I HOLOCAUST
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Seeing The World
Through Holocaust Eyes
MARGARET EISEN
Special to The Jewish News
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54
FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1991
471-3223
AMERICAN
CANCER
sociEnr
Help us keep winning.
ome survivors, even to
this day, view the
world through
"Holocaust eyes."
They stockpile food "just
in case." They get anxious at
the sight of police officers.
They won't go out of the
house without an extra
sweater, a box of crackers or
money for emergencies.
And when they meet
someone they might get
close to, they wonder: "Can I
trust this person? If a
disaster were to happen,
would he help me or turn me
in?"
A major problem for many
Holocaust survivors, accor-
ding to Simone Gorko, 36, a
psychologist and daughter of
a Holocaust survivor, is that,
generally, they have never
overcome their feelings
enough to get on with nor-
ms] lives.
Those feelings include loss,
fear, anger, confusion and
shame. But loss may be the
hardest to overcome.
"In the Jewish commun-
ity, when one person dies,
those who cared for him im-
merse themselves in mourn-
ing and get support, sit
shiva," Ms. Gorko said. "But
how do you mourn the loss of
an entire community? How
do you mourn the loss not
only of your loved ones, but
of your home, your job or
business, your identity?"
There was too much to
mourn, and nobody to help
the survivors mourn.
Nowadays, when some-
thing catastrophic occurs,
like the last large San Fran-
cisco earthquake, teams of
mental health professionals
are sent in to help people ex-
press their feelings, cope and
get back to normal lives. No
such help was available
right after the Holocaust.
Some survivors, depending
on their outlook, were able
to cope by using various sur-
vival mechanisms. Ms.
Gorko knows of one
Auschwitz survivor who was
unaware of the crematorium
because she somehow
managed to block out the
smells and missing people.
But some survivors wished
to talk about what happened
to them, yet found that
nobody wanted to listen.
Many suffered from what
Margaret Eisen writes from
Huntingdon Valley, Pa.
is now called post-traumatic
stress disorder, a condition
that includes flashbacks,
nightmares, emotional
detachment and withdrawal
from normal activities.
Regardless of their level of
pain, survivors generally
have not gone for profes-
sional help because Euro-
peans of their age group
thought, and still think, that
therapy is only for people
who are crazy, Ms. Gorko
said. Also, they believe they
can go it on their own be-
cause they managed to sur-
vive in extreme cir-
cumstances.
Now in their 60s, 70s and
80s, many survivors can't
enjoy what they have as
much as they could.
"It's normal in later life to
look back over your life and
come to terms with it," Ms.
Gorko said. "For anyone
Regardless of their
level of pain,
survivors generally
have not gone for
professional help
because
Europeans of their
age group thought,
and still think, that
therapy is only for
people who are
crazy.
with unresolved grief or
regrets, it's much more
difficult."
Instead of having pleasure
and peace, many survivors
are now depressed, anxious
and withdrawn and have
physical problems because of
what's bottled up inside of
them, Ms. Gorko said.
"They can't enjoy what
they are doing, if they're
always worrying about what
might happen," she said.
"The pain paralyzes them
from taking risks, going out,
traveling."
As though that weren't
enough, the unresolved feel-
ings of survivors have been
transferred, in many cases,
to their families, according
to Ms. Gorko.
"Their children had to
replace all those people and
things that were lost, but
that was a burden," she said.
"It led a lot of survivors to be
disappointed in their chil-
dren and led their children
to feel inadequate."
"It may now be causing
N