Ronit Fisher, Ph.D.
Western Galilee College
[email protected]
The Creators of Legacies: A Comparative Historical Study of Works of Art and
Literature
of Second and Third Generation Holocaust Survivors in Israel and in the U.S.A
Analysis of the Problem, Background and Significance:
The Second World War and the Holocaust ended in 1945, but the echoes of that
terrible period remain-not only in the essence and works of many Holocaust survivors
who are still alive today, but also in their children's works. Since the 1970 's, we have
witnessed the growth and the enrichment of expression of the "2nd and 3rd generation
phenomena". A large variety of activities and avenues of expression, of and for
children of Holocaust survivors, are found in most Jewish centers in the USA and in
Israel. This began with psychological support groups, and today consists of hundreds
of internet support forums where people speak out about how their lives have been
impacted by being born to survivors. The children of Holocaust survivors have been
creating a new genre of individual expression in literature, art and music, as well as in
cinema and the electronic media. This phenomenon is spreading and strengthening
both in Israel and in the USA, as the second generation survivors experience
parenthood and middle age. Most of the survivors' children are dealing with "the
presence of absence" - the absence of an inheritance and of a past. They are
concerned about the continuity of the legacy they have been handed by their parents
and family, especially in the face of the intensification of Holocaust denial.
The Purpose of this Research is to observe and compare the basic elements and
characteristics of the 'second and third generation' groups living in the two largest
Jewish centers - the USA and Israel, as shown through their creative works in
literature and graphic art. The importance of this issue lies in its role in
understanding the 2nd and 3rd generation experience within the globalization process
in the framework of the debate over “Collective Memory”.
Hypotheses and Basic Research Questions:
1. Despite the differences in the geo-political, security and social survival
experience in the USA and Israel, the psychological reactions, as reflected in
the survivors' works, will be similar. This assumption brings up the main
question: Can the common characteristics within the works of art and
literature of 2nd and 3rd generation Holocaust survivors in Israel and America
prove that there are cosmopolitanized memories which create the collective
memory of this community and are not connected to geographic territory or
nationality?
2. Is the spreading and the strengthening of the Holocaust denial phenomenon
becoming an essential motif within the 2nd and 3rd generations' works, both in
the USA and in Israel? My assumption is that, despite the differences, there
are similar characteristics (of concern and anger) reflected in the works
created in both countries.