HUNGARY1875-1945

WHY THE INDEX IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BLOG

2005-01-08T07:20:00.000-05:00

Dear Readers:

I have written to the kind people who offer this blog free of charge - but they have not yet gotten back to me as to why the index of my blog is at the bottom and is not complete.

I offer my apologies, as this makes the blog hard to read.

I am working to fix it myself.

Thank you for your patience.

Eva Weaver

PS. as you may notice I cannot shrink my picture and put it in the upper right hand corner either......

R.J. RUMMEL - 20TH CENTURY DEMOCIDE - EXCELLENT! PLEASE READ

2005-01-06T13:55:00.000-05:00

20TH CENTURY
DEMOCIDE

Nearly 170 million people probably have been murdered by governments in the 20th Century, 1900-1987; over four-times those killed in combat in all international and domestic wars during the same years. What are the statistics of this global bloodbath and what governments have done this? What about the United States?

CONTENTS

Definitions
- The new concept of democide: Definition and qualifications [1]
- Article: What is Genocide?
- Democide versus genocide: which is what?

Chapter: 1900-1987: 169,198,000 murdered [1]
- Article: pilot study: war isn't this century's biggest killer
- References: overall sources of estimates/quotes/information [5]
- Table: summary by regime [5]
- Figure: democide year-by-year and war and rebellion-dead [5]

What governments murdered how many?
- Table: summary of megamurderers--regimes that murdered 1,000,000 people or more [1]
- Chapter: the centi-kilo murderers--regimes that murdered 100,000 to 999,999 people or more [5]
  - Tables: estimates, calculations, and sources, by states and by quasi-states [5]
- Chapter: the lesser murderers--regimes that murdered less than 100,000 people [5]
  - Tables: estimates, calculations, and sources [5]
- Chapter: American bombing and other democide [5]
  - Table: estimates, calculations, and sources [5]
- Paper: how many did communism murder?
- Chapter section: Khmer Rouge Cambodian democide [15]
- Chapter section: Rwandan genocide [15]

Chapter: democide in totalitarian states: mortacracies and megamurderers--an annotated bibliography
Chapter: the Holocaust in comparative perspective

Paper: democide since World War II

Chapter: the social field of democide [5]
- Tables: descriptive statistics among types of democide; their intercorrelations, and factors [5]

The table in the upper right is from Table 1.2 of Death By Government.

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http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/20TH.HTM

HITLER AND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

2005-01-06T13:27:00.001-05:00

1939 Adolf Hitler, on his way toward the "final solution" for the Jewish people, made this statement of his plans in Poland:

I have placed my death-head formations in readiness - for the present only in the East - with orders to them to send to death mercilessly and without compassion , men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we gain the living space (lebensraum) which we need. Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians? (italics added)

CHRONOLOGY OF THE HOLOCAUST - BY LINDA M. WOOLF, Ph.D.

2005-01-06T13:01:00.000-05:00

Chronology of the Holocaust 1933 - 1945

**Prior to 1933**
1920	Nazi Party Platform Drafted
1921	Occupation of the Ruhr by France - results is general strike until Fall of 1923
1923	Hyperinflation - German Economy Collapses Failed Beer Hall Putsch - Hitler imprisoned - writes Mein Kampf
1929	Beginning Worldwide Economic Crisis Collapse of Great Coalition in German Government

