Trauma and Resilience in Holocaust Memoir

Strategies of Self-Preservation and Inter-Generational Encounter with Narrative

Shira Birnbaum

Through narrative analysis of the memoirs of six holocaust survivors from a single extended family, Trauma and Resilience in Holocaust Memoir: Strategies of Self-Preservation and Inter-Generational Encounter with Narrative examines strategies of self-preservation of young people exposed to violence and persecution at different ages and life stages. Through the lens of studying resilience in child development, this book describes the striking diversity of holocaust-era experiences and traces the arc of a remarkable global diaspora. Birnbaum argues that stories from the past can enhance understanding of the internal lives of today’s young refugees and survivors of violent conflict. Exploring the socio-politics of narrative and memory, this book considers the ways that children of holocaust survivors may honor the past while also allowing a new generation to engage family history in a conversation with contemporary concerns.

Lexington Books

Pages: 204 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9

978-1-7936-2303-4 • Hardback • December 2020 • $100.00 • (£77.00)

978-1-7936-2305-8 • Paperback • May 2022 • $39.99 • (£31.00)

978-1-7936-2304-1 • eBook • December 2020 • $38.00 • (£29.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Violence in Society, History / Holocaust, Literary Criticism / Jewish, Social Science / Refugees

Trauma and Resilience in Holocaust Memoir

Strategies of Self-Preservation and Inter-Generational Encounter with Narrative

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Through narrative analysis of the memoirs of six holocaust survivors from a single extended family, Trauma and Resilience in Holocaust Memoir: Strategies of Self-Preservation and Inter-Generational Encounter with Narrative examines strategies of self-preservation of young people exposed to violence and persecution at different ages and life stages. Through the lens of studying resilience in child development, this book describes the striking diversity of holocaust-era experiences and traces the arc of a remarkable global diaspora. Birnbaum argues that stories from the past can enhance understanding of the internal lives of today’s young refugees and survivors of violent conflict. Exploring the socio-politics of narrative and memory, this book considers the ways that children of holocaust survivors may honor the past while also allowing a new generation to engage family history in a conversation with contemporary concerns.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 204 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9

978-1-7936-2303-4 • Hardback • December 2020 • $100.00 • (£77.00)

978-1-7936-2305-8 • Paperback • May 2022 • $39.99 • (£31.00)

978-1-7936-2304-1 • eBook • December 2020 • $38.00 • (£29.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Violence in Society, History / Holocaust, Literary Criticism / Jewish, Social Science / Refugees

Author

Shira Birnbaum is science and medical writer at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Looking Forward While Looking Back: What We Learn about Child Development and the Refugee Experience by Reading the Memoirs of Holocaust Survivors

Chapter 1: 1939

Chapter 2: 1940

Chapter 3: 1941

Chapter 4: 1942

Chapter 5: 1942 in the Ghetto

Chapter 6: 1943

Chapter 7: 1944-45

Chapter 8: Young People in the Confrontation with Disaster

Chapter 9: Resonances of War

Epilogue: Conversations Across the Generations: Holocaust Memory and the Vocabulary of Remembrance

Reviews

In this collection of Holocaust memoirs, Birnbaum presents the unique first-person stories of six child survivors, all members of her father’s extended family. The stories trace war’s ravages through the eyes of rapidly maturing children and adolescents. Each tale is extraordinary. One chronicler tells of passing as a gentile, surviving by selling her blood and submitting to Nazi experiments for pay; another details her escape from Poland to Lithuania to Africa; another memoir depicts the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto and the author’s daring escape; yet another family member describes her wartime sojourn in the relative safety of Shanghai. Riveting as these stories are, Birnbaum adds yet another layer to enhance the reader's understanding. In a chapter-by-chapter analysis that follows the memoirists through each year of the war, Birnbaum explores textual cues that illustrate childhood resilience. Through the astute perception of a psychiatric nurse, she elucidates survival strategies and ties them to today’s young survivors of traumatic conflict. This book is an important contribution to Holocaust psychology studies and will be of significant value to both specialists and those interested in obtaining a deeper awareness of the effects of catastrophic sociopolitical upheavals on children. Highly recommended.

— Choice

This is a remarkable book, very well researched and captivating with its emotional details. The book stands out among the many holocaust narratives. In addition to the extraordinary manner in which the six members of this family has survived, the book is rich in theoretical explanations of how the author had arrived at her conclusions.
— Anna Ornstein, M. D. Professor of child psychiatry (retired), University of Cincinnati