Julia Chaitin

Facing the Holocaust in Generations of Families of Survivors: The Case of Partial Relevance and Interpersonal Values

This qualitative study examined the meaning of the Holocaust for 10 Israeli families of survivors in which there are three generations. Thirty-two individuals (24 women, 8 men) were asked to tell their “life story.” The interviews were analyzed for themes related to PR (Partial Relevance, Bar-On & Selah, 1991) and the interpersonal values held by family members, using SYMLOG methods (Bales, 1999). The first generation agreed on the importance of the value of family teamwork and showed medium to high range PR scores. The second and the third generations showed low, medium, and high range PR scores and tended to value both family teamwork and more non- conforming behavior.

Between Culture and Family: Jewish-Israeli Young Adults' Relation to the Holocaust as a Cultural Trauma

This study assessed how Jewish Israeli young adults perceive the impacts of the Holocaust on themselves, their family and Israel society. The written responses of 180 respondents, 90 of which were grandchildren of Holocaust survivors (GHSs) and 90 which are not grandchildren of survivors (NGHSs), connected the Holocaust with issues of security, education and culture, and the impact, or lack of it, on family and self. These responses also suggest that NGHS relate to the Holocaust only through sociocultural mechanisms and that GHSs are influenced by the same sociocultural mechanisms, yet are also divided by the perceived impact of intergenerational processes on their personal and family lives. The overall results of the study suggest that regardless of family connection to the Holocaust, in Israel there are sociocultural mechanisms at work that impact the perception of the Holocaust on the third generation of Holocaust survivors as a cultural trauma.

Whose House is This? Dilemmas of Identity Construction in the Israeli-Palestinian Context

This article examines the ways in which ones perception of the other contributes to processes involved in the construction of collective identity. This study presents analyses and comparisons of semi-structured interviews using a dilemma concerning ownership of a house that was undertaken with 20 Jewish and Palestinian university students, citizens of Israel, who participated in a 1-year seminar that dealt with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Analyses of the entire sample showed that, during the year, all of the participants enhanced their self-awareness of the complexity of the conflict. Each group emphasized the processes that reflect the role of the conflict in the construction of its collective identity. The Palestinians appeared to be in the process of constructing their identity and the Jews in the process of deconstructing theirs while trying to cope with their need for security during the on-going conflict. In-depth analyses of interviews with 2 women students highlighted the processes of ident...

EMOTIONAL MEMORIES OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS DURING THE HOLOCAUST

This article examines psychosocial aspects of family/parent-child relationships during the Holocaust by focusing on the emotional memories of such relationships. Global and thematic analyses were undertaken on 93 life story interviews and testimonies with Holocaust survivors. Results showed that survivors who lived through most of the war with parents/family and those who had lived approximately an equal time with loved ones and without them were able to recall and narrate more emotional memories, both positive and negative, than people who had experienced the traumatic period mostly on their own. However, going through the war with family did not guarantee the narration of emotional memories; close to half of these victims could not recall/narrate such memories. In general, when the survivor recalled relative emotional security, she or he felt safe, even when physical danger was imminent. However, this feeling did not always continue when the physical situation worsened or when the survivor was separated from loved ones. It was suggested that the ability to recall and narrate emotional memories highlights the heterogeneity in family relationships that existed during the Holocaust and the kinds of family relationships that developed after the Holocaust.

Perceptions of the Holocaust of Palestinian Young Adults, Citizens of Israel

A largely neglected area of study in the field of trauma and its effects is the way a collective trauma of a majority group influences a minority group that lives in the same region. Such an investigation is especially relevant within the context of the Palestinian–Israeli conflict concerning the Holocaust—the defining trauma of Jewish Israelis. This pilot study focused on the thoughts, feelings, and interpretations concerning the Holocaust of 56 young adults, Palestinian citizens in Israel. The semi-structured questionnaires and interviews demonstrate that the young adults express an inherent conflict when dealing with the Holocaust—one that emanates from the tension that exists between universalistic and particularistic interpretations of the Holocaust within the Palestinian narrative. At the universalistic end of the continuum, the Holocaust is acknowledged as a crime against humanity; whereas, at the particularistic end of the continuum, the Holocaust is interpreted through political lenses of the Isr...

Using dilemmas to trace identity construction and perception of others: the Israeli case

This article describes a method of data collection and analysis that was developed for the tracing of processes of identity construction and perception of others among young Jewish adults – citizens of Israel. In order to learn how young adults perceive different ‘others’ and construct their sense of collective identity, a semi-structured interview was developed that was comprised of five moral dilemmas concerning internal as well as external others that contribute to the construction of Jewish-Israeli identity. This article traces the process of instrument development and presents the types of analyses that were used in interpretation of the dilemmas. We then demonstrate the analyses by presenting examples from four interviews with Jewish-Israelis. Based on the results of our study, ideas for future research and utilization of the research method are offered.