By Myra Giberovitch The core experiences of psychological trauma are disempowerment and disconnection from others. J.L. Herman (1992) VICTIMIZATION Long-term victimization under a systematic and comprehensive program of genocide adversely affected the mental and emotional well-being of many survivors. ‘People who have endured horrible events suffer predictable psychological harm’ (Herman, 1992:3). Although survivors differ from…
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A victory for father’s sake
By David Boas The following article was published on May 2, 2019 in the Jerusalem Post. Courtesy of Jerusalem Post. Pictured above: The Boas family house in Bad Harzburg, Germany 1933 On my personal Holocaust Memorial Day, I admire my father and his brother, who chose to leave Germany and start a new life in Eretz…
Barbara Joyce Bedney, Ph.D., M.S.W., Leah Bergen Miller, B.A, and Shelley Rood Wernick, M.B.A. The Jewish Federations of North America Center for Advancing Holocaust Survivor Care Introduction It is currently estimated that close to 90% of American adults 18 and over have had at least one traumatic event in their lifetimes (Kilpatrick et al., 2013).…
Carly M. Bruski, LMSW, Assistant Director, Holocaust Survivor Support Program “Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” – James Beard The Holocaust Survivor Support Program offers an array of social programming, but without a doubt one of the favorites is Tasty Travels Club. This exciting program began at JFCS’ Barbara and Harvey Brodsky Enrichment…
Alyssa Reiner, MSW, LSW, RYT200 More than seventy years after the Holocaust, the complete impact of pervasive trauma on Survivors continues to be under investigation. An increased sense of fragility results in a mind-body relationship characterized by pain, misunderstanding, and lack of control. A childhood signified by extreme malnutrition, life-threatening illness, physical assault, disruption of…
By Mariya Keselman, MA, ATR-BC, LPC “At root, a pearl is a ‘disturbance,’ a beauty caused by something that isn’t supposed to be there, about which something needs to be done. It is the interruption of equilibrium that creates beauty. Beauty is a response to provocation, to intrusion…The pearl’s beauty is made as a result…
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For Just One Day
By Betyna Bock Dedication to My Father – Karel Bock “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell. A Hell of Heaven.” – John Milton, “Paradise Lost” I wander through the labyrinths of your mindstraining to find a wayto absorb your suffering.So that for one day,For just one day,your…
By Renee Symonds BA Dip. Ed., MA Psych. An unconventional father, I had, A confirmed Communist too And here in Australia A Socialist would do A lover of languages He used them all, To shape his ideas, Compromising, not at all, As if a Pied Piper, he followed his tune As he stuck to his tune,…
By Maggie Leone, Boston University, College of Communication 2021 Preface The memories return in flashes. None of the events are contiguous or chronological. I know what happened – I lived it – but the pieces do not always fit together. Before September 1, 1939, when the Germans stormed into Warsaw, brutally disrupting the lives of…
By Dr. Eva Fogelman, Ph.D. If you are a Holocaust survivor with a grandchild and you seek to fulfill the awesome responsibility of perpetuating the memory of The Six Million, you face a great conflict and challenge. You cannot only discuss the Holocaust in the abstract but, rather, you need to share the experiences you…