**The Holocaust 1933-1945**
1933
January 30	Hitler is appointed Reich Chancellor of Germany by Hindenburg
January 30	Sterilization (of inferiors) Laws enacted; implemented three weeks later
February 27	Reichstag fire
February 28	Leading communists arrested Constitutional rights "temporarily" suspended (until 1945)
March 20	Dachau concentration camp established
March 23	Enabling Act passed by the Reichstag
April 1	General boycott of all Jewish businesses - One day
April 1	All religious literature printed by Jehovah's Witnesses banned from circulation in Germany
April 7	Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service enacted All Jews removed from civil service Jews denied admission to the bar
April 24	First SA and police raid on the Magdeburg branch office of Jehovah's Witnesses; literature confiscated
April 26	Gestapo formed
May 2	Trade unions dissolved
May 10	Burning of books written by Jews and political opponents
June 24	Prussian State Police ban the work and organization of Jehovah's Witnesses
June 25	Declaration of Facts is sent to Hitler, explaining the politically neutral position of the Witnesses and insisting on their right to teach the Bible to the German people. Two million copies are distributed. Some witnesses are arrested and sentenced to terms in labor and concentration camps.
June 28	Second raid and closure of Watch Tower office in Magdeburg
July 14	Law for the Prevention of Progeny of Hereditary Disease mandates the sterilization of patients with hereditary diseases e.g. feeble-mindedness, epilepsy, schizophrenia. Some 300,000 to 400,000 people are sterilized under this law
July 20	Concordat signed with the Roman Catholic Church
August	At the opening ceremony for the state medical academy in Munich, Walter Schultze, Bavarian Commissioner of Health, declares sterilization insufficient and argues for euthanasia. He adds, "This policy has already been initiated in our concentration camps."
August 16	The Golden Age magazine (published by Jehovah's Witnesses) mentions the existence of concentrations camps within five months of Dachau's opening
August 21-24	Burning of 25 truckloads of confiscated Watch Tower publications
November 12	Jehovah's Witnesses fired from jobs and arrested for refusing to participate in mandatory vote
November 24	Nazis pass a Law against Habitual and Dangerous Criminals, which allows beggars, the homeless, alcoholics and the unemployed to be sent to concentration camps.
1934
June 30	The blood purge/The Night of the Long Knives
August 2	Hindenburg dies Hitler becomes Head of State and Commander-in-Chief
Beginning in 1934	Mental hospitals encouraged to neglect patients - funding and inspections either made perfunctory or suspended. 181 Genetic Health Courts and Appellate Health Courts to decide cases concerning sterilization established
1935
March 11	Nazi race hygienists and civil servants plan the sterilization of the "Rhineland Bastards"
April 1	Jehovah's Witnesses are banned from all civil service jobs and arrested throughout Germany. Pensions and employment benefits confiscated. Being married to a Witness becomes legal grounds for divorce. Witness children are banned from attending school. Some children are taken from Witness parents to be raised in Nazi reeducation homes.
May 21	Jews removed from military
Summer	Juden Verboten (No Jews) signs increase in businesses and elsewhere
July 26	Justice Minister Frick orders marriages between Aryans and non-Aryans be stopped
September 15	First of Nuremburg Laws (Anti-Semitic) passed
September	Hitler expresses intention to eliminate the "incurably ill" at Nuremberg Party rally to Dr. Gerhard Wagner
October 18	Addendum to the sterilization law forbids marriages between "hereditary ill" and "healthy" people. In addition, forces the abortion of children of the "hereditary ill" up to the sixth month of pregnancy.
1936
	Sachsenhausen concentration camp established
March 7	German army marches into the Rhineland
May 10	Burning of books written by Jews
June	Central Office to "Combat the Gypsy Nuisance" opened in Munich
July 12	German Roma and Sinti (Gypsies) are arrested and deported to Dachau
August	Nazis set up an Office for Combating Homosexuality and Abortions (by healthy women).
August 1	Olympic Games in Berlin opened Anti-Semitic signs temporarily removed
August 28	Mass arrests of Jehovah's Witnesses. Several thousand are sent to concentration camps and many stay there until 1945
October 25	Hitler and Mussolini form Rome-Berlin Axis
November 25	Military pact signed between Germany and Japan
December 12	Jehovah's Witnesses secretly distribute 200,000 copies of the Lucerne Resolution, a protest of Nazi atrocities
1937
Spring	Sterilization of the "Rhineland Bastards" begins
April 22	Gestapo order directs that all of Jehovah's Witnesses released from prisons are to be taken directly to concentration camps
June 20	Jehovah's Witnesses secretly distribute an open letter supplying detailed accounts of Nazi atrocities
July 16	Concentration camp Buchenwald opens
1938
	Neuengamme and Mauthausen concentration camps established
March 13	Anschluss: The annexation of Austria
April 26	Decree on the Reporting of Jewish Assets
June 15	Arrest of all "previously convicted Jews"
July 6	Evian Conference: Results in no international intervention on behalf of Jews
July 23	Announcement that Jews will need identity cards beginning in 1939
July 25	Jewish doctors will only be allowed to treat Jewish patients
August 17	Jews required to insert "Sara" or "Israel" as middle name
September 29	Munich Agreement: Britian and France accept German annexation of Sudetenland
September 30	Jewish physicians lose their licenses
October 2	Watch Tower Society President, J. F. Rutherford, speaking over a network of 60 radio stations, denounces Nazi persecution of the Jews
October 6	Passports of Jews marked with a "J"
October 26	Approximately 17,000 Polish Jews expelled from Germany
November 7	Herschel Grynspan assassinates Nazi Embassy worker in Paris in response to parents deportation from Germany to Poland
November 9	Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass)
November 12	26,000 Jews arrested and sent to concentration camps
November 15	Expulsion of Jewish children from German schools
December 13	Compulsory expropriation of all Jewish businesses and industries
Late 1938/Early1939	First German government sanctioned/authorized "Mercy Killing" of deformed infant named Knauer
1939
	Ravensbruck concentration camp established
January 30	Hitler predicts that Jews will be "exterminated" in the event of another war
March 15	Occupation of Czechoslovakia
May	The S.S. St. Louis, a ship crowded with 930 Jewish refugees, is turned away by Cuba, the United States and other countries and returns to Europe.
August 18	Directive sent ordering Euthanasia program for deformed/retarded children
August 23	Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact
September 1	German invasion of Poland WWII begins
September 3	Britain and France declare war on Germany
September	Mental patients first shot to make room for soldiers throughout Greater Reich
October 1939 (back-dated to September 1)	"Fuhrer Decree - medical killing became official policy An estimated 275,000 people become victims of "euthanasia"
October 1939	Children's Specialty Institution (euthanasia center) at Gorden established
October 1939	T4 Project for adult "euthanasia" established
October 15	First gassing of Polish mental patients at Posen
October 1939 - 1941	Over 30 Children's Specialty Institutions/Therapeutic Convalescent Institutions (adult euthanasia centers) were established and operated
October 12	First deportations to Poland of Austrian and Moravian Jews
November 23	All Jews in Poland mandated to wear Judenstern (Jewish Star of David)
1940
Early 1940	Gas first used as killing method as part of T4 project
April 9	Germans invade Denmark and Norway
April 30	Lodz (Poland) ghetto sealed off
May 10	Germans invade France, Holland, and Belgium
May - June	Gas vans first used to kill mental patients
June 22	France surrenders to Germany
September 27	Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis formed
November 15	Warsaw (Poland) ghetto sealed off
1941
June 22	Germans attack Soviet Union Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) follow the German army and commit mass slaughter throughout Eastern Europe. By the spring of 1943, these special killing units kill more than one million Jews and tens of thousands of others.
July 8	Jews in Baltic States forced to wear the Star of David
July 31	Heydrich appointed by Goering to carry out the "Final Solution"
August	Due to public protests led by Catholic Bishop Count von Galen, the killing of mental patients is temporarily stopped - continues in less centralized manner
September	Explosives tried as method of mass killing on mental patients
September 15	Wearing of Jewish Star mandated throughout the Greater Reich
September 23	First gassing experiments at Auschwitz
September 28-29	Over 33,000 Jews are massacred during a two-day period at Babi Yar near the Ukranian capital, Kiev
October 10	Theresienstadt (Czechoslovakia) ghetto established
October 14	Deportation of German Jews begins
October 23	Massacre in Odessa - 34,000 Jews dead
October 28	Massacre in Kiev - 34,000 Jews dead
November 6	Massacre in Rovno - 15,000 Jews dead
December 7	Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
December 8	U.S. enters WWII
December 8	Chelmno (Poland) extermination site opens
Beginning in December	Some 5000 Austrian Roma and Sinti (Gypsies) killed at Chelmmno in mobile gassing vans. Estimates for the total numbers of deaths of Roma and Sinti range from 200,000 to 300,000
December 8	Massacre in Riga - 27,000 Jews dead
December 12	The ship "Struma" leaves Romania for Palestine carrying 769 Jews but is later denied permission by British authorities to allow the passengers to disembark. In Feb. 1942, it sails back into the Black Sea where it is intercepted by a Soviet submarine and sunk as an "enemy target."
December 22	Massacre in Vilna - 32,000 Jews dead
1942
January 15	First group of Lodz Ghetto residents transported to Chelmno
January 20	Wannsee Conference on Nazi "Final Solution"
January 21	Unified resistance organization formed in Vilna Ghetto
January/February	First experiments on prisoners in low pressure chambers in Dachau
March 16	Belzec death camp opened
May 1	Sorbibor death camp opened
June 1	Treblinka death camp opened French and Dutch Jews must wear the Star of David
June 23	Auschwitz opens as death camp and work center
June 30/July 2	The New York Times reports via the London Daily Telegraph that over 1,000,000 Jews have already been killed by Nazis.
July 22	300,000 Jews deported to Treblinka from Warsaw Ghetto
July 28	Resistance organization formed in Warsaw Ghetto
August 15	Cold shock experiments on prisoners begin at Dachau
October 17	Allied pledge to punish Germans for genocide
December 16	Himmler orders the "final solution of the Gypsy question"
1943
January 18	Jews of Warsaw Ghetto revolt against deportations
February 2	German Army surrenders at Stalingrad
April 19	Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins; fighting lasts for weeks
May 16	Warsaw Ghetto liquidated
May 30	Josef Mengele becomes camp doctor at Auschwitz
June 11	Himmler orders the liquidation of all Polish Jewish ghettos
Summer	Hundreds of Jewish Partisans escape Vilna Ghetto to continue resistance
August 2	Revolt at Treblinka Death Camp
August 16	Revolt at Bialystok Ghetto
September 23	Vilna Ghetto liquidated
October 14	Revolt at Sorbibor Death Camp
October 20	U.N. War Crime Commission established
November 3	Erntefest (Harvest Festival) operation launched to kill all remaining Jews in the central and southern region of Poland, call the Generalgouvernement. About 40,000 Jews are shot to death on this one day.
1944
March 19	Germany occupies Hungary
May 15 - June 8	476,000 Jews deported to Auschwitz from Hungary to be murdered by gassing
Summer	Death marches and camp evacuations inside the Reich begin
June 6	D-Day
July 20	Attempted assassination of Hitler
July 24	Maidanek death camp liberated
October 7	Prisoner revolt at Auschwitz resulting in destruction of Crematoruim 4 and damage to Crematorium 2 & 3
October 23	Paris liberated
November 24	Himmler orders destruction of Auschwitz crematoria
1945
January 17	Soviets liberate Warsaw
January 26	Soviets liberate Auschwitz
February 4-11	Yalta Conference in the Crimea
April	American troops liberate Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps
April 15	British troops liberate Bergen-Belsen death camp
April 20 - May 3	Twelve-day death march from Sachsenhausen. Some 26,000 prisoners began the march of 200 kilometers. Barely more than 15,000 survive and are liberated by Allied forces
April 30	Hitler commits suicide
May 7	Germany surrenders unconditionally
May 28	Acting Secretary of State J. Grew informs President Truman that Japanese are willing to surrender if emperor's safety guaranteed
July 13	President Truman informed that Japanese Emperor has joined effort to negotiate surrender
August 6	United States drops the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan
August 9	United States drops the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan
August 15	Japan surrenders unconditionally
November 22	Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal commences

Compiled by Linda M. Woolf, Ph.D.

Back to Holocaust & Genocide Studies Page

Another compehensive chronology can be found at The History Place

CURRENT HUNGARIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY

2005-01-05T19:56:00.000-05:00

DO HUNGARIANS WANT TO FORGET?

The 100,000-strong Hungarian Jewish community, is one of largest in the expanded EU. There is still a rather confused memory of the Hungarian Holocaust when more than 430,000 Jews were deported to Auschwitz with the co-operation of the Hungarian authorities in two months in 1944.

MY MOTHER LIVED IN "KISVAROS"

2005-01-05T19:52:00.000-05:00

Photo Gallery
Sealed entrance to the Jewish ghetto of "KISVAROS", Hungary

In mid-May 1944, "Kisvaros" Jews were concentrated into a ghetto surrounded by a brick fence. About 1,800 Jews were confined in that ghetto until its liquidation on July 19th. Most "Kisvaros" Jews were then deported to Auschwitz and murdered.

Era: During WWII

[Index to Topics] [Home] [The Jews] [The Nazis] [World War II] [Antisemitism & The Final Solution] [Resistance & Rescue] [The World Response] [Righteous Among the Nations] [After the War]

KISVAROS MAIN SQUARE

2005-01-05T19:46:00.000-05:00

1941 - Jewish Population 1,861 in "Kisvaros"

2005-01-05T19:26:00.000-05:00

Photo Gallery
Wall of the Jewish ghetto at KISVAROS, Hungary

In 1941, the Jewish community of "Kisvaros" consisted of 1,861 members. After being concentrated in the ghetto, the Jews were sent to Auschwitz, from where only a few returned.

[Index to Topics] [Home] [The Jews] [The Nazis] [World War II] [Antisemitism & The Final Solution] [Resistance & Rescue] [The World Response] [Righteous Among the Nations] [After the War]

MALTHUS SOCIETY RATIONALE AND CORE PRINCIPLES

2004-12-31T23:13:00.000-05:00

In 1830, when the English political economist, Thomas Robert Malthus (1766- 1834) was still alive, the world's human population reached an estimated one billion. It took about a hundred years for the population to double to two billion. By the end of the 20th century, less than 70 years later, four billion more humans brought the total to more than 6 billion. In the early years of the 21st century, we are adding an estimated 73 million people every year. At this rate, a billion more people will be added in less than 14 years. Tragically, the larger our numbers, the harder it is to gain control over population increases while the devastating human impacts on our environment continue inexorably.

