Memorial Candles: Children of the Holocaust

by Dina Wardi

Overview

As the children of the Holocaust reach adulthood, they often need professional help in establishing a new identity and self-esteem. During their childhood their parents have unconsciously transmitted to them much of their own trauma, investing them with all their memories and hopes, so that they become 'memorial candles' to those who did not survive. The book combines verbatim transcriptions of dialogues in individual and group psychotherapy sessions with analyses of dreams, fantasies and childhood memories. Diana Wardi traces the emotional history of her patients, accompanying them on a painful and moving journey into their inner world. She describes the children's infancy in the guilt-laden atmosphere of survivor families, through to their difficult separation from their parents in maturity. she also traces in detail the therapeutic process which culminates in the patients' separation from the role of 'memorial candle'.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781317799542
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/04/2014
Series:	The International Library of Group Psychotherapy and Group Process
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Born in Italy in 1938, Dina Wardi was taken to Israel by her Zionist parents at the age of one year and thus escaped the fate of her people in the Holocaust. She lives in Jerusalem, where she conducts her psychotherapeutic practice.

Table of Contents

Introduction; Chapter 1 Survivor parents - uprooting and separation traumas; Chapter 2 Designating the children as ‘memorial candles’; Chapter 3 The dialogue between survivor mothers and their infants; Chapter 4 Identification with death; Chapter 5 The aggressor and the victim; Chapter 6 Self-esteem and sexual identity; Chapter 7 Parting from the role of ‘memorial candle’;

Editorial Reviews

Jerusalem psychotherapist Wardi combines excerpts of group therapy sessions with a review of relevant literature to analyze dynamics in the lives of children of Holocaust survivors. Far more technical than Helen Epstein's journalistic exploration, Children of the Holocaust , this book should be useful for specialists. Wardi observes that survivor parents designate certain children as ``memorial candles'' to fill an emotional void and to continue a family history. Some ``memorial candles'' function well at work but poorly in human relationships; Wardi suggests that results from a combination of emotional deprivation and maternal overprotection. Children of those who actively struggled against the Nazis have a strong, sometimes compulsive, drive to achieve; children of more passive ``victims'' often choose professions that involve helping or protecting others. Only when ``memorial candles'' relax their rigid defense systems can they confront how their parents' humiliation influenced their distorted self-images and sexual identities. Wardi concludes that ``memorial candles'' must undergo several stages of psychotherapy in order to leave the role assigned by their parents and search for their roots. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

As a psychotherapist in private practice in Jerusalem, the author has treated dozens of children of Holocaust survivors. In most families, she found one of the children designated (usually unconsciously) as a ``memorial candle'' for relatives who perished. To a much greater extent than other siblings, this child assumes the burden of participating in the parents' emotional world and the special mission of serving as a link preserving the past and joining it to the present and future. Wardi's account of how she has helped her patients achieve maturity by relinquishing this enormous emotional burden, told largely through transcripts of actual therapy sessions, is deeply moving. Mental health professionals will have a special interest in this landmark work, but lay readers concerned with the Holocaust and its continuing emotional effects will certainly want to read it, too. Highly recommended. --Marcia G. Fuchs, Guilford Free Lib., Ct.

Library Journal

Wardi, a psychotherapist, reports on her work (in individual and group therapy settings) with the children of Holocaust survivors. These children, she says, become in effect "memorial candles," carrying the at once stifling and inspiring legacy of their parents' pain, memories, hopes and expectations. Originally published in Hebrew in 1990. Paper edition (unseen), $16.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

' ... great value to all those whose work brings them face to face with the traumatic effects of the Holocaust upon survivors of all nationalities and their children ... special interest to those involved in the study of post-traumatic stress in general and intergenerational trauma transmission in particular.' - American Academy of Psychoanalysis Journal

'A powerful, richly informative book.' - Jewish Chronicle

From the Publisher