The Holocaust Years Survivors Share Their Wartime Experiences

Before presenting data on our quantitative study of the functioning and well-being of Holocaust survivors in the aftermath of the trauma they endured, it is useful to provide a glimpse into the phenomenology of survivors as they recount their traumatic experiences. We also need to outline the historical reality that defined the man-made disaster known as the Holocaust. This chapter provides information from responses to qualitative questions by Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. They experienced the war in diverse countries of Europe including Germany, Austria, France, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania. The interviews provide glimpses of the stresses and coping responses of persons who were prisoners in concentration camps, part of the resistance movement or were refugees in hiding. The chapter is organized into sections: first we offer a general background detailing critical dates of anti-Semitic policies as these were implemented in the various countries. Then the focus shifts to a review of first-hand accounts of the stresses endured in the different countries where the respondents weathered the Holocaust.