On Sunday October 30, I will be giving a talk entitled : “Relationships in the Lives of Children of Holocaust Survivors- Reverberations of the Legacy of the Holocaust”, starting at noon at the Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue (at 103rd St.).
The talk will be held at the membership meeting of the Fraternal Order of Bendin-Sosnowicer. Attendance is by reservation only. See the flyer attached below for more information.
Irit Felsen
Thank you for a very well researched and provocative presentation. It was obvious that many of your comments touched on the collective experience and summarized the life stories of many of the second generation members in the audience. It was gratifying to discover that while we tend to be overachievers and exhibit resilience in the face of our parents’ adversity, in some way trying to compensate for their losses, and are in many ways healthier than our non-survivor offspring peers, we also have latent undercurrents of second-hand trauma issues, separation anxieties, individuation difficulties, and distorted cognitions about mundane aspects of daily living, such as food, shelter and the intrinsic value of possessions, that reflect “then” thinking about “now” challenges. I am glad you had enough time to share strategies for successfully coping with our family baggage, and am looking forward to learn more in your monthly meetings with survivors’ children.
Thank you so much from all of us in the Fraternal Order of Bendin-Sosnowicer who had the privilege of attending your amazing and enlightening presentation last Sunday. You left us speechless and wanting to hear more. We learned so much from you about our relationships with our parents, our siblings, our spouses and our children. The findings of your research and your insights clearly resonated with all of us. As so many of our attendees expressed, we — who grew up with Holocaust Survivor parents — could have benefited enormously from these insights all these years ago. Judging from our members’ reaction, you will have many new readers subscribing to your blog. We look forward to welcoming you back very soon for “Part 2”.