Since prehistoric times the institution of war has persisted in spite of its terrible danger and unbounded tragedy. Why have humans never solved the problems of poverty, inequality, and oppression? We are fortunate to have had Malthus to explain in simple terms the connection between population pressure and misery, which he defined as famine, poverty, disease and war. To promote his findings, to explore the lessons that may be derived from his core principles, and to provide a forum for discussion, the International Society of Malthus was launched in 1997, in time for the bi-centennial celebration of the publication of his 1798 classic, An Essay on the Principle of Population.

The Core Principles of Malthus:

Food is necessary for human existence.
Human population, if not checked, tends to grow faster than the power in the earth to produce subsistence.
The effects of these two unequal powers must be kept equal.
Misery is the mechanism that balances human requirements and available resources.
Nature's requirement that the imbalance between demand and supply be resolved forms the "strongest obstacle in the way of any very great improvement of society," and thus makes "the perfectibility of man and society" a theoretical and practical impossibility.
The Principle of Population, i.e., the inevitability of misery due to the power of population to overwhelm resources, provides the mainspring behind the advance of human civilization by creating incentives for progress.

Malthus's great contribution was to emphasize the findings of those of his predecessors such as the author of Ecclesiastes, Tertullian, Richard Cantillon, Robert Wallace,^[i] David Hume, Adam Smith and others who recognized the power of population to overwhelm the means of subsistence. Malthus drew from their understanding that there must necessarily be checks to the great power of population, or else, as Wallace put it, the "earth would be overstocked and become unable to support its numerous inhabitants." Or as Malthus put it, "The germs of existence contained in this spot of earth, with ample food, and ample room to expand in, would fill millions of worlds, in the course of a few thousand years."

In his "Preface," Malthus observed that while other writers had noticed that population cannot grow beyond the supply of food, no author before him had inquired particularly into the mechanism which kept population down to the means of subsistence. Malthus also taught that the balancing phenomenon achieved by misery is a "constantly operating" and cyclical occurrence. During good times human numbers increase to the point where available resources are overwhelmed, at which point misery acts to reduce the numbers. Malthus understood that "this necessary oscillation, this constantly subsisting cause of periodical misery, has existed ever since we have had any histories of mankind, does exist at present and will for ever continue to exist."

http://desip.igc.org/malthus/principles.html

FORECASTING GENOCIDE

2004-12-31T23:12:00.000-05:00

In a field as emotionally sensitive as genocide studies there are a great many opinions, and consequently quite a few notions of what causes genocide and what to watch for. But these notions are not necessarily based on an objective analysis of the relevant facts. For example, the relationship between economics and genocide is not always straightforward. Propaganda can exploit economic resentments, but severe economic troubles do not necessarily cause mass murder; indeed, they rarely do, for otherwise genocides would be as frequent as business cycles. That said, at least some relationship does seem to exist between economics and genocide. The Nazi regime, and likewise many Marxist-Leninist regimes, did avidly confiscate the property of the groups they persecuted and, as a result, amassed immense amounts of wealth. But did those regimes plunder their victims -- and then murder them -- solely because the overall economy was in trouble? Or were there other reasons as well? Many genocidal regimes have preferred to impoverish their countries rather than stop a genocide that, in cold economic terms, is no longer profitable.

Overpopulation is another notion commonly presumed to cause genocide, via an intense competition for limited space and resources. In propaganda, at least, it has certainly been used as an excuse for genocide: Hitler asserted that the German nation needed more lebensraum ("living space") and so he started World War II. But analysts should be careful about attributing any particular genocide, such as Rwanda's in 1994, to a cause as simplistic as "overpopulation." Overpopulation alone does not explain every genocide. In 1925 the Soviet Union was the world's largest contiguous country, with a population recently decreased by several millions due to the massive casualties and emigration caused by the First World War, the Russian Civil War, and by the first years of Communist rule. Finding a vacant apartment may have been an urban problem in a few Soviet cities, but by 1925 the overall Soviet economy was recovering well and overpopulation was not a countrywide problem. Yet it was in 1925 that Stalin initiated mass collectivization. Nor does overpopulation explain why Stalin later purged the Soviet Communist Party and Red Army. While an analysis of demographic trends may reveal something for genocide forecasting, those demographic trends must not become the forecast itself.

WHO COINED THE WORD GENOCIDE?

2004-12-31T23:04:00.000-05:00

The word itself was coined by a Polish Jewish lawyer named Raphael Lemkin, who even before becoming both a witness to and victim of the genocide we call the Holocaust (during which most of his family in Poland was killed), understood that an impulse existed within human society that motivated one group "almost always the larger and stronger community" to efface from the pages of history the individuals and culture(s) of another, often familiar group. For we know that, perversely, most genocides have occurred between those we might call "neighbors", making it all the harder to understand. Actually long before the Holocaust Lemkin was outraged when he realized that national and international law took the murder of one person more seriously than the murder of many thousands, or even millions. He fought tirelessly for years to have the international community recognize what he defined as "genocide"; genos = people, cide= physical annihilation. And his efforts were not in vain, although the struggle led eventually to his early death. In 1948, the still young United Nations adopted The Convention on the Prevention and the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, settling on a definition very much similar to the ideas of Lemkin, the refugee Jew from Poland. This international agreement acquired legal sanction in 1951 and henceforth the act of genocide is understood by international law as the most serious crime an individual can commit.

DEFINITION OF DEMOCIDE (GENOCIDE and MASS MURDER)

2004-12-31T22:03:00.000-05:00

By R.J. Rummel

Genocide: among other things, the killing of people by a government because of their indelible group membership (race, ethnicity, religion, language).
Politicide: the murder of any person or people by a government because of their politics or for political purposes.
Mass Murder: the indiscriminate killing of any person or people by a government.
Democide: The murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide, and mass murder.
http://www.mega.nu:8080/ampp/rummel/dbg.chap2.htm

THE EIGHT STAGES OF GENOCIDE

2004-12-31T22:00:00.000-05:00

Eight Stages of Genocide

By Gregory H. Stanton (Originally written in 1996 at the Department of State; presented at the Yale University Center for International and Area Studies in 1998)

Genocide is a process that develops in eight stages that are predictable but not inexorable. At each stage, preventive measures can stop it. The later stages must be preceded by the earlier stages, though earlier stages continue to operate throughout the process.

The
eight stages
of
genocide
are:

Classification

Symbolization

Dehumanization

Organization

Polarization

Preparation

Extermination

Denial

1. CLASSIFICATION:

All cultures have categories to distinguish people into "us and them" by ethnicity, race, religion, or nationality: German and Jew, Hutu and Tutsi. Bipolar societies that lack mixed categories, such as Rwanda and Burundi, are the most likely to have genocide.

The main preventive measure at this early stage is to develop universalistic institutions that transcend ethnic or racial divisions, that actively promote tolerance and understanding, and that promote classifications that transcend the divisions. The Catholic church could have played this role in Rwanda, had it not been riven by the same ethnic cleavages as Rwandan society. Promotion of a common language in countries like Tanzania or Cote d'Ivoire has also promoted transcendent national identity. This search for common ground is vital to early prevention of genocide.

2. SYMBOLIZATION:

We give names or other symbols to the classifications. We name people "Jews" or "Gypsies", or distinguish them by colors or dress; and apply them to members of groups. Classification and symbolization are universally human and do not necessarily result in genocide unless they lead to the next stage, dehumanization. When combined with hatred, symbols may be forced upon unwilling members of pariah groups: the yellow star for Jews under Nazi rule, the blue scarf for people from the Eastern Zone in Khmer Rouge Cambodia.

To combat symbolization, hate symbols can be legally forbidden (swastikas) as can hate speech. Group marking like gang clothing or tribal scarring can be outlawed, as well. The problem is that legal limitations will fail if unsupported by popular cultural enforcement. Though Hutu and Tutsi were forbidden words in Burundi until the 1980's, code-words replaced them. If widely supported, however, denial of symbolization can be powerful, as it was in Bulgaria, when many non-Jews chose to wear the yellow star, depriving it of its significance as a Nazi symbol for Jews. According to legend in Denmark, the Nazis did not introduce the yellow star because they knew even the King would wear it.

3. DEHUMANIZATION:

One group denies the humanity of the other group. Members of it are equated with animals, vermin, insects or diseases. Dehumanization overcomes the normal human revulsion against murder.

