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Israeli children of Holocaust survivors
have had a very different experience than
their American counterparts.

LARRY DERFNER

Israel Correspondent

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60

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 1992

erusalem — Children
of Holocaust survivors
in America are so well
identified, to themselves and
to the Jewish community,
that they go by a shorthand
name: "2-Gs" — the Second
Generation.
In Israel there are an
estimated half-million 2-Gs,
but, unlike their American
counterparts, most of them
deny having any unique his-
tory or emotional burdens,
and see no reason to make
an issue of their background.
This is only one of the dif-
ferences between the Israeli
and American Second Ge-
neration. Many others came
to light last week when
about 200 2-Gs, mainly from
Israel and the U.S., gathered
here for the Second Annual
International Conference of
Children of Holocaust Sur-
vivors.
"I think the Second Ge-
neration in America can
understand the passivity of
their parents better than the
Second Generation in
Israel," said Yoram Amit,
head of the Jerusalem bran-
ch of Amcha, a therapeutic
organization for survivors
and children of survivors.
This abhorrence of passivi-
ty was seen especially dur-
ing the Gulf War, when
Israeli 2-Gs living in the
target areas of Greater Tel
Aviv and Haifa lost no time
in gathering up their
families and driving around
the country like motorized
nomads, searching for safe
ground. They needed to do
something, to take their fate
into their own hands, in the
face of the Scud attacks.
Unconsciously or con-
sciously, Israeli children of
survivors learned from their
parents' experience that
passivity is the most
dangerous response to
threat. "The fact that Israel
decided to sit quietly and do
nothing during the war cre-
ated a fear that was very
difficult for the Second Ge-
neration to deal with, more
difficult than for other
Israelis," Mr. Amit said.
Because of their parents'
history, Israeli children of
survivors tend to be more ex-
treme than most of their

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countrymen in their political
views., toward the Israeli-
Arab conflict, suggested
Dina Vardi, a supervisor at
Amcha and author of the
book, "Memorial Candles:
Children of the Holocaust."
Israeli 2-Gs are apt to end
up either "identifying with
the victim or with the ag-
gressor," Ms. Vardi said.
"Those who identify with
the victim have more sen-
sitivity to human rights,
more sympathy for the Pa-
lestinians, and join the left.
Those who identify with the
aggressor say, 'We have to
be tough and strong with the
enemy, and to stay on top.'
They seem to vote in large
numbers for the far-right."
With all the war and ter-
rorism and threat that is
part of Israeli life, 2-Gs here
have a greater sense of
security than those in
America, because in Israel
"they can take action collec-

In recent years,
Israel has begun to
look back with
embarrassment on
its caustic
reception of the
Holocaust
survivors.

tively as Jews," Mr. Amit
added. Army service allows
them the opportunity to do
just that. It dissipates the
hated feeling of helplessness
they inherited from their
parents.
However, leaving home
and going off to the Army is
harder for children of sur-
vivors, and their parents,
than for other Israeli
families, he continued. For
the recruits it is not the fear
of danger, but the guilt over
leaving their parents — who
have already suffered so
greatly, and who need them
so much —that makes the
three-year induction at age
18 as wrenching as it is. For
the parents, many of whom
lost children in the Holo-
caust, it is the heightened
meaning of "losing" their
living children to the Army,
and the magnified fear of
what may befall them.
Leaving home and starting
a family is an unusually

Continued on Page 62