Using a narrative approach, this study explores the role of the Holocaust in the life stories of Survivors, contrasted with two comparison groups (one Jewish and one non-Jewish) whose direct experiences did not include surviving the Holocaust. Using the technique of the life line and measures such as number and type of life events identified, as well as the events marking the beginning and ending of the life story, several differences were found between the three groups. Survivors identified an average of 10 life events, fewer than the non-Jewish comparison group (18) but more than the Jewish comparison group (7). Most of these events were positive, although less so for the Jewish comparison group, with very few future events identified by any of the groups.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdkinsG.MartinP.PoonL.ClaytonC., & JohnsonM. (1992, November). The experience of specific events of the life span. Paper presented at the meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, Washington, DC.
2.
AshM. G., & SollnerA. (Eds.). (1996). Forced migration and scientific change: Emigre German-speaking scientists and scholars after 1933. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
3.
BernsteinM. A. (1994). Foregone conclusions: Against apocalyptic history. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
4.
BirrenJ. E. (1996). Foreword. In BirrenJ. E.KenyonG. M.RuthJ-E.SchrootsJ. J. & SvenssonT. (Eds.), Aging and biography: Explorations in adult development (pp. ix–xi). New York: Springer.
5.
BirrenJ. E., & DeutchmanD. E. (1991). Guiding autobiography groups for older adults: Exploring the fabric of life. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
6.
BourqueL., & BackK. (1977). Life graphs and life events. Journal of Gerontology, 32, 699–674.
7.
BrimO. G., & RyffC. D. (1980). On the properties of life events. In BaltesP. B. & BrimO. G. (Eds.), Life-span development and behavior (Vol. 3, pp. 367–388). New York: Academic Press.
8.
BrunerJ. (1987). Life as narrative. Social Research, 11–32.
9.
CohlerB. J. (1982). Personal narrative and life courses. In BaltesP. B. & BrimO. G. (Eds.), Life-span development and behavior (Vol. 4; pp. 205–241). New York: Academic Press.
10.
ClendinnenI. (1998). Reading the Holocaust. Melbourne: Text.
11.
DawidowiczL. S. (1975). The war against the Jews, 1933–1945. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
12.
de VriesB.BlandoJ. A.SouthardP., & BubeckC. (2001). The times of our lives. In KenyonG.ClarkP., & de VriesB. (Eds.), Narrative gerontology: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 137–158). New York: Springer.
13.
de VriesB.BlandoJ. A., & WalkerL. J. (1995). An exploratory analysis of the content and structure of the life review. In HaightB. K. & WebsterJ. D. (Eds.), The art and science of reminiscing: Theory, research, methods, and applications (pp. 123–137). Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis.
14.
de VriesB., & WattD. R. (1996). A lifetime of events: Age and gender variations in the life story. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 42, 81–102.
15.
EriksonE. H. (1958). Young man Luther: A study in psychoanalysis and history. New York: Norton.
16.
FreemanM. (1984). History, narrative, and life-span developmental knowledge. Human Development, 27, 1–19.
17.
GilbertM. (1996). The boys: Triumph over adversity. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre.
18.
GreenspanH. (1998). On listening to Holocaust survivors: Recounting and life history. Westport, CT: Praeger.
19.
GreenwaldA. G. (1980). The totalitarian ego: Fabrication and revision of personal history. American Psychologist, 35, 603–618.
20.
GubriumJ. (2001). Narrative, experience, and aging. In KenyonG.ClarkP., & de VriesB. (Eds.), Narrative gerontology: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 19–30). New York: Springer.
21.
HeilbutA. (1983). Exiled in Paradise: German refugee artists and intellectuals in America from the 1930s to the present. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
22.
HelmreichW. B. (1992). Against all odds: Holocaust survivors and the successful lives they made in America. New York: Simon & Schuster.
23.
HolmesT. H., & RaheR. H. (1967). The Social Readjustment Rating Scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 14, 121–132.
24.
HowardR. J. (1982). Three faces of Hermeneutics. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
25.
KenyonG., & RandallW. L. (2001). Narrative gerontology: An overview. In KenyonG.ClarkP., & de VriesB. (Eds.), Narrative gerontology: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 3–18). New York: Springer.
26.
KrellR., & ShermanM. I. (1997). Medical and psychological effects of concentration camps on Holocaust survivors. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
27.
LangerL. L. (1991). Holocaust testimonies: The ruins of memory. New Haven: Yale University Press.
28.
LaqueurW. (2001). Generation Exodus: The fate of young Jewish refugees from Germany. Hanover, MA: Brandeis University Press.
29.
LowenthalM. F.ThurnherM., & ChiribogaD. (1975). Four stages of life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
30.
McAdamsD. P. (1993). The stories we live by: Personal myths and the making of the self. New York: Morrow.
31.
RabinowitzD. (1976). New lives: Survivors of the Holocaust living in America. New York: Avon.
32.
RappaportH.EnrichK., & WilsonA. (1985). Relation between go identity and temporal perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 1609–1620.
33.
RobertsP. (1992). I think of Ronald Reagan. Future selves in the present. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 34, 91–107.
34.
SchmotkinD. (1991). The role of time orientation in life satisfaction across the life span. Journal of Gerontology, 46, 243–251.
35.
SuedfeldP. (2002). Life after the ashes: The postwar pain, and resilience, of young Holocaust survivors. Washington, DC: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
36.
SuedfeldP. (Ed.). (2001). Light from the ashes: Social science careers of young Holocaust survivors and refugees. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
37.
TesserA., & CampbellJ. (1982). Self-evaluation maintenance and the perception of friends and strangers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 365–375.
38.
WhitbourneS., & DanneferW. D. (1986). The “Life Drawing” as a measure of time perspective in adulthood. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 22, 147–155.
39.
WongP. T. (1995). The processes of adaptive reminiscences. In HaightB. K. & WebsterJ. D. (Eds.), The art and science of reminiscing: Theory, research, methods, and applications (pp. 23–36). Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis.
40.
WongP. T., & WattL. M. (1991). What types of reminiscences are associated with successful aging?Psychology and Aging, 6, 272–279.
41.
YahilL. (1990). The Holocaust: The fate of European Jewry, 1932–1945. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
