Undue Influence and the Holocaust
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/mar/15/trauma-second-generation-holocaust-survivors
I am searching undue influence and the Holocaust in my continuing argument against what THE WELL RESPECTED LAWYER wants the court to believe. That 70 + years after the Holocaust the survivors, and their children are immune to being affect by strategies like UNDUE INFLUENCE.
I am the son of two survicors.
I have been unduly influenced by the WELL RESPECTED LAWYER. Anything she put in front of me I signed, because if I could not trust my mother's attorney who could I trust? The world was proven to me a dangerous place. My parents were proof of that.
In a search engine I put in (how the holocaust affected survivors to undue influence)
The links I find I am placing in this post. The first link above goes to the trauma of SECOND GENERATION HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS.
https://forward.com/news/162030/can-holocaust-trauma-affect-third-generation/
Research is in process for third generation... money is being spent on this research. There are indications that third generations may or may not be affected and that any such affects may be varied across that generation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermath_of_the_Holocaust
http://www.sandrawilliams.org/HOLOCAUST/holocaust.html
Introduction
"
Psychological Effects
The long range psychological effects of the Holocaust on the mental
health of survivors are indeed multitudinal and complex. There can be
no doubt that profound shock
enveloped those arriving at the death camps. What had once been only
rumor was, in fact,
truth. Shock was followed by apathy. Martin Wangh asserts that
"recovery from these
two states could occur only by a means of psychic splitting. This meant
that some form of
denial or 'psychic numbing,' 'derealization,' or 'depersonalization.'
had to take place."27
Also, in general, the senses became heightened, and one lived as a
hunted animal, always
on the alert for danger. Any aggressive, vengeful impulse had to be
constantly suppressed, thus a paranoid attitude could become deeply
rooted. Apathy was a period filled
with extreme danger, any new arrival, who was already exhausted from the
dehumanizing
conditions of his transport or the ghettos, who remained in shock for
any length of time,
would surely be killed. And if he retreated into himself for too long,
he would be shunned
by other prisoners, and would be thus deprived of their support.
One way survivors coped with the prolonged horrors of the holocaust was
to sustain the hope of reuniting with their families. Upon liberation,
however, most of them
were confronted not only with the discovery that their family members
and friends had
perished, but also sometimes with the horrible circumstances of their
deaths. Many survivors, when physically able, returned to their home
towns only to find their property destroyed or taken over, their pre-war
neighbors indifferent or hostile, and their communities
obliterated. Some continued their search in DP camps and elsewhere in
Europe for several
years. While some did find a few surviving relatives, others either
never discovered what
happened to their loved ones or learned that every single Jewish person
they had ever
known before the war had been murdered. Unable to fully comprehend
their tragedy or to
express their grief or rage, the survivors still had to undertake the
task of rebuilding their
lives. As they began these new lives, living conditions were often
cramped and poor.
There were few clothes and household goods available and food was
rationed. Interesting
and well-paying jobs were hard to come by. Most of the young refugees
found themselves
in menial factory or office jobs, or in domestic work.
A frequent occurrence were marriages that seemed to disregard all
ordinary criteria.
Recreating a family and bringing a child into the world was a concrete
attempt to compensate for their losses, to counter the massive
disruption of their lives and to undo the dehumanization and loneliness
they had experience. Many survivors gave birth in DP camps as
soon as they were physically able. Almost without exception, the
newborn children were
named after those who had perished. The children were often viewed as a
symbol of victory over the Nazis. They were the future.
Uprooted, dislocated, and robbed, most survivors decided to leave
Europe and find
a safer place to live and rebuild their lives. Most of those who had
survived the war adhering to Zionism went to Israel. Others, who had
relatives in North America, went there
with the hope of recreating an extended family.
In the United States, in addition to the difficulties shared by most
immigrants, the
majority of survivors encountered a unique cluster of negative reactions
and attitudes.
Most arrived as penniless refugees and received initial financial aid
from relatives and
Jewish organizations. The survivors were provided with very little
help, however, in emotional rehabilitation. Their war accounts were too
horrifying for most people to listen to.
In addition, bystanders' guilt for having knowingly neglected to do
anything to prevent
their fate, led many to believe that survivors were pointing a finger at
them. Reactions
such as "that's in the past," "let bygones be bygones," "be grateful and
happy for getting
to America," or "look at the positive side of things" led most survivors
to keep silent.
The initial reaction of silence proved detrimental to the psychological
well being of
the survivors and to their families and to their integration into their
new cultures. The silence intensified survivors' sense of isolation,
and formed yet another obstacle to the
mourning process. This silence, imposed by others, proved particularly
painful to those
who had survived the war determined to bear witness. The only option
left to survivors,
other than sharing their Holocaust experiences with each other, was to
withdraw completely into their newly established families. It has only
been within the last 10 to 15 years
that people have wanted to hear, but now many of the adult survivors
have already passed
away.
A syndrome is a group of signs or symptoms that occur together and
characterize an
abnormality. After World War II, the medical profession in many
countries started to be
confronted with survivors of the Nazi concentration camps. It took
several years before a
unified scientifically based view of their problems could develop. In
1961, William G.
Nielderland, foremost psychoanalyst in the field of treating survivors,
coined the term Survivor Syndrome. He came to realize that the symptoms
affected not only survivors, but
their families as well. The predominant symptoms included an inability
to work, and even
at times to talk. Anxieties and fears of renewed persecution, such as
fearing uniformed police officers, were apparent. There were also many
feelings of guilt -- for having survived
when others had not. "Why am I alive?" Why not my sister and
brother...my whole family?" The survivors presented symptoms involving
thoughts of death, nightmares, panic
attacks, and various other psychosomatic symptoms. Marital problems
would combine
with disinterest in life, people, and sometimes even in reality. This
complex of disturbances that constitutes Survivors Syndrome can be
summarized as follows:
- A pervasive, depressive mood with morose behavior and the
tendency to withdraw, general apathy alternating with occasional
shortness, angry out bursts, feelings of helplessness, and insecurity,
lack of initiative and interest, prevalence of considerable
psychosomatic stress, persecutory attitude, and expression.
