This study examined the interpersonal problems and central relationship patterns of
Holocaust Survivors’ Offspring (HSO) who were characterised by different
patterns of parental communication of their parents’ Holocaust trauma.
Fifty-six adults born to mothers who were survivors of Nazi concentration camps and
54 adults born to parents who immigrated to Israel before 1939 with their own
parents (non-HSO) were recruited randomly from an Israeli sample. While the groups
did not differ in their current mental health, HSO who reported nonverbal
communication with little information about their mother’s trauma endorsed
more interpersonal distress than HSO who experienced informative verbal
communication and less affiliation than either HSO who experienced informative
verbal communication or non-HSO. They also differed in their central relationship
patterns with their parents and spouses. The findings are discussed in the context
of the unique dynamics of growing up with the silent presence of the
mother’s trauma.
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