At this stage, hate propaganda in print and on hate radios is used to vilify the victim group. In combating this dehumanization, incitement to genocide should not be confused with protected speech. Genocidal societies lack constitutional protection for countervailing speech, and should be treated differently than in democracies. Hate radio stations should be shut down, and hate propaganda banned. Hate crimes and atrocities should be promptly punished.

4. ORGANIZATION:

Genocide is always organized, usually by the state, though sometimes informally (Hindu mobs led by local RSS militants) or by terrorist groups. Special army units or militias are often trained and armed. Plans are made for genocidal killings.

To combat this stage, membership in these militias should be outlawed. Their leaders should be denied visas for foreign travel. The U.N. should impose arms embargoes on governments and citizens of countries involved in genocidal massacres, and create commissions to investigate violations, as was done in post-genocide Rwanda.

5. POLARIZATION:

Extremists drive the groups apart. Hate groups broadcast polarizing propaganda. Laws may forbid intermarriage or social interaction. Extremist terrorism targets moderates, intimidating and silencing the center.

Prevention may mean security protection for moderate leaders or assistance to human rights groups. Assets of extremists may be seized, and visas for international travel denied to them. Coups d'etat by extremists should be opposed by international sanctions.

6. PREPARATION:

Victims are identified and separated out because of their ethnic or religious identity. Death lists are drawn up. Members of victim groups are forced to wear identifying symbols. They are often segregated into ghettoes, forced into concentration camps, or confined to a famine-struck region and starved.

At this stage, a Genocide Alert must be called. If the political will of the U.S., NATO, and the U.N. Security Council can be mobilized, armed international intervention should be prepared, or heavy assistance to the victim group in preparing for its self-defense. Otherwise, at least humanitarian assistance should be organized by the U.N. and private relief groups for the inevitable tide of refugees.

7. EXTERMINATION:

Extermination begins, and quickly becomes the mass killing legally called "genocide." It is "extermination" to the killers because they do not believe their victims to be fully human. When it is sponsored by the state, the armed forces often work with militias to do the killing. Sometimes the genocide results in revenge killings by groups against each other, creating the downward whirlpool-like cycle of bilateral genocide (as in Burundi).

At this stage, only rapid and overwhelming armed intervention can stop genocide. Real safe areas or refugee escape corridors should be established with heavily armed international protection. The U.N. needs a Standing High Readiness Brigade or a permanent rapid reaction force, to intervene quickly when the U.N. Security Council calls it. For larger interventions, a multilateral force authorized by the U.N., led by NATO or a regional military power, should intervene. If the U.N. will not intervene directly, militarily powerful nations should provide the airlift, equipment, and financial means necessary for regional states to intervene with U.N. authorization. It is time to recognize that the law of humanitarian intervention transcends the interests of nation-states.

8. DENIAL:

Denial is the eighth stage that always follows a genocide. It is among the surest indicators of further genocidal massacres. The perpetrators of genocide dig up the mass graves, burn the bodies, try to cover up the evidence and intimidate the witnesses. They deny that they committed any crimes, and often blame what happened on the victims. They block investigations of the crimes, and continue to govern until driven from power by force, when they flee into exile. There they remain with impunity, like Pol Pot or Idi Amin, unless they are captured and a tribunal is established to try them.

The best response to denial is punishment by an international tribunal or national courts. There the evidence can be heard, and the perpetrators punished. Tribunals like the Yugoslav, Rwanda, or Sierra Leone Tribunals, an international tribunal to try the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, and ultimately the International Criminal Court must be created. They may not deter the worst genocidal killers. But with the political will to arrest and prosecute them, some mass murderers may be brought to justice.

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Hungary and the Jews

2004-12-31T10:20:00.000-05:00

The Virtual Jewish History Tour

Hungary

By Rebecca Weiner

Middle Ages to the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
Hapsburg Empire
Period of Emancipation (1867-1914) and World War I
Cultural and Religious Life in the 19th Century
Inter-War period: 1919-1939
The Holocaust
Post-World War II Hungary
Communist Rule
Hungary Today

Middle Ages to the Ottoman Empire

**Memorial Jewish stone from the time of the Roman Empire**

Jews have lived in Hungary since the time of the Roman Empire, even before the Magyar (Hungarian) tribes arrived and conquered the land in the 9th century. The Jewish community grew in the second half of the 11th century due to large numbers of immigrants from Germany, Bohemia and Moravia. Jews settled in the towns of Buda, Esztergom, Sopron, Tata and Old Buda.

Restrictions were placed on Jews by Christian clergy and institutions. In 1092, the Church forbade Jews from intermarrying Christians, working on Sundays and Christian holidays and purchasing slaves.

Despite the prohibitions placed on Jews by the church, Hungary served as a haven for Jews. At the end of the 11th century, King Koloman protected Jews living in his territory, in return for direct taxes to his treasury. During the 12th century, Jews held leadership positions in the economic institutions in Hungary. In 1251, King Bela IV gave Jews legal rights and welcomed Jewish immigration.

Support for Jews by the King was counteracted by anti-Jewish laws from the church and the nobility. Their advancement was hindered by the nobles who proposed the "Golden Bull" article of 1222, prohibiting Jews from holding particular offices and receiving the title of nobility. By 1279, Jews were prohibited from leasing land and were forced to wear badges. Many of these anti-Jewish measures were not carried out because of the King's objections.

The church's influence grew during the reign of Louis the Great (1342-82). In 1349, Jews were expelled from Hungary due to the Black Death. Their expulsion was decreed officially in 1360, though by 1364, they were allowed to return. In 1365, the office of "judge of the Jews" was instituted and had to deal with affairs of Jewish property and taxes, representation in the government and protection of rights. It was also in the late 1300's that Jews settled in Gyor, a city in northwest Hungary near the Austrian border.

The situation improved for the Jews during the reign of Matthias Corvinus (1458-90). Also during the 15th century, Jewish immigrants began settling in large numbers in the city of Buda. The economic and political situation deteriorated, however, in the late 15th and 16th century. In 1494, a blood libel broke out in Tyrnau and 16 Jews were burned at the stake.

Other riots followed in Pressburg, Buda and other towns. King Ladislas VI (1490-1516) canceled all debts owed to Jews. During the reign of Louis II, (1516-26), anti-Jewish feelings grew.

Ottoman Empire

**Early 20th century postcard photo of the synagogue in Kecskemet. The synagogue is now used as a church.**

The Ottoman's first conquest of Buda took place in 1526; many Jews joined the Turks in the retreat into the Ottoman Empire. This led to the dispersion of Hungarian Jews in the Balkan region.

In 1541, central Hungary became part of the Ottoman Empire. The Jews were treated well under the Ottoman regime. Immigration to Buda increased with an influx of refugees and Sephardim from Asia Minor and Buda became one of the most important Jewish communities in the Ottoman Empire. Jews were allowed to practice their religion and participate in commerce. One of the cities where Jews settled in the 16th century was Kecskemet in central Hungary.

Hapsburg Empire

In the late 17th century, the Hapsburgs captured Hungary and anti-Semitism grew, along with expulsions of Jews from the cities. Despite the anti-Jewish feelings, migration from Poland and Moravia to Hungary continued and, in 1735, about 11,600 Jews lived in Hungary.

The situation for Jews worsened during the reign of Maria Theresa (1740-80). Jews were forced to pay "toleration taxes" and were subject to persecution.

The reign of Joseph II alleviated the harsh conditions and Jews were allowed to settle in the royal cities. By 1787, 81,000 Jews lived in Hungary. Jews were grants increased civil rights in 1830's and 1840's. Jews were officially permitted to settle in Debrecen, Hungary's third largest city (located about 120 miles east of Budapest), in 1840.

The synagogue in Debrecen was built
between 1895-97 and destroyed by fire in 1948.

In 1849, many Jews participated in a failed revolution, however, and judicial and economic restrictions were subsequently placed on the Jews during the 1850's. These restrictions were finally lifted in the 1860's; Jews were allowed to settle in any community and participated in all aspects of commerce. In December 1867, Jews were granted full emancipation. Jews began to play a vital role in agriculture, transport, communication industries, business, finance and the arts. The Jewish population continued to increase from 340,00 in 1850 to 542,000 in 1869.

Period of Emancipation (1867-1914) and World War I

In this period, Jews became prominent in the political, economic, and cultural spheres in Hungary. In the 1880's Jews were active in the liberal professions and in journalism. In 1895, the Jewish religion was officially recognized by the state and given the same rights as Protestant and Catholics religions.

Despite the economic growth and religious empowerment, Jews faced political anti-Semitism in this period. In the 1870's and 1880's, anti-Jewish propaganda increased and a blood libel occurred in Tiszaeslar in 1882.

The population reached 910,000 by 1910. Jewish merchants consisted of 55-60% of all merchants in Hungary at the time of World War I. About 10,000 Jews lost their lives on the battlefield in World War I.

