The paper discusses observations from encounters with adult children of Holocaust survivors suggesting accentuated differences among adult siblings in their respective roles within the family of origin, as well as in the siblings’ general adaptation styles. These dissimilarities are often accompanied by a negative quality of the relationships between the siblings and mutual resentments that can escalate to complete cutoffs. It is proposed that effects related to un-metabolized parental trauma infuse implicit and explicit interactions in the family and polarize normative processes of sibling differentiation. Such processes represent intergenerational transmission related to parental trauma that extend beyond the parent–child dyad, influence the family as a system and often damage the sibling bond. The resulting loss of family connections for the third generation perpetuates the loss of ties with extended family and the broken generational continuity which have been some of the devastating consequences of genocidal trauma.
The paper has been accepted for publication and permission granted to post the final version on my website prior to formal publication. Please feel free to read the full paper from this link.
Irit Felsen
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