Three degrees of separation: processes and outcomes in intergenerational transmission of trauma in second and third generation Holocaust survivors
Creators: name: Silbert, Vivien
Publisher: name: Swinburne
Year: 2024

description: Although not exposed to the experiences of their parents, there is substantial research evidence that many children of survivors of the Holocaust suffered traumatization. However, much less is known about whether Holocaust trauma continues to be transmitted to the grandchildren of survivors. The primary contribution of this thesis was to examine the long-term effects of Holocaust trauma and how it is transmitted from Holocaust survivor women to their daughters (second generation) and granddaughters (third generation) within an Australian community sample. A further aim was to compare the processes and outcomes of transmission of trauma in the two family generations. Particular emphasis was on the impact of the parenting received by the second generation on the way they parented their own children. Three related studies were conducted. Study one was a quantitative analysis using self- report measures of perceptions of maternal engagement and personality styles. Data from the second generation daughters of survivors were compared to a control group of Jewish women whose mothers had not been exposed to Holocaust trauma and to the third generation women. The sample included 60 Jewish women. Twenty were daughters of Holocaust survivors (M = 51.5 years), 20 were daughters of Jewish women whose mothers were born in Australia (M = 49.5 years), and 20 were granddaughters of Holocaust survivors (M = 23.5 years). As hypothesized, and consistent with much research, findings showed differences between daughters from survivor and non-survivor backgrounds. Holocaust survivor mothers were perceived by their daughters as more overprotective but less emotionally expressive and caring than the Australian-born mothers of their counterparts. Daughters of survivors were less individuated, shared less intimacy, and were more intimidated by their mothers than the control group. They also showed a greater need for autonomous achievement as indicated by higher levels of perfectionism and self-criticism than the daughters of Australian-born women. The most significant finding was that third generation daughters viewed their mothers as equally over protective as second generation women perceived their own mothers. However, second generation women were seen as showing their daughters higher levels of emotional care than they had received. Thus, while exhibiting similar levels of over protectiveness, the second generation women provided a different model of parenting with regard to emotional care. Studies 2 and 3 elaborated on study 1 through in-depth qualitative analyses of the second and third generation Holocaust groups. This provided a deeper understanding of the subjective, lived experience of growing up as the child and grandchild of a Holocaust survivor in Australia. Study 2 focused on processes and outcomes of transmission of trauma in the second generation with emphasis on their perceptions of their upbringing and on the way they parented their own children. Findings aligned with past qualitative research regarding direct and indirect processes of trauma transmission. The presence of on-going effects of the Holocaust in all second generation women was demonstrated as well as profound influences on their parenting. Study 3 was an exploratory analysis of the effects of Holocaust trauma on the lives of the third generation together with the way this transmission occurred. The processes and effects of transmission in the two generations of Holocaust offspring were also compared. The third generation women demonstrated varying degrees of ongoing effects associated with the Holocaust. Most commonly, these featured a sense of vulnerability. Collectively, findings from all three studies demonstrate that, while not psychopathological, second and third generation non-clinical Australian women endure ongoing negative effects associated with Holocaust trauma. Both generations continue to experience fear, burden of the past, despair and feelings of difference. While effects related to burden and despair were diluted in the third gener ation, fearbased effects such as anxiety and distrust, and feelings of being different appeared equally strong. Processes of transmission through intrapsychic means and the family environment were less evident in the third than the second generation. A particularly important discovery was the role played by survivor grandmothers in imparting trauma-related effects directly to the third generation. The combined effect of grandmothers and mothers in communicating messages about the Holocaust to the third generation suggests a multi-generational model of transmission. Both qualitative and quantitative data reveal a much more positive picture of the second generation as mothers in comparison to survivor mothers. However, it appears that some negative aspects of their upbringing were adopted, although not necessarily consciously, and repeated in the parenting of their own children. In addition, sources outside of the family, most particularly media and Jewish schools, were clearly implicated in trauma transmission to the third generation. Implications and findings for future research on the second and third generations and clinical practice are described.