Cultural and Religious Life in the 19th Century

A trend to a strict Orthodox approach to Judaism, supported by Moses Sofer of Pressburg, marked the early 19th century. His leadership helped make Pressburg a spiritual center for orthodox Jews, which had many important yeshivas. He promoted the study of Torah, leading to the growth of yeshivas around the country. The Hungarian Rabbinate was important at the time and produced many religious works. Hasidism also spread to northeast Hungary and was introduced by Isaac Taub.

The Haskalah, Jewish enlightenment, came to Hungary in the 1830's, along with the Reform Movement, both of which countered the Orthodox trends.

The late 19th century, 1869-70, was marked by a religious schism in the Jewish community. There were three main divisions: Orthodox, Neolog (Reform/Conservative) and Status Quo Ante (communities associated with neither of those two movements). Assimilation became widespread among Hungarian Jewry; many young adults began intermarrying.

Zionism was also prevalent in Hungary since the period of Sofer. Sofer recommended that his disciples move to Israel and they became part of the Ashkenazi yishuv movement. The most famous Zionist, Theodor Herzl, was born in Budapest and lived in Hungary during his youth.

Inter-War period: 1919-1939

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved after its defeat in World War. I. The communist regime gained power and many Jews were active in the upper echelon of the government run by Bela Kun, a Jew. In 1919, the brief Hungary-Soviet Republic ended and was followed by a series of riots and violence against the Jews known as the "White Terror"; more than 3,000 Jews died in the massacres.

By 1920 the political situation stabilized and violence abated. Anti-Jewish sentiments did not wane. Numerous anti-Jewish laws were passed; the enrollment of Jews in higher institutions was reduced to five percent. Zionist activities were stopped for the first couple of years after the war but they were allowed to resume in 1927.

Anti-Jewish legislation continued in the 1930's. In 1938, the first "Jewish Law" was passed, restricting the number of Jews in liberal professions, administration, and commerce to twenty percent. A second Jewish Law was passed in 1939 that further reduced the economic participation to five percent. Due to these laws, 250,000 Hungarian Jews lost their source of income. Many converted to Christianity, with the number reaching 5,000 converts after the passing of the first anti-Jewish law in 1938

To combat the loss of work and poverty, the Jewish community organization of Budapest developed a social aid program to assist those in need. More than half of Hungary's Jewish population had moved to Greater Budapest during the inter-war period.

The Holocaust

Hungary joined with the Axis powers (Germany, Austria, and Italy) and thus annexed parts of Slovakia, Transylvania, Yugoslavia and Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia; most of these areas belonged to Hungary, before World War I. By mid-1941, the annexation increased "Great Hungary's" Jewish population to 800,000.

A "Third Jewish Law" was passed prohibiting intermarriage and changing the definition of Jew to a racial definition. Many Christians thus became "Jews" and the estimated number of "Jews" may have actually been 850,000 in mid-1941.

The first massacre of Hungarian Jews took place in July 1941 when 20,000 Hungarian Jews were expelled from the Galicia region, in Kamentes-Podolski, where the SS and Hungarian troops killed them in the autumn of 1941. Another massacre of 1,000 Jews took place in January 1942, in Bacska region. A third set of Jews, about 50,000, died on the battlefield against the Soviets.

Also in 1942, Hungary's anti-Semitic Prime Minister, Miklos Kallas, ordered that Jewish property be expropriated and he restricted the economic and cultural life of Jews. He proposed a "final solution of the Jewish question," calling for the resettlement of 800,000 Jews. The Arrow Cross party in Hungary was also responsible for anti-Jewish rhetoric, as well as for persecution.

By 1943, Jews were no longer involved in Hungary's public and cultural life; however, the Kallay government began holding secret talks with the allies and toned down its anti-Jewish rhetoric.

Germany occupied Hungary in March 1944 because Kallay did not deport the Jews, which was seen as cooperation with the allies. By the time of the German occupation, 63,000 Hungarian Jews had been killed.

In April 1944, Adolph Eichmann ordered the removal of 400,000 Jews from the provincial towns, cities and villages around Hungary to ghettos. Deportation to Auschwitz began in May 1944. All communities besides those in Budapest were put in ghettos or concentration camps. In June, the first group of deportees (about 7,000 of the city's 12,000 Jews) from Debrecen were sent to Austria and about one-half of these survived the war. Most of the other Jews were deported to Auschwitz.

**Hannah Szenes**

About 2,000-2,500 Jews were able to escape to Romania during the ghettoization period. Others escaped to Budapest. Relief efforts were sponsored by the Zionists, who helped Jews with fake passports, food, clothing and places to hide. The Haganah was actively involved in trying to save Hungarian Jewry. Two famous paratroopers that attempted to save lives included Hannah Szenes and Perez Goldstein.

Another 1,658 Jews were bought and were delivered to Switzerland for $1,000 a person. The fate of the Hungarian Jews was published in the Swiss press and in other neutral countries, leading to a suspension of deportation ordered by Heinrich Himmler. Many Hungarian Jews were placed in the protection of neutral states, Sweden, Switzerland and Portugal.

Two well-known individuals involved in saving Hungary's Jews were Charles Lutz, a Swiss diplomat in Hungary, and Raoul Wallenberg, secretary of the Swedish Legation in Budapest.

The deportation process of Budapest's Jews began in October 1944. The majority of the Budapest Jews were sent to a central ghetto, while some managed to live in "protected ghettos" in quarters protected by various neural states.

Death marches to Austria were ordered for the Budapest Jews and it is estimated that about 98,000 Jews from Budapest lost their lives in these marches by January 1945.

At the end of the war, 69,000 Jews remained in Budapest's central ghetto and 25,000 remained in the "protected ghetto." Approximately 25,000 Jews came out of hiding in Budapest, a few thousand lived in Red Cross children's homes and others returned from labor camps, from the Soviet Union and from other regions. Of the original 825,000 Jews before the war, 260,000 Hungarian Jews survived and 565,000 perished. About 4,000 Jews from Debrecen survived the war. The other survivors were mainly from Budapest; most of the Jews from the small towns were murdered.

Post-World War II Hungary

After the war, about 250 Jewish communities were reestablished. Most of the communities in the small towns faltered, however, and most Jews moved to the capital or emigrated.

The Hungarian government abolished anti-Jewish legislation and put to trial and imprisoned those involved in the deportation and destruction of the Jews; however, no law was passed to return property lost or confiscated in the Holocaust. Anti-Semitism was banned, but anti-Jewish sentiments still continued. Pogroms broke out in 1946 in Kunmadaras, Miskolc and in other communities.

**Pecs Synagogue**

The Jewish community institutions were renewed after the war. In December 1948, the government officially recognized the Jewish community, guaranteed freedom of religious practice and promised financial support. One single Jewish community organization emerged for the three main movements: Orthodox, Neolog and status quo.

The Zionist movement began building schools and youth institutions. Many Hungarian Jews immigrated to Israel. Diplomatic relations with Israel were established in 1948.

In this period, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee gave money to rebuild the Jewish community and help pay for food, welfare and education.

Communist Rule

In 1949, the communists gained power and Hungary became the people's republic. The communist rule led to the closure of many Jewish institutions and the arrest of Jewish activists. Zionism and mass immigration to Israel were not allowed and contact between Hungarian Jewry and world Jewry were curtailed. Jewish educational institutions became part of the general school system.

Expulsions from the cities to the provinces took place in 1951, about 20,000 Jews (most from Budapest) were forced to leave the cities. In 1953, the situation eased and Jews were allowed to return to their homes. In the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, it is estimated that 20,000 Jews left Hungary.

Liberalization policies were enacted in the late 1950's, however, those Jews outwardly identifying with Judaism and engaged in religious activities were restricted in economic and social spheres. Contact with world Jewish organizations resumed in the 1960's. In 1967, the Hungarian Jewish population numbered 80-90,000, including those who did not participate in Jewish communal life. The largest community was in Budapest, which has 20 synagogues.

In 1967, diplomatic ties with Israel were severed, but commercial ties continued.

The synagogue in Gyor was built in 1871 and designed by Karoly Benko.
The synagogue was sold in 1969 and now used as a dance school.

The number of Jews in Hungary continued to decrease and, in the 1970's, declined to 60,000 (50,000 lived in Budapest), which was still the second or third largest community in Eastern Europe. Almost 60 percent, of the Jews, however, were over the age of 50.

The collapse of the communist government in 1989 brought the end of restrictions placed on the Jewish community and with relations with Israel.

Hungary Today

Assimilation is a major problem in Hungary. Anti-Semitism was still a problem in the 1990's. Attacks by "nationalists" and skinheads on foreign students, gypsies and Jews took place in 1992 and in 1993.

