People inherit many things from their parents – money, possessions, values, genes – but many children of Holocaust survivors feel they also inherit the responsibility to educate future generations about what happens when people stand idly by as evil flourishes.
“Second-Hand Survival: Inheriting the Holocaust” drew nearly 300 people to Feb. 26 event cosponsored by Jewish Family and Children’s Services and Phoenix Holocaust Survivors Association. The event featured guest panelists Howard Reich, journalist, author and son of Holocaust survivors; and Marc Agronin, MD, geriatric psychiatrist at Miami Jewish Health Systems, who were in town for a JFCS mental health workshop on deferred post-traumatic stress the following day. Following the program, about 75 children and grandchildren of survivors gathered to discuss how to create a local second generation group here.
Janice Friebaum, who moved to Scottsdale two years ago, has helped start or been involved in groups for children of Holocaust survivors in Florida, Washington and Oregon. The collaborative event arose after Janice heard about the JFCS event while trying to develop a Phoenix group. Janice says while she is willing to share her expertise from working with groups elsewhere, she hopes her leadership is temporary and others will step forward to lead the new group.
Most second-generation survivors range in age from their 40s to early 70s, she says, noting many are in their 60s due to a post-World War II baby boom among survivors that mirrored that phenomenon in the general community. Like many of her peers, Janice says, “From a very early age I knew something was different with Daddy.” But whenever she asked him, his
response was always the same two words, “The War.” It wasn’t until Janice was nearly 30 that he began to speak about his experiences in the Warsaw Ghetto, Jewish children’s hospital, Radom Ghetto, slave labor camps, Dachau, Death March and liberation. Her father, Morris Friebaum, came to the United States in 1946 with the aid of HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) and in 1958 married Ruth (now deceased). He now lives in Florida. Janice’s own extensive research revealed that all his immediate family had perished in the Holocaust. “Interests have changed as the cohort has aged,” says Janice. “Twenty or 30 years ago the theme was introspection and support for one another. Now I find most children have matured and worked through (the difficult issues of growing up as a survivor’s child). Now more are focused on continuing education around the Holocaust for the Jewish and general communities.”
Since Holocaust education will soon enter the post-survivor era, many second and third generation survivors are stepping forward to bear witness. Many say they feel a responsibility to ensure their families’ stories continue to be told and feel they are the best people to do so. Janice says three other areas of interest to many second- and third-generation survivors are: social justice issues from our perspective as survivors’ children; assistance to elderly survivors; and compiling oral histories of our families – “there is a real sense of urgency to get this done now.”
At the special session after the February program, Janice says attendees filled out a survey that shows most are interested in educational programs and social events. Those who expressed in- terest in helping formalize a next generations group are currently working to develop a mission statement and begin planning activities. For updates on the group, visit phoenixphsa.org and click on “generations after” or email phx2g3g@gmail.com.
