Vulnerability, Resilience, Memories, and Meaning

In prior chapters of our book we sought to delineate physical and mental health, social supports and coping resources among Holocaust survivors and a comparison group of immigrants. We also sought to understand how personal and social resources and quality of life outcomes are interrelated among aging survivors participating in our research. We noted typologies of adaptation to the aging process among the highly traumatized Holocaust survivors and the less traumatized immigrants who nevertheless experienced the stressors of being refugees, fleeing countries where threats of the Holocaust provided the impetus for escaping. Furthermore, we considered differential adaptations and long-term outcomes among those survivors and those immigrants living in the U.S. as compared to those who had migrated to Israel. In addition to employing social science methodologies of survey research, we also sought to give voice to our respondents regarding their experiences, anchored in the historical periods and social milieus in which they occurred.