Catastrophic Grief, Trauma, and Resilience in Child Concentration Camp Survivors: A Retrospective View of Their Holocaust Experiences

by Tracey Rori Farber, Gillian Eagle, Cora Smith

Overview

This volume comprehensively explores the life trajectories of nine child/adolescent Holocaust concentration camp survivors as recollected when the subjects were elders. Based on extensive face to face interview material, enduring psychological and symptomatic effects were evident. Survivors retained vivid recollections of the horror of internment and expressed ongoing grief for the multiple losses they had experienced. Unresolved grief contributed to a sense of existential loneliness, particularly prominent in their late life reflections.  Despite indications of resilience and life productivity, a ‘Trauma Trilogy’ of inter-linked catastrophic grief, anger, and survivor guilt contributed to a sense of pain and struggle in negotiating Erikson’s final life task of Integrity versus Despair. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781644696361
Publisher:	Academic Studies Press
Publication date:	06/20/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	338
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Tracey Farber worked full time as a clinical psychologist, supervisor, and trainer in private practice for 24 years in Johannesburg, where she specialized in treating traumatized adults, adolescents and children. After completing her PhD in 2019, she moved to Israel. At present she works as a clinical psychologist at Psychological Services, Student Success Centre, Tel Aviv University, and as a psychotherapist in private practice in Tel Aviv. She developed a psychoeducational program called “Understanding Trauma and Building Resilience” that was developed from her PhD research. This program has been taught to mental health workers, students, teachers, and parents as well as employees and managers.

Gill Eagle is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand. She lectures primarily on the master's program in Clinical Psychology and is also a core member of the doctoral team overseeing research work. Her research interests lie in the field of psychosocial studies, with a particular focus on traumatic stress and gender and issues. She runs a small private practice, working primarily within a relational psychoanalytic psychotherapy framework. 

Cora Smith is Adjunct Professor in the Division of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of the Witwatersrand. She also holds a joint appointment post as the Chief Clinical Psychologist at the Child, Adolescent and Family Unit at Johannesburg Hospital. Her interests are in the development of personality pathology through the life cycle with a particular focus on attachment. She has a keen interest in the ethical dilemmas that emerge in clinical practice.

Tracey Farber worked full time as a clinical psychologist, supervisor, and trainer in private practice for 24 years in Johannesburg, where she specialized in treating traumatized adults, adolescents and children. After completing her PhD in 2019, she moved to Israel. At present, she works as a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist at the Tel Aviv University Psychological Services, Student Success Centre and in private practice in Tel Aviv. She developed a psychoeducational program called “Understanding Trauma and Building Resilience” that was developed from her PhD research. This program has been taught to mental health workers, students, teachers, and parents as well as employees and managers.

Gill Eagle is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand. She lectures primarily on the master's program in Clinical Psychology and is also a core member of the doctoral team overseeing research work. Her research interests lie in the field of psychosocial studies, with a particular focus on traumatic stress and gender and issues. She runs a small private practice, working primarily within a relational psychoanalytic psychotherapy framework. 

Cora Smith is Adjunct Professor in the Division of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of the Witwatersrand. She also holds a joint appointment post as the Chief Clinical Psychologist at the Child, Adolescent and Family Unit at Johannesburg Hospital. Her interests are in the development of personality pathology through the life cycle with a particular focus on attachment. She has a keen interest in the ethical dilemmas that emerge in clinical practice.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Professor Diana Shmukler

Preface

Tracey Farber

Introduction

Tracey Farber, Gillian Eagle, Cora Smith

1. Literature Review

Tracey Farber

2. Research Approach

Tracey Farber, Gillian Eagle, Cora Smith

3. Experiences and Testimonies of Child Concentration Camp Survivors

Tracey Farber 

        Helene

        Dave

        Miriam

        Lenna

        Isaac

        Anne

        Shlomo

        Rina

        Menachem

4. Findings and Discussion: Themes of Trauma and Devastating Loss That Emerged from Testimony of Child Concentration Camp Survivors

Tracey Farber 

5. Reflexivity and Countertransference

Tracey Farber

6. Interventions

Tracey Farber

7. Temporality and the Reevaluation of Memories in Aging Child Holocaust Survivors: A Developmental Trajectory

Cora Smith

8. A Particular Form of Complex Traumatization

Gillian Eagle

9. What Can Be Learned from Child Concentration Camp Survivors about the Impact of Severe Trauma and Its Long-Term Impact on Aging

Tracey Farber, Gillian Eagle, Cora Smith

10. Responding to the Needs of Aging Child Holocaust Survivors and Other Survivors of Severe Early Trauma

Tracey Farber, Gillian Eagle, Cora Smith

Bibliography

Appendix 1. Ethical Clearance Certificate

Appendix 2. Turnitin Plagiarism Report

Editorial Reviews

This is a well-written, organized, and accessible book and an important addition to the literature on the long-term impacts of severe childhood trauma in the lives of Holocaust survivors… The authors discuss the trauma trilogy of grief, anger, and survivor guilt; how revisited memories can retraumatize survivors as they come to belated understandings of childhood losses; the mediating impact of early attachment on resiliency; and the catastrophic grief and lack of closure that is ubiquitous among all interviewees.” 

— M. D. Lagerwey, emeritus, Western Michigan University, CHOICE

“A book, raw in the visceral descriptions of the effects of the Holocaust provided by ageing child survivors as they painfully and courageously re-visit their experiences in the camps, the death marches and beyond. A book of inspiration in the warmth and compassion of the interviewer who listened and cared and whose personal resonances with the survivors shone through. 

A hugely informative book in all authors’ scholarly research on complex trauma, complicated bereavement, ageing, resilience and existential loneliness. A remarkable, must read book in contemporary times not only for its collection of rare testimonies of ageing survivors of the holocaust but for its insights into the very long term but individual effects of massive collective trauma, which continue to dog the twenty first century. It is a testimony to despair and hope, trauma and resilience, and a must read for those who at least wish to try to understand.” 

— Gillian Straker, Clinical Professor, UniversityOf Sydney; Visiting Research Professor, UniversityWitwatersrand

“A must-read for those interested in a rich combination of unique perspectives on theories of childhood development and trauma, including the impact on aging for those who were children during the Holocaust. The Survivor narratives are gripping and haunting, and command the reader to pause in honor of their testimonies. Be prepared to be inspired by their resilience. This book contributes to a deeper understanding of the experiences of grief and hope among those who survived the atrocities of the Holocaust as children.”

— Jenni Frumer, Ph.D., LCSW, MSEd; Director, NOW for Holocaust Survivors Initiative/MorseLife Health System USA

"This book captures the voices of some of the last living survivors of the Holocaust. These in-depth interviews provide valuable testimony to how the catastrophic losses and trauma suffered by children and youth in the context of a genocide shaped their life trajectories, and how these early experiences impact their engagement with the final developmental challenges of the late years in life. Moreover, Tracey Farber was one of the few practitioners who braved doing home visits during the Covid-19 pandemic. Her book brings a unique contribution since the interviews took place during a historical time that changed life for all, and exposed aging child survivors of the Holocaust to the most severe pandemic of the last 100 years, forcing them to endure isolation, loneliness and disrupted care, once again. Farber’s gentle and compassionate relationships with the survivors are an inspiration to all who know or work with trauma survivors.”

— Irit Felsen, PhD, Clinical Psychologist, Co-Chair of the Trauma Working Group at the NGO on Mental Health in Consultative Relationship to the United Nations

From the Publisher