The possibilities for the elaboration of trauma on memory, life experience and the culture of a jewish community

Abstract

The psychic trauma has received an increasing attention from various disciplines, since disasters, violence, catastrophes and poor living conditions affect the lives of many directly and indirectly. If the trauma is of social nature, this may have consequences for society as a whole, a people or nation. The history of the jewish people is marked by wars, persecution, territorial fights, diasporas, and even the Holocaust, the Nazi persecution that decimated some six million jews during World War II. The traumatic events of the past can have consequences in the way of jewish life today, the trauma can be spread through their own experiences as individuals and cultural events are a means of producing it. The general objective of this research is to analyze the impact of trauma and the experience of lived memory and meaning in the life of the individual who suffered and their descendants. More specifically, we assessed the experience of trauma and the development of jewish survivors of World War II and the perception of their descendants in this regard. Also, an evaluation of how members of jewish community live collective trauma's memory will be done, as well as an investigation of how it is experienced by them in the present time. The method of Oral History will be used for the interviews, and a linear narrative of what the individual participant considers significant. All interviews will be recorded and transcribed. The qualitative data analysis will be done from the perspective of the durkheimian sociologist Maurice Halbwachs, according to which memory has both an individual and collective character, being partly shaped by family and social groups. In addition, the Husserl's phenomenological method will be used to observe the common traits of the interviews and perceive the phenomenon: what is shown in the statements of interviewees. (AU)