Holocaust Trauma and Psychic Deformation: Psychoanalytic Reflections of a Holocaust Survivor (The New International Library of Group Analysis)

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The camp housed several thousand Jewish prisoners in four sub camps under the pretext that we would be exchanged for German nationals held by the Western Allies, or for hard currency. We were classed as ‘exchange Jews’ and put in the Sternlager (Star Camp) where were allowed to wear our own clothes but with a yellow star. We had to stand at roll call twice a day, often for hours. Mothers were allowed to look after their children and I imagine my mother struggling to hold me for long periods. My father was given the official task of cutting the hair of the children – Children’s camp hairdresser (Lager Friseur). The Russians had commandeered the village of Troibitz and made the villagers nurse the Jewish prisoners. They had no medicines but used alcohol as an anaesthetic and antibiotic. 20% still died. The Russians assured us that most of the German population in the surrounding area had fled and that many of the abandoned farmhouses contained food, clothing and bedding that was there for the taking.

Percy Cater, the Daily Mail’s Parliamentary Correspondent at the time, wrote: "One after another MP stood until all, in their hundreds, sombre-garbed and sombre-faced ranks, were on their feet. I can tell you there were many eyes which were not dry and there was not, I dare swear, a throat without a lump in it." My father became an important aide to the Jewish Camp administrator Jacque Albala and he used his linguistic skills to buy costume jewellery from the French women to make up jewellery for the infamous Irma Griese senior women’s guard. She was deceived into thinking she was being given valuable jewellery and it made her less murderous. On our return to Przemysl our lives were threatened by the Army of Cryjova, Polish Nationalists and we fled to France. After obtaining British passports, we came to in England and lived in the Jewish East End in Old Montague Street. We were virtually unique in being an entire nuclear family of Polish survivors. We became the first port of call for newly arrived Polish survivors. I was thus brought up in a community of Holocaust survivors.The trauma when you walk around it comes from the almost mundane aspects of humanity. It’s seeing the mountains of hair, the piles of shoes, their hopeful suitcases which loudly proclaim their names because they were told they would be reunited with their things, which gives just a small taste of the enormity of what was done. All those lives lost.

It felt incredible eerie walking around. In some ways it felt wrong. This is where more than 1million people died and yet here I was, alive and walking through a museum. It felt quite uncomfortable.An insightful and honest account of massive psychic trauma, this remarkable book will resonate not only with those affected by or interested in the experiences of Holocaust survivors, but also any clinical practitioner working with clients who have experienced this type of intense trauma. It has added symbolism because of the war in Ukraine, where about a million of the Holocaust’s six million victims died – and where Russian president Vladimir Putin now stands accused of genocide.

Almagor, M. ( 1981) Survivors of the Holocaust and their children: current statement and adjustment. In This carefully crafted selection of prize winning theoretical and clinical studies of the personal and interpersonal consequences of the complex trauma of Shoah survivors is not only deeply moving but also thoughtful and instructive. The long journey from Belsen to accreditation as a physician and as a Group Analyst is an inspiring demonstration of how some people make creative use of their experience of powerlessness, loneliness, and envy. Our groups and societies can become our psychic guardians, provided that we care for them as much as we need them to carefor us." – Earl Hopper, PhD, Psychoanalyst and Group Analyst It was a moment like no other and was described by one parliamentary correspondent as being 'like the frown of the conscience of mankind.' The effects of my traumatic childhood were prolonged and delayed my progress in education. I eventually decided I wished to devote my life to the healing of suffering by becoming a doctor. Ten years of effort and determination saw me gain entry to Medical School.

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Holocaust education is “a work in progress,” she said. “People think now it is changing because soon, the witnesses will be gone. But that is not true. It’s been in transition all the time.” Spending time at this camp has had a huge impact on my life. Today, I am moved beyond words. Seeing the young people on this trip is so inspiring,” Ledger told the delegation. It is the first time the march has taken place since 2019 because of Covid – and is likely to be the last for many older survivors, some of whom are in their 90s and wish to make this their final journey. Written by a survivor of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, this moving and important book examines the massive psychic trauma suffered by a generation of Holocaust survivors. It not only provides both an intimate and personal reflection on these harrowing events, but also offers an in-depth, clinical perspective on an often-misunderstood phenomenon. Krell, R. ( 1985) The Psychological and Medical Effects of Concentration Camps and Related Persecutions on Survivors of the Holocaust: A Research Bibliography.