Transgeneration transfer of holocaust trauma - prevention and care
The project focuses on connecting multidisciplinary specialists from the field of psychology (psychoanalytically oriented) and ethnology interested in research and healing of the transgenerational transmission of Holocaust trauma. A lot of untreated traumas from the collective catastrophe have been passed to the next generations. The aim is to exchange information and experience about this issue within the V4 countries and to bring new insights about healing of trauma for Jewish communities and for the specialists who work with this issue.
Project relevance and context
As a result of tragic historical events such as the disintegration of Austria-Hungary, the First World War, the onset of fascism and the cruelty of the Second World War, trauma was passed on to future generations. Due to the circumstances, the psychological effects were often suppressed and concealed by the victims themselves and, treated, if at all, decades after the war. At the same time, untreated traumas were passed on to the next generations, children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren. Survivors of trauma shows symptomps of post-traumatic stress disorder and much wider spectrum of difficulties related to emotional adaptation, relationship and identity. The last phase of the process - treatment, is still going on. Those who provided assistance, mostly psychologists and other helping professions, are mostly isolated in their home countries and there is no connection among the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia in this area. As far as we know, there are almost no professional links among the V4 countries in the field of transgenerational transmission of Holocaust trauma. In individual countries, some specialists, (also our project partners) have long been interested in and published about this issue. We would like to contribute to the treatment of these long-term wounds, to look for identical and different social and cultural phenomena and provide new information about professional work with transgenerational transfer of trauma for professionals, Jewish communities and general public in post communist countries.