- A severe and persevering guilt complex related to the fact of having survived when so many others had perished.
- A partial or complete somatization that can range from
rheumatic or neurologic pains and aches in various body areas to such
psychosomatic diseases as peptic ulcers, colitis, respiratory and
cardiovascular syndrome, and hypertension. These may be accompanied by
mental confusion or nightmares.
- Anxieties and agitations that include inner tensions,
feelings of valuelessness, often culminates in paranoid ideation and
reaction. Such survivors may appear chronically apprehensive and afraid
to be alone.
- Personality changes showing more or less radical disruption of the entire maturational development, behavior, and outlook. In the most severe cases these are fully developed psychotic disturbances with delusional or semi-delusional symptomatology, paranoid formations, morbid brooding, complete inertia, or agitation."28
As is noted from the above definition, the symptomatology can range from mild
psychological disturbances to the very severe. Other well known psychologists in the field
of treatment of survivors agree with this definition -- Chodoff, Krystal, Hoppe, Korany,
and Barocus.29
In defining who is a survivor, Dr. Joel E. Dimsdale gives the following definition: "A
survivor is one who has encountered, been exposed to, or witnessed death, and has himself
or herself remained alive."30
Five psychological themes in survivors have been described. The first is the death
imprint, which is related to anxiety about death. Involved here are images not just of
death, but of grotesque and unacceptable forms of death. For many survivors, the imagery
can include many forms of memory -- the smoke or smell of the gas chambers, the brutal
killing of a single individual, or simply separation from a family member never seen again.
The survivor can feel stuck in time, unable to move beyond the imagery.
The second category is that of death guilt. Death guilt is epitomized
by the question
"Why did I survive, while he, she, or they did not?" Before this
happens, however, the imagery mentioned previously has already taken
shape. Part of the survivors' sense of horror
is the memory of their own helplessness and inability to act in ways
they would ordinarily
have thought appropriate (save people, resist, etc.), or even to feel
appropriately (rage,
compassion, etc.). Death guilt begins in the gap between the physical
and the psychological. That is one reason for the recurring imagery in
dreams and in waking life. Within the
imagery is the survivor's sense of debt to the dead and responsibility
to them. The irony is
that survivors are likely to feel more guilty than do the perpetrators.
The sense of guilt can
be especially strong concerning the death of close relatives or friends.
Guilt need not always be pathological as can be seen in the writings
of Elie Wiesel, who wrote of the transformation of death guilt and debt
to the dead, into that of responsibility in his One Generation After and
Night.
The third category of the survivor syndrome is that of psychic numbing
or the diminished capacity to feel. Psychologists have come to
recognize psychic numbing as a necessary psychological defense against
overwhelming images. However, this can easily out
live its usefulness and develop into withdrawal, apathy, depression, and
despair. The
most extreme cases were apparent in the musselmen in the camps. Many
survivors describe having survived by losing "all feeling." In
Hiroshima, survivors have made similar
comments such as "I became insensitive to human death."31 In numbing there is a separation of image and feeling.
A fourth category has to do with survivor sensitivity to or suspicion
of counterfeit
nurturance. The survivor feels the effects of his or her ordeal, but
frequently resents help
that is offered because it is perceived as a sign of weakness.
Following the death immersion experience, the survivor's sense of a
counterfeit universe may well continue. This
sense seems confirmed when they realize that others view them as in some
way carrying
the taint of the Holocaust -- as persons to be feared and avoided as
though they were contagious. They may in some cases inwardly accept
this social response and feel themselves
to be tainted. These conflicts can lead to patterns of distrust in
human relationships, mutual antagonism, and the sense that much of the
world around them, even life itself, is counterfeit.
The fifth and final category is the survivor's struggle for meaning. Survivors of
Nazi death camps have been called "collectors of justice." They seek something beyond
economic or social restitution. They seek something closer to acknowledgement of crimes
committed against them and punishment of those responsible in order to reestablish at
least the semblance of a moral universe. The impulse to bear witness, beginning with a
sense of responsibility to the dead, can readily extend into a mission. For many survivors,
the mission took the form of involvement in the creation of the State of Israel.
Where death occurs on the scale of the Holocaust, survivors are denied not only the
physical arrangements of mourning, such as the grave, the remains, and the service, but
also the psychological capacity to absorb and to feel their deaths and to complete the
mourning process. This aborted mourning can create for the survivor's existence, a "life of
grief." The survivor may be especially vulnerable to various kinds of psychological and
bodily disturbances."
From Sandra Williams link
" Problems encountered with the children were multiple. Most had no papers; the very young did not know their birth dates; age had to be determined from X-rays to establish approximate age by looking at bone structure. At the dinner table, children who had been used to being hungry and hiding food, would snatch and grab food and stuff it in their pockets. "
Exactly what my mother did in the nursing home. Whenever she passed tables with food, she grabbed something and hid it so no one would see...and THE WELL RESPECTED LAWYER says 70 years later the survivors are just fine! Damn her. My mother was low hanging fruit to be picked easily at will by THE WELL RESPECTED LAWYER who seems dirtier and dirtier the more I research and remember. Shame on the large firm for making such a vulture PARTNER!!!
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