‘My grandfather was a Nazi and I just wanted to say…’ | Timesofisrael
What if his grandfather murdered my grandfather? This bizarre question sometimes pops into my head when I meet a German, even in a benign business context, as happens regularly.
The Holocaust looms large in my family. My late father survived Auschwitz, and with his brother were the only survivors from a large family. My grandfather died just weeks before liberation. The trauma that survivors suffered is transmitted to their children both through their behavior as parents, and epigenetically. In the latter case, we end up with remnants of the effects of trauma but without experiencing the trauma that caused it, which can lead to a bizarre dissonance.
The Holocaust looms large in my family. My late father survived Auschwitz, and with his brother were the only survivors from a large family. My grandfather died just weeks before liberation. The trauma that survivors suffered is transmitted to their children both through their behavior as parents, and epigenetically. In the latter case, we end up with remnants of the effects of trauma but without experiencing the trauma that caused it, which can lead to a bizarre dissonance.
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