After Genocide: How Ordinary Jews Face the Holocaust

by Sue Lieberman

Overview

2015 was the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War Two, and, for Jews, the seventieth anniversary of the end of the worst Jewish catastrophe in diaspora history. After Genocide considers how, more than two generations since the war, the events of the Holocaust continue to haunt Jewish people and the worldwide Jewish population, even where there was no immediate family connection. Drawing from interviews with "ordinary" Jews from across the age spectrum, After Genocide focuses on the complex psychological legacy of the Holocaust. Is it, as many think, a "collective trauma"? How is a community detached in space and time traumatised by an event which neither they nor their immediate ancestors experienced?"Ordinary" Jews' own words bring to life a narrative which looks at how commonly-recognised attributes of trauma - loss, anger, fear, guilt, shame - are integral to Jewish reactions to the Holocaust.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782201922
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/15/2014
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Sue Lieberman grew up in London in an “ordinary Jewish” family. She studied history at Bristol University and social administration at York. Her first career in community work led her to work at the policy interface between voluntary organizations and government. In 1988 she began training in psychotherapy, and is qualified as a Group Analytic psychotherapist. She describes the practice of psychotherapy as an endlessly fascinating journey into the human unconscious, and psychodynamic theory as a uniquely rich source of insight and inspiration. She lives in Edinburgh.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

About the Author ix

Introduction: "I don't know why it affects me this much" xi

Chapter 1 "A traumatised people"? 1

Chapter 2 "A profound sense of loss" 27

Chapter 3 The broken contract 55

Chapter 4 "It's all very frightening" 85

Chapter 5 Guilt-or shame? 111

Chapter 6 "So conflicted" 145

Chapter 7 Held captive? 173

Postscript 207

Notes 211

Bibliography 227

References 229

List of Radio Programmes, Television Programmes, and Films Cited 236

Index 237