Shared experience eases trauma for Holocaust descendants

MIRAH LANGER

This comment expressed the sentiment of the group, most of whose participants want to share their experience with those with similar life stories, not least to help make sense of it all.

The dozens of second- third-and fourth-generation survivors who attended the event filled out a questionnaire asking for ideas about what they would like to experience from the group.

Brenda Solarsh, group co-ordinator, said, “A major theme was the joy of experiencing the bond of a shared experience”.

In fact, Solarsh said, at least one young woman had never met anyone else in her age group whose parents were survivors until joining the group.

Psychotherapist Tracy Farber distinguished between generations of descendents, suggesting that second-generation survivors “had a visceral connection with the Holocaust because they grew up in the arms of these very traumatised, hurt, and brave people”.

“Children … are direct witnesses of their parents suffering, and their resilience.”

Third-generation survivors grew up with family members such as grandparents, who “had a lot of anger and unprocessed grief”.

Nevertheless, while the specificity of these lived experiences is important to pinpoint, Farber also asserted that the overall definition of a descendent needed to be inclusive in terms of acknowledging the long tendrils of trauma.

Solarsh said that some descendants expressed “an interest in our local human rights context” in the questionnaire.

As one descendent noted, “My parents, because of their experience in Europe, were very anti-apartheid. They taught that to their children. I want us to try and help with the current problems we are facing.”

More than half of the questionnaire’s respondents wanted a more personal angle to interactions. “There was a strong desire for a meet up to share stories and experiences. That’s also on the drawing board,” Solarsh said.

Overall, she said that the “positive, warm atmosphere” at the launch was a “good start” to the project.

“Johannesburg is known as a city where its citizens have a history, and show characteristics of their pioneer forefathers [as] entrepreneurs, builders, and optimists. This augurs well for our programme.”