**Hannah Szenes' grave**

The leading Jewish communal organization in Hungary is the Alliance of the Hungarian Jewish Communities. There are three Jewish day schools in Budapest, as well as a high school, the Anne Frank Gymnasium. There are a number of Jewish youth camps and clubs, including chapters of B'nei Akiva, B'nei Brith Youth Organization, Habonim Dror, Hanoar Hacioni, Hasomer Hacair and the Hungarian Union of Jewish students. The Zionist movements began functioning again, including the Hungarian Zionist Alliance and Women's International Zionist Organization. There are also many cultural Jewish institutions and organizations. The Federation to Maintain Jewish Culture in Hungary tries to combat assimilation and preserve Jewish heritage.

There are a number of Jewish-Christian dialogue groups, as well as welfare institutions and organizations to help the elderly. There are Jewish nursing homes and organizations to help Holocaust survivors.

A Jewish Museum can be found in Budapest. There is also a Jewish community center, theaters, numerous bands, choirs and dance ensembles.

There is a Jewish newspaper produced twice a month in Budapest, which focuses on the happenings of local Jewry, as well as a Jewish magazine produced once a month, a Jewish literary and an arts journal and publications from other communities, Chabad and other Jewish organizations.

There are 12 rabbis in Hungary, most belonging to the Neolog stream of Judaism. In Budapest, there are 20 synagogues and prayer houses exist in the small towns. Budapest hosts Eastern Europe's only rabbinical seminary, founded in 1887; it is Neolog in practice and students attend from neighboring countries.

Jews who settled in Szeged at the end of the 18th century built a synagogue in 1803 and replaced it with another in 1839. This later synagogue was used until 1903, when the Great Synagogue was completed. The Great Synagogue depicted in the following postcard was the result of a design competition held in 1898. The synagogue survived the war and has been declared an architectural monument.

There are 10 Kosher butchers, a kosher bakery and a restaurant in Budapest. Hungary also exports matzah, kosher wine and meat.

Relations with Israel have improved and there is increased trade and tourism between the two nations.

Today there are 100,000 Jews living in Hungary, the largest number in East-Central Europe.

Photo credits: Memorial stone courtesy of History of the Jews in Hungary. Synagogue photos courtesy of Judaica Philatelic Resources. Budapest photos courtesy of the Tourism Office of Budapest. Map from the CIA World Fact Book 2000. Pecs Synagogue Â© Edward Serotta.

Low Cortisol Levels May Predict PTSD Risk: Children of Holocaust Survivors

2004-12-31T10:18:00.000-05:00

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Low Cortisol Levels May Predict PTSD Risk

From Cathleen Henning,Your Guide to Panic / Anxiety Disorders.

Researchers at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in Bronx, NY, have been studying post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children of Holocaust survivors. A major conclusion of these studies is that these children have a higher risk of developing PTSD than other people. In a study presented in the August 2000 The American Journal of Psychiatry, the research group discovered that adult children with at least one parent who is a Holocaust survivor have low cortisol levels. The discovery could mean that low cortisol levels may be predictive of the development of PTSD.

Cortisol is a hormone that scientists associate with stress as well as chronic mood disorders. During times of stress, cortisol levels rise and then subside as the stress subsides. If stress is chronic or if a chronic mood disorder (anxiety, depression) is present, increased cortisol levels may indicate that the brain has become resistant to cortisol's effects, scientists believe.

One may wonder why, then, people with PTSD or the risk of developing PTSD would have lower cortisol levels. The VAMC research group theorizes that with PTSD, the brain may become hypersensitive to the effects of cortisol. The same area of the brain which may resist cortisol in people with chronic mood disorders, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, appears to work differently in people with PTSD or the risk of having PTSD.

The study performed by the researchers at the VAMC involved 35 adult children of Holocaust survivors and 15 comparison subjects. All subjects were evaluated using various standard questionnaires. To determine whether the subjects' parents had PTSD, parents were interviewed directly (in 11 cases) or subjects completed a questionnaire created by the researchers. To test cortisol levels, urine samples were collected during 24-hour periods during times when subjects did not expect to be under stress.

Using the results of the questionnaire, researchers divided the subjects into three categories:

subjects without lifetime PTSD, whose parents did not have PTSD
subjects without lifetime PTSD, whose parents did have PTSD
subjects with lifetime PTSD, whose parents did have PTSD

Researchers made the following conclusions based on the questionnaires and tests:

Adult children of Holocaust survivors were more at risk of developing PTSD than the comparison subjects, even though lifetime traumatic experiences did not differ between these two groups.
13 of the 35 offspring of Holocaust survivors had lifetime or current PTSD.
25 offspring of Holocaust survivors had at least one parent with PTSD.
Cortisol levels were low in subjects with PTSD and who had a parent with PTSD, but where higher in subjects who had neither.

Ultimately, the researchers were able to determine that the low cortisol levels were associated with parental PTSD rather than the parent's exposure to trauma during the Holocaust. Additionally, the low cortisol levels could be associated with a risk of developing PTSD. Subjects exposed to trauma without developing PTSD did not necessarily have low cortisol levels, so exposure to trauma alone cannot be associated with lower cortisol levels.

The conclusions of the VAMC study will help scientists further understand PTSD and lead to newer treatments. By determining physiological differences in people who develop PTSD, researchers can understand why some people develop the disorder after traumatic experiences but others do not.

Reference: Yehuda R, Bierer LM, Schmeidler J, Aferiat DH, Breslau I, Dolan S (2000). Low cortisol and risk for PTSD in adult offspring of Holocaust survivors. Am J Psychiatry 157: 1252-59.

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WHY IT WAS SO HARD TO CARE FOR MY MOTHER

2004-12-31T10:16:00.000-05:00

Typically, because of massive losses, the families of elderly survivors are extremely small, and the sociocultural support systems that might be helpful in time of need are limited. Furthermore, some older survivors do not have the financial resources to seek appropriate help (12). In many families of aging survivors, the children are called upon to fulfill all the functions that normally would be taken care of by the extended family. Thus, factors in the histories of some of these families have created difficulties among parents and children that are exacerbated when the parents approach old age and render the children unable to care for them.

Children of Holocaust Survivors can suffer "secondary trauma"

2004-12-31T10:15:00.000-05:00

TORONTO, ONT.
More than 300 adults who share a special legacy as children of Holocaust Survivors attended a unique conference at Baycrest Centre on Sunday, Nov. 9.

While the next generation were not directly exposed to the Nazi atrocities of their parents generation, there is growing evidence that offspring can be deeply affected by horrible events that happened to parents and other relatives during World War II. It's known as "secondary traumatization".

"As these children approach middle age, this is a life stage where they are carefully examining their feelings and issues related to their connection to the Holocaust," says Paula David, a senior social worker at Baycrest and one of the organizers of "Survivor Families: From Strength to Strength."

Whether these children were raised in a "home of silence" where parents never talked about their experiences in the Holocaust, or in a home where parents told their painful stories over and over again, either scenario can inadvertently result in passed-on trauma.

Judging by the tremendous turnout at the conference, the second generation is earnestly searching for information and resources that will help them better understand their parents' suffering and how this may have affected their own upbringing, personal relationships and perspective on life.

Eva D., a second generation Survivor, opened the conference with a powerful statement: "We weren't supposed to be born."

IDENTITY AND BELONGING

2004-12-30T23:09:00.000-05:00

Hopkins Student Explores Issues of Identity and Belonging
Senior Samuel Spinner analyzes the novels of Joseph Roth

With the help of an undergraduate research grant, Johns Hopkins University senior Samuel Spinner studied the importance of personal identity.

A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Spinner's research took him to the Leo Baeck Institute in New York, a research center with comprehensive documentation for the study of German Jewish history. There Spinner researched the need to belong as reflected in the writing of early-20th-century novelist Joseph Roth, a German-speaking Eastern European Jew from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

To understand Roth's work is to understand his love of the Austro-Hungarian empire, Spinner says.

"Of all countries, institutions and events in modern Europe, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was the most ethnically, religiously, racially and culturally diverse," Spinner says. "It was in every sense a place of crossed borders and mixed-up categories. There were numerous infringements of borders, and the diversity of the empire was in large part due to the creation for the first time of a cosmopolitan culture. This culture was one independent of ethnicity or race and was determined solely in the sphere of culture, so that Eastern European Jewish writers could become Austro-Hungarian novelists."

When the empire Roth loved began to crumble at the beginning of the 20th century, people experienced a feeling of loss that was evident in the work of Roth and his contemporaries, says Spinner, who is majoring in German. As an Orthodox Jew whose mother is from Long Island and whose father is from Czernowitz, a city in the former Austro-Hungarian empire that is now part of the Ukraine, Spinner says he was drawn to Roth's novels.

"I knew I wanted to work on this author and go beyond a typical course of study," Spinner says of his work, funded by the university's Provost's Undergraduate Research Awards program. "Obviously, when someone has a personal interest, he is willing to do something above average. There has to be some tie to it. Initially, when you discover you like an author, you might read one or two of his books. But I became so interested in Roth that I read them all."

Roth's attention to detail in creating his characters also called out to Spinner.

