I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors

Since the 1980s, numerous representations in the Western world have introduced second-generation Holocaust survivors as protagonists and describe growing up in the shadow of the parents’ trauma. I was a Child of Holocaust Survivors (15 minutes, Ann Marie Fleming) is the first animated documentary dealing entirely with postmemory of a second-generation Holocaust survivor. The film is based on the graphic novel of the same name by Bernice Eisenstein in which she describes in the first person growing up in the 1950s in Toronto’s Kensington Market neighborhood. Eisenstein took an active part in the production of the film, and her voice narrates the animated documentary. The article analyzes how through the particularities of the animation’s textures, the film opens up new ways of visualizing themes that previously eluded live action films: Holocaust-related fantasies, dreams, and hallucinations.