Compare And Contrast The First And Second Generation Survivors Of The Holocaust

The first generation reacts differently from the second generation when it comes to their personal connection to the Holocaust because they were the ones that experienced the tragedy. The second generation personally connects to the Holocaust through the memories and of their loved ones that had firsthand experience with the Holocaust. The third generation can only personally connect to the Holocaust through the stories and family belongings that are passed down from generation to generation. The first generation and second generation can confront their connection to the Holocaust by making people aware of what many went through during the tough times and the third generation can overcome the tragedy by passing down family history from generation

to generation to keep the memory of their loved ones alive.
The first-generation survivors have post-traumatic stress when they think of themselves surviving throughout the Holocaust.

Fear and physical response persist beyond the event of the Holocaust for them. First generation survivors react differently than any other generation because they have the first-hand experience and they were the ones that had to live through the inhumane events that happened during the Holocaust. Every time a first-generation survivor is asked to talk about their experience throughout the Holocaust, they relive the intensity of the horrifying history. An example of a first-generation survivor reliving the horrific events of the Holocaust was the daughter that appeared in court to testify against Hanna. The daughter describes an event that stuck with her through her entire life. She brought up the death march that took place during the winter. She described how she and the other prisoners had to tie rags and sheets of newspaper on their feet as they walked around the camp because they had no shoes. She also brought up how during the death march or how she described it as a “death trot” or a “death gallop”, many collapsed along the way and “others never got to their feet again” (Schlink 121). The women that never got to their feet again after the death march ended up dead within the same week. The daughter relives the death march and thinks about all the innocent women that died because of the death march that was unnecessary. The first-generation

survivors can deal with or perhaps overcome their personal tragedy by describing the terrible things that happened to them. They can confront the tragedy by educating the other generations that do not have firsthand experience of the Holocaust like they do.
The second generation react differently to their personal connection with the Holocaust than say those of the first and third generation.

The second generation wants to know more about what their loved ones went through during the Holocaust. The second generation gathers stories and information about the Holocaust and enlighten the individuals that do not have knowledge of the horrific history. An example in Maus I by Art Spiegelman is when the son is trying to gather stories and information from his father that experienced the Holocaust first hand. He gets his father to talk about his personal life with Anja and his time in Poland and the war. With all the information that his father retold, Spiegelman could create two books that could then give knowledge to someone that doesn’t have any background of the Holocaust. With Spiegelman asking his father to retell the events that he went through during the Holocaust, he can confront his father’s personal history and enlighten others about the nation’s horrifying past. Also, with Spiegelman’s books, he uses a technique with the sizes of the frames throughout each page of the books. He changes some of the sizes of curtain frames because they hold important information and he wants to draw the readers eyes to the frame so they can take in such

information.
The third generation is different than the other two generations when it comes to their personal connection with the Holocaust because they only have a personal connection to stories that were told and family property. The duty of a third generation Holocaust survivor is to keep any family belongings in their possession for it to be passed down from generation to generation to keep the memory of their loved ones in their mind who experienced the Holocaust. An example of the third generation keeping memories within the family is seen during the movie, Woman in Gold. Maria Altmann happens to be attending her sister’s funeral when she discovers letters in her sister’s possession dating to the late 1940s. The letters that Altmann found reveal an attempt to recover artwork owned by the Altmann family that was left behind during her family’s attempt for freedom and as stolen by the Nazis. Individuals from the third generation can overcome the tragedy of the Holocaust by passing down information about their loved ones and keeping family belongings in their possession. So, in Altmann’s case, she travels to Austria to try and get back the painting of her aunt that is being held in an art museum. Of course, the country’s minter and art director are not ready to part ways with the Woman in Gold painting. After consideration of both sides of the dispute, the arbitration panel ruled in favor of Altmann, to return her painting. Once Altmann has possession of the painting she can keep it to remember the lives of her loved ones. Altmann can then pass the painting on to the next generation to keep the memory of their family members alive.