"His novels have a strong focus on Jewish elements,"says Spinner, whose twin sister, Sarah, is also a Hopkins student and also earned a PURA research grant. "Incidental characters, plot, they were all treated lovingly, with painstaking detail. Many Jews felt lost, not knowing where to go culturally after World War I. But it was atypical for these themes to appear so strongly."

As one of 42 Johns Hopkins students who received Provost's Undergraduate Research Awards in the 2001-2002 academic year, Spinner will present an overview of his project during an upcoming awards ceremony. It will run from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 7, in the Glass Pavilion on the Homewood campus, 3400 N. Charles St., in Baltimore.

The Johns Hopkins University is recognized as the country's first graduate research university, and has been in recent years the leader among the nation's research universities in winning federal research and development grants. The opportunity to be involved in important research is one of the distinguishing characteristics of an undergraduate education at Johns Hopkins.

The Provost's Undergraduate Research Awards program provides one of these research opportunities, open to students in each of the university's four schools with full-time undergraduates: the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the Whiting School of Engineering, the Peabody Conservatory and the School of Nursing. Since 1993, about 40 students each year have been awarded up to $2,500 to propose and conduct original research, some results of which have been published in professional journals. The awards, begun by then provost Joseph Cooper and funded through a donation from the Hodson Trust, are an important part of the university's commitment to research.

Return to Provost's Undergraduate Research Awards news release.

Johns Hopkins University news releases can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/
Information on automatic e-mail delivery of science and medical news releases is available at the same address.

Go to http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/Home Page

THE EVILS OF INDIFFERENCE

2004-12-30T22:46:00.000-05:00

Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil.
Elie Wiesel

HITLER'S LAST VICTIMS: THE JEWS OF HUNGARY

2004-12-30T22:21:00.000-05:00

Hitler's last victims: The Jews of Hungary
By Alexander Zvielli

(May 1) - The year 1944 heralded hope for the free world, as it was believed that Hitler would soon be defeated. But for Hungarian Jewry, the year would bring annihilation. To Order...

Their slaughter was so fast that it still pleads for an inquiry. Between May 15 and July 8, 1944, no fewer than 437,000 Jews were deported from Hungary. The majority were murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau or shot in front of hastily-dug cremation pits.

How was it possible that the Nazis could successfully organize the killing of so many victims at a time when Germany was clearly heading for defeat? Why wasn't there even the slightest resistance? Who perpetuated the Nazi-imposed secrecy? We know that the Nazi extermination machine was well oiled and experienced at that time, but to what extent was the tragedy of Hungarian Jewry affected by the actions and nonactions of the Jewish leaders themselves?

For decades now, Randolph Braham, distinguished professor emeritus of political science at City College (New York), has made a most significant contribution to the scientific historiography of the Holocaust in general and the tragedy of Hungarian Jewry in particular by publishing 24 books on the subject.

Approximately 63,000 of Hungary's 800,000 Jews lost their lives even prior the German occupation of Hungary on March 19, 1944, Braham's research shows. Of these, close to 42,000 were laborers deployed along the Ukrainian front. Twenty thousand "alien" Jews were deported in August 1941 and subsequently slaughtered.

Between May 15 and July 9, 1944 more than half a million Jews were deported from Hungary. In Hungary-ruled northern Transylvania, Hungarians and Germans jointly deported to Poland almost all of the 150,000 Jews living there. Only 15,000 returned after the war.

At least 250,000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews were killed during the Shoah. A minimum of 55,000 Jews were killed during the summer of 1941 in southern Moldavia, Bessarabia and Bukovina by Romanian and German units; and another 70,000 Romanian Jews were killed or died in the deportation to Transdnistria under Romanian administration.

Braham describes how the Hungarian and Romanian fascists willingly assisted the Nazis in robbery, torture, deprivation, and cold-blooded murder of tens of thousands of Jewish victims, many of whom perished from thirst and hunger under inhuman conditions.

Six decades after these tragic events, Braham says, the Hungarian, Romanian and Ukrainian governments and their people still prefer to blame the Germans rather than confront the truth. It is a pity because against such perversion there is only one remedy: an honest and truthful admission of guilt. It is never too late to remind mankind of the inherent dangers of genocide.

Braham's books include: The Days Of Woe And Destruction: The Tragedy Of Hungarian Jewry - Essays, Documents, Depositions, and the recently released The Nazis' Last Victims: The Holocaust in Hungary.

His books, most of which are available via the Internet, are published jointly by the Rosenthal Institute of Holocaust Studies and the Graduate School of the City University of New York. They are distributed by Columbia University Press.

The writer, a veteran staff member of The Jerusalem Post, is a frequent contributor.

ELIE WIESEL ON INDIFFERENCE

2004-12-30T18:55:00.000-05:00

Elie Wiesel

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.

(Oct. 1986)

Mount Sinai - Department of Psychiatry - POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

2004-12-30T01:50:00.000-05:00

Adult children of Holocaust survivors do not experience more traumatic life events than demographically-comparable Jewish adults, but they do report a greater number of non-traumatic but stressful life events and a greater degree of distress to these events.²⁶

Adult children seem to have a greater prevalence of mood and anxiety disorders, including PTSD, than appropriate comparison subjects.²⁶

There appears to be a greater prevalence of PTSD among offspring with two biological parents who were Holocaust survivors compared to those with only one Holocaust survivor parent.²⁷

Offspring who have had PTSD are significantly more likely to have had parents with PTSD.²⁸ This suggests the possibility of a familial "transmission" of PTSD. It is not known how this transmission occurs; however, we are currently exploring the mechanisms by which it could occur.

Adult children of Holocaust survivors, regardless of whether they themselves ever had PTSD, seem to demonstrate similar biological alterations to trauma survivors with PTSD. This provocative finding suggests that what may have been "transmitted" to the children of Holocaust survivors is a vulnerability to PTSD or stressful life events.¹⁷

References

Yehuda R, Southwick SM, Ma X, et al: Urinary catecholamine excretion and severity of symptoms in PTSD. J Nerv Men Dis, 180:321-325, 1992.
Yehuda R, Siever L, Teicher MH, et al. Plasma norepinephrine and MHPG concentrations and severity of depression in combat PTSD and major depressive disorder. Biol Psych, 44:56-63, 1998.
Yehuda R, Southwick SM, Nussbaum G, et al: Low urinary cortisol excretion in patients with PTSD. J Nerv Ment Dis, 178:366-309, 1990.
Yehuda R, Boisoneau D, Mason JW, Giller EL: Relationship between lymphocyte glucocorticoid receptor number and urinary-cortisol excretion in mood, anxiety, and psychotic disorder. Biol Psych, 34:18-25, 1993.
Yehuda R, Kahana B, Binder-Brynes K, et al: Low urinary cortisol excretion in Holocaust survivors with posttraumatic stress disorder. Am J Psychiatry, 152:982-986, 1995.
Kellner M, Baker D, Yehuda R: Salivary cortisol in Desert Storm returnees. Biol Psych, 41: 849-850, 1997.
Goenjian AK, Yehuda R, Pynoos RS, et al. Basal cortisol and dexamethasone suppression of cortisol among adolescents after the 1988 earthquake in Armenia. Am J Psychiatry, 153: 929-934, 1996.
Stein MB, Yehuda R, Koverola C, Hanna C: HPA Axis functioning in adult Women who report experiencing severe childhood sexual abuse, Biol Psychiatry, 42:680-686, 1997.
Resnick HS, Yehuda R, Foy DW, Pitman R: Effect of prior trauma on acute hormonal response to rape. Am J Psychiatry, 152:1675-1677, 1995.
Yehuda R, Shalev AY, McFarlane AC. Predicting the development of posttraumatic stress disorder from the acute response to a traumatic event. Biol Psych, 44:1305-1313, 1998.
Yehuda R, Teicher MH, Levengood R, et al: Cortisol regulation in posttraumatic stress disorder and major depression: A chronobiological analysis. Biol Psych, 40:79-88, 1996.
Yehuda R, Southwick SM, Krystal JM, et al: Enhanced suppression of cortisol following dexamethasone administration in combat veterans with PTSD and major depressive disorder. Am J Psychiatry, 150:83-86, 1993
Yehuda R, Boisoneau D, Lowy MT, Giller EL: Dose-response changes in plasma cortisol and lymphocyte glucocorticoid receptors following dexamethasone administration in combat veterans with and without PTSD. Arch of Gen Psych, 52:583-593, 1995.
Goenjian AK, Yehuda R, Pynoos RS, et al. Basal cortisol and dexamethasone suppression of cortisol among adolescents after the 1988 earthquake in Armenia. Am J Psychiatry, 153: 929-934, 1996
Yehuda R, Levengood RA, Schmeidler RA, et al: Increased pituitary activation following metyrapone administration in PTSD. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 21: 1-16, 1996
Yehuda R, Resnick HS, Schmiedler H, et al. Predictors of cortisol and MHPG responses in the acute aftermath of rape. Biol Psych , 43:855-859, 1998
Yehuda R. Parental PTSD as a Risk Factor for PTSD, in Yehuda (Ed Risk Factors for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Progress in Psychiatry Series, American Psychiatric Association, Inc., 1999.
Yehuda R, Wong C, Rappaport MH. Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis regulation of the immune system in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 1999 Annual Meeting..
Yehuda R, Keefe RSE, Harvey P, et al: Learning and memory in combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. Am J Psychiatry, 152: 137-139, 1995.
Yehuda R, Golier J, Harvey PD. Explicit and Implicit Memory in Holocaust Survivors with and without PTSD. Presentation at the 1999 meeting of the ACNP.
Golier J, Yehuda R, Cornblatt B, et al. Sustained attention in combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder. J Integr Psychophys, 32:52-61, 1997.
Golier J, Harvey P, Steiner A, Yehuda R: Source Monitoring in PTSD: In: Yehuda R, McFarlane AC (eds). Psychobiology of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Ann NY Acad Sci, Vol. 821472-475, 1997
Yehuda R, Elkin A, Schmeidler J, et al: Dissociation in aging survivors. Am J Psychiatry, 153:935-940, 1996.
Golier J, Yehuda R. Neuroendocrine alterations and memory related impairments in PTSD. Devel Psychopath, 1998;10:857-869
Yehuda R, Schmeidler J, Siever LJ, et al. Individual differences in PTSD symptom profiles in Holocaust survivors who were in concentration camps vs. hiding. J Traum Stress, 10: 453-465, 1997.
Yehuda R, Schmeidler J, Wainberg M, et al: Increased vulnerability to PTSD in adult offspring of Holocaust survivors. Am J Psychiatry, 155:1163-1172, 1998
Yehuda R, Schmeidler J, Giller E et al: Relationship between PTSD characteristics of Holocaust survivors and their adult offspring. Am J Psychiatry, 155:841-843, 1998.
Yehuda R, Schmeidler J, Aferiat DH, Breslau IG, Bierer LM, Dolan S: Low cortisol and risk for PTSD in adult offspring of Holocaust Survivors. Am J Psychiatry, submitted.

