ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the author describes in brief the two mechanisms by which the transgenerational transmission of historical trauma occurs: "primitive identification" and "deposited representation". "Deposited representation" is a concept that emphasizes the role of the parent, who unconsciously, and sometimes even consciously, forces aspects of Grubrich-Simitis on to the child. In his book Persistent Shadows of the Holocaust: the Meaning to Those Not Directly Affected, R. Moses describes the Holocaust as an unprecedented, systematic attempt to achieve "racial purity" through the extermination of innocent people. Life-threatening external reality and terror reinforced their internal fears and made it more difficult for them to differentiate between internal and external reality and this had an impact on their defences. Life-threatening reality does not reactivate only a simple recollection of traumatic events, but it also reactivates in the children the mental representation of the Holocaust that they share with their parents.