Citation

Lamparter U, Holstein C, Nickel S, Wendell A. Z. Psychosom. Med. Psychother. 2021; 67(4): 468-485.

Vernacular Title

"Und sie dreht sich um und sieht das voll …" Psychische Folgen bei Kindern von Überlebenden des "Hamburger Feuersturms" (1943) in einer systematischen Evaluation

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht)

DOI

10.13109/zptm.2021.67.4.468

PMID

34904548

Abstract

"And she turns around and sees it fully …" Psychological consequences in children of survivors of the "Hamburg Firestorm" (1943) in a systematic evaluation Objectives: Is there a transmission of traumatic war experiences through the generations? In an interdisciplinary research project at Hamburg University psychoanalysts and historians investigated the long-term psychological effects of World War II bombing attacks in the "Hamburg Firestorm" (Operation Gomorrha) in 1943. In the frame of this work the paper asks for the psychological consequences in the following generation Methods: Evaluation of 45 completely transcribed life-historical interviews (28 female and 17 male of an average age of 50.2 years) with descendants of contemporary witnesses (at the time of the firestorm between 3 and 27 years old) by systematic diagnostic assessment.

RESULTS: There are no certain consequences for everyone. Most of the consequences occurred, when the mother was the contemporary witness and the child the daughter.

CONCLUSION: Different assessments on the intergenerational consequences of experiences of violence in World War II can be explained by the heterogeneity of the findings.

Language: de

Keywords

Air Raids; Interdisciplinary Research by Psychoanalysts and Historians; Intergenerational Consequences of World War II; Semiquantitative Evaluation of Interview Texts; Trauma of War