The Experience of Being a Hidden Child Survivor of the Holocaust
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING A HIDDEN CHILD SURVIVOR OF THE HOLOCAUST Vicki Gordon Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2002 School of Behavioural Science University of Melbourne ] ABSTRACT Child survivors of the Holocaust have only recently been recognized as a distinguishable group of individuals who survived the war with a different experience to the older survivors. This thesis focuses on a specific group of child survivors, those who survived by going into hiding. In hiding, some remained “visible” by hiding within convents, orphanages or with Christian families. Others were physically hidden and had to disappear from sight. Most children often combined these two experiences in their hiding. The intent of this study was to explore the experience of these hidden children using Giorgi’s empirical phenomenological methodology and to gain a richer understanding of the nature of this experience. Phenomenological analyses of the recorded and transcribed interviews of 11 child survivors were conducted and organized into meaning units which subsequently yielded situated structures from which the general structures evolved. These analyses revealed that the defining moment of being hidden for these children was the suppression of their identities as Jews. By being hidden, they had to deny the essence of their core selves, including their names, family details and connections to others in an effort to conceal their Jewishness. Other structures to emerge as part of hiding were the pervading fear which enveloped their entire experience in hiding and the sense of suspended normality during this period, which sometimes extended over a period of years. A “cut-offness” and personality constriction seemed to be present throughout the descriptions of these children and appears to have developed as a method of coping with the trauma of their childhood. Overlaying all of this were general insecurities about the capriciousness of the war and the contextual specifics of their actual hiding places to which each child had to adjust. Connections/relationships to another person seemed to be highly significant in the dynamics of the everyday during the experience of hiding and often shaped some of the psychological and emotional experiences of hiddenness. ii ] DECLARATION This is to certify that the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD. Due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used. This thesis does not exceed 100,000 words. iii ] ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr Peter Parker, who has introduced me to the world of phenomenological psychology and has advised and guided me throughout, even beyond his university commitments. I am thankful for his intellectual contributions and methodological guidance, as well as his understanding of my various interests. My secondary supervisor, Professor Alex Wearing, was always encouraging of my endeavours and was supportive throughout. Professor Dreyer Kruger, kindly agreed to read my thesis and offer his feedback, for which I am enormously grateful. A former colleague, Dr Jen McIntosh, was available to offer useful and practical methodological advice, of which I am appreciative. Dr Paul Valent, psychiatrist, academic and child survivor encouraged my research in this area from my very initial meeting with him, and his presence and contributions throughout have been much appreciated. Similarly the Child Survivor Group of Melbourne have been extremely generous and welcoming towards me and their input has been invaluable. The International Human Science Conference in Japan, 2001, introduced me to a community of researchers who are genuinely interested in the growth of qualitative research; to attend and present at this conference was inspirational. The cyber-world of the Internet allowed me access to a community of scholars and academics, who have all been generous in their responses and encouraging of this work. They include: Professor Giorgi, Professor Aanstoos and Professor Brooke in the human sciences arena, and Dr Brom, Professor Bar-On and Dr Hollander-Goldfein, researchers in Holocaust issues. Some of these individuals I have met; others are known to me only through e-mail correspondence. Thanks to each of them for all their help. iv Thanks to the Melbourne University for awarding the Melbourne Research Scholarship which contributed to facilitating this research. Sincere thanks beyond words go to the child survivors who opened up their hearts with their stories and were very generous of their time to me. This thesis could not have been carried out without their contributions. I have great admiration for these “children” who have carved out new lives for themselves in Australia after enduring a childhood trauma of overwhelming proportions. Finally, my thanks to my husband and family, who have always been supportive and encouraging of my work. Without this support, this thesis would not have eventuated. v ] TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract........................................................................................................................................................................... ii Declaration ....................................................................................................................................................................iii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................................iv Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................................................vi List of Tables ..............................................................................................................................................................vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................1 1.0 OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 LITERATURE REVIEW ON CHILD SURVIVORS ........................................................................ 3 1.1.1 Early Literature: .................................................................................................................................. 3 1.1.2 Beginnings of Research into Child Survivors: .............................................................................. 6 1.1.3 First Conference for Hidden Child Survivors: .............................................................................10 1.1.4 The Relationship Between Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Child Survivors: ...............11 1.1.5 More Recent Research: ....................................................................................................................12 1.1.6 Qualitative Studies: ..........................................................................................................................15 1.2 AIMS OF THIS STUDY .......................................................................................................................20 CHAPTER 2: METHOD ......................................................................................................................................21 2.0 OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................21 2.1 SUBJECTS ...............................................................................................................................................21 2.2 A NOTE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SUBJECTS & THE RESEARCHER ........31 2.3 A METHODOLOGICAL NOTE ON DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED IN THE RESEARCH .............................................................................................................................................35 2.4 THE STEPS OF THE ANALYSIS ......................................................................................................36 2.5 COLLECTION OF THE INTERVIEWS ...........................................................................................40 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND FINDINGS ....................................................................................................41 3.0 OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................41 3.1 OVERVIEW OF INDIVIDUAL ANALYSIS ...................................................................................42 3.1.1 Subject Histories: ..............................................................................................................................42 3.1.2 Subject 1: ‘F’ (a) Background details: .......................................................................................42 (b) ‘F’ Original Interview: ..................................................................................43 (c) Natural and Transformed Meaning Units for the Experience of Being Hidden for ‘F’: ...............................................................................63 (d) Situated Structure for ‘F’:............................................................................100 vi 3.2 OVERVIEW OF GENERAL STRUCTURES ................................................................................106 3.3 ELABORATION OF THE GENERAL