmitted down the generations. Some argue that the second-generation of Holocaust survivors is traumatized. I disagree, concluding that many faced emotional problems separating from while remaining connected to their parents. Attachment theory seems the best way of explaining both the problem and how it is best dealt with. The answer to these questions comes from second-generation survivors themselves, not just the author’s theory.