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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| The Holocaust as a context for telling life stories | | Author(s) | Brian de Vries, Peter Suedfeld, Robert Krell |
| Journal title | International Journal of Aging and Human Development, vol 60, no 3, 2005 |
| Pages | pp 213-228 |
| Source | http://baywood.com |
| Keywords | Jewish ; War ; Memory and Reminiscence ; Social surveys. |
| Annotation | Using a narrative approach, this study explores the role of the Holocaust in the life stories of survivors, contrasted with two comparison groups (one Jewish, one non-Jewish) whose direct experiences did not include surviving the Holocaust. Using the the technique of the life line and measures such as number and type of life events identified, as well as the events marking the beginning and ending of the life story, several differences were found between the three groups. Survivors identified an average of 10 life events, fewer than the 18 for the non-Jewish comparison group, but more than the 7 for the Jewish comparison group. Most of these life events were positive, although less so for the Jewish comparison group, with very few future events identified by any of the groups. The war marked the beginning of the life story for most of the survivors, and their stories ended at an earlier age than did those for the comparison groups. Further World War II events predominated in the survivors' stories, as did family births and relationship events. It is proposed that the pronounced effect of Holocaust in survivors' life stories serves as an anchoring and contextual influence on the nature and quality of life of stories told. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-050613203 A |
| Classmark | TKS: VMC: DB: 3F |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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