Psychoanalyses of Children of Survivors From the Holocaust: Case Presentations and Assessment

Abstract

Case illustrations are used to support the hypothesis that there may be a survivor-child's complex, though a pathological syndrome cannot be detected. A metapsychological profile extrapolated from a long analysis is intended to serve as a vehicle for comparison with other similar cases. The salient features of this profile seem to be derived from the survivor's family's intense preoccupation with life and death and with the means of undoing the parent's past degradation and redeeming his guilt.