| Popis: |
The authors studied intergenerational processing and search for meaning in families in which the Holocaust survivor wrote and published a memoir. Survivors’ writing of their traumatic narrative and the reading encounters of their children and grandchildren involve the search for meaning in passing on the family legacy. Survivor-writers and the second (child) and third (grandchild) generations in 12 Israeli families were interviewed. Qualitative analysis led to identification of two axes: family cohesion surrounding the traumatic narrative and familial communication about Holocaust experiences. Mapping the families along these two axes led to a three intergenerational family types: (1) high family cohesion and open communication, (2) low family cohesion and silence, and (3) partial cohesion and survivor–third generation open communication, with “knowing-not knowing” in the second generation. In the Israeli context, processing the tensions between the overt and covert legacies transmitted through the generations facilitates searching and creating integrated meaning for family members. |
