Intergenerational Echoes of the Holocaust in Second and Third Generations

Hadas Wiseman, Ph.D.

January 27, 2015—Holocaust Memorial Day—marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Berkenau, the largest of the Nazi death camps. Fittingly, the Gordon F. Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies has invited Hadas Wiseman, Ph.D., to give a free colloquium on Wednesday, January 28, 2015, at 1:00 p.m., on “Intergenerational Echoes of the Holocaust in Second and Third Generations.” The event will be held at Adelphi’s Alumni House, 154 Cambridge Avenue, in Garden City, NY.

Dr. Wiseman, a professor in the Department of Counseling and Human Development at the University of Haifa, Israel, is the co-author with Derner Institute Dean Jacques P. Barber, Ph.D., of Echoes of the Trauma: Relationship Themes and Emotions in Children of Holocaust Survivors (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008).

In her lecture, Dr. Wiseman will discuss her research on second-generation Holocaust survivors, specifically their intergenerational communication style of “knowing” and “not knowing.” She explained: “The survivor’s story is both ‘known’ in that it has an unspoken presence in the home and ‘not known’ to the sons and daughters, who in turn fear that questioning their parents may reopen old wounds.”

She will also share her findings about the experiences of the third generation, which she refers to as “echoes of the echoes.”

For their book, Dr. Wiseman and Dr. Barber applied Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT) to analyze the narratives shared by second-generation Holocaust about growing up in survivor homes. Dr. Wiseman will describe their use of CCRT and its implications for understanding and treating the survivors of other traumas.

The talk is highly relevant for practicing and aspiring clinicians, particularly those interested in the long-term effects of massive trauma and how these are passed from one generation to the next.