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Testing the limits of trauma: the long-term psychological effects of the Holocaust on individuals and collectives

Department of History, LT 715, PO Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, USA.wkanstei{at}binghamton.edu

In light of the great interest in interdisciplinary trauma research, this article explores the philosophical-literary concept of cultural trauma from the perspective of psychiatric and psychoanalytical studies of the long-term consequences of the Holocaust. The extensive literature on the psychological after-effects of the Final Solution offers an exceptional opportunity to study the aftermath of extreme violence from different subject positions, including the perspectives of survivors, perpetrators, bystanders, and their descendants. Moving from the epicenter of the historical event of the Holocaust to its psychological periphery, the survey reveals how much the concept of trauma has changed in the course of five decades as a result of political and cultural developments. But the review of the literature also demonstrates that none of the existing concepts of Holocaust trauma is well suited to explain the effects of Holocaust representations on individuals or collectives who encounter the Final Solution only as a media event for educational or entertainment purposes.

Key Words: cultural trauma • Holocaust • media violence • psychological trauma • survivor syndrome

History of the Human Sciences, Vol. 17, No. 2-3, 97-123 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0952695104047299


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