MY FATHER WAS IN FORCED LABOR

2004-12-30T00:37:00.000-05:00

At the end of 1919, Hungary established the MunkaszolgÃ¡lat (Labor Service) for civilians who were either unwilling or unable to serve in the regular army. This institution was unique to Hungary and was not originally directed at Jews. In 1938, however, the Labor Service was transformed into a forced labor institution directed solely at Jews. "MunkaszolgÃ¡latos" were Jews who served in the MunkaszolgÃ¡lat. As the war progressed, the situation of the Jews in these labor companies became extremely difficult, and many did not survive. More detailed information on the history of the MunkaszolgÃ¡lat may be found at http://english.gfh.org.il/hungary2.htm.

CHILDREN OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS

2004-12-29T22:02:00.000-05:00

Psychological Responses of Children

In a study done in 1975, thirty years after the Holocaust, all the children of survivors had known of their parents survivorhood for as long as they could remember. "Not one child could remember a time when he did not have at least a dim awareness of his parents' experiences of persecution."⁴⁵ Most children, however, had only fragmentary knowledge of isolated details. Some parents had withheld all information about their experiences in the past, while others had constantly repeated stories about their past from the time their children were little. However, even these parents did not communicate a coherent picture about their lives before and during the Holocaust.

The responses of children to their parents' Holocaust accounts included "isolation, denial, horror, guilt, anger at the world, and anger at the parents for subjecting them to the horrors of the past."⁴⁶ Most children were extremely hesitant to question their parents directly and seemed to feel that to do so might cause their parents harm. Some children reported that knowledge of the parents suffering was very painful for them and produced in them a need to distance themselves. At the same time, many children were in awe of their parents ability to endure in the face of the seemingly overwhelming conditions of the concentration camps.

On interviewing the children, certain themes began to emerge as characteristic of the parent/child relationship. "These themes were the unavailability of the parents for their children's emotional needs, the extremely controlling and overprotective behavior of parents, and the induction of guilt feelings in the children."⁴⁷ The most outstanding feature of all was the parent's inhibition of their children's separation. The parents communicated the idea that the only thing of value left in their lives was the children. "The positive aspects of the parent/child relationship's were that no child doubted his parent's love and all children saw their parents as consciously having their best interests in mind."⁴⁸

In being exposed to the Holocaust, children of survivors were exposed to nothing less than the stress of having to confront a cataclysm themselves. For these children, whose parents were still living with the scars of the Holocaust, the knowledge of the past must be considered to be traumatic. The constant stressful presence of concentration camp imagery and evidence of their parents suffering constituted a prolonged, day-by-day exposure. That is to say "exposure to their parents' state of having been traumatized was for at least some children of survivors, psychologically close to their having been in a concentration camp themselves."⁴⁹

RESILIENCE

2004-12-29T21:30:00.000-05:00

RESILIENCY: A SOCIAL WORK (NASW) RESEARCH WEBSITE

FOR AUGUST 2004

The concept of Resilience or Resiliency has deep roots in social work, although social work research related to it is relatively recent. There is dialogue within the profession as to whether a Resilience Theory exists, or if resiliency is a concept that describes a set or series of person-environment interactions. As social work and related mental health, behavioral, and social science practitioners transitioned from a pathology focus to a strengths perspective, increased attention was paid to personal qualities and social influence that promote or reflect health and well-being. The theoretical driver is not only on what needs to be fixed or change, but what positives can be reinforced. Research related to resiliency focuses on answering the questions of what works and why?

Two major areas of practice, child development and crisis intervention services, were early areas in which the concept of resiliency were first researched. Initial research questions included: why do two children from the same high risk-factor or low supportive environment emerge so differently? and why do some people suffer from post traumatic stress syndrome and others seem to thrive after a major stressor? Initial research focused on personal qualities, such as ego strengths, hardiness, plasticity, and survivorship. Later research expanded perspective on resilience to include not only personal qualities, both inherent and learned, but also ecological factors as well.

Attention to resiliency emerged even as the field of mental health increasingly turned to psychopharmacology as a primary treatment modality. Recognizing that organicity greatly influences behavior and that medications can significantly improve a number of mental illness symptoms, social workers and other mental health professionals also recognize, and research affirms, that talk therapy is an essential component to assist persons who suffered from a host of traumas, such as veterans of and prisoners of war, holocaust survivors, refugees, former hostages, and survivors of disasters whether natural, such as earthquakes, or man-made, such as the Oklahoma City, and September 11, 2001 events. Research has focused on helping to determine resilience-based treatment models, as well as to elicit the various components of resilience that need to be elicited and strengthened during child development, crisis prevention training, or post-trauma counseling.

NASW has published several major works featuring social work researchers' findings related to resilience. In 1999, a special volume of "Social Work Research", (23,3) was devoted to the subject. Fraser, Richman & Galinsky's article: "Risk, protection, and resilience: Toward a conceptual framework for social work practice", (pp. 131-143) provides a review and efforts to define the concept of resilience as basic to social work's approach. Now in its second edition, Fraser's book: "Risk and Resilience in Childhood: An Ecological Perspective", (2004) is published by NASW Press. In 2002 the NASW Press published "Resilience: An Integrated Approach to Practice, Policy, and Research", edited by Roberta R. Greene.

In 2002, the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research co-sponsored a Capitol Hill briefing on Health in a Stressful World at which social work researcher Curtis McMillen spoke on "The Positive By-Products of Adversity" in describing his resilience-related research with survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing.

Two definitions of resilience are citied by Greene

Resilience is the act of rebounding or springing back after being stretched or pressed, or recovering strength, spirit, and good humor.

Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language

The term "resilience" is reserved for unpredicted or markedly successful adaptations to negative life events, trauma, stress, and other forms of risk. If we can understand what helps some people to function well in the context of high adversity, we may be able to incorporate this knowledge into new practice strategies.

Fraser. Richman, & Galinsky, 1999, p. 136

Resilience literature generally affirms that the concept encompasses not merely surviving ; but in addition it includes both thriving and having benefited from the stressor experience. A review of resiliency related publications in Social Work Abstracts between 1978 and 2003 identified 137 abstracts referencing the term, with 23 abstracts alone between 2002 and 2003. Few of the abstracts focus on researching the concept of resilience per se, or on testing an operational theory for engendering resilience. In keeping with the notion of a concept in search of a theory, much of the reported research is qualitative, although several studies do formulate hypotheses testing variables associated with resilience-formation.

Below are two sets of references:

Citations referenced above plus other seminal publications on resilience;
References identified in Social Work Abstracts of articles published between 1978 & 2003 regarding research related to resilience. The search identified the terms "resilience" and "resiliency". Additional searches used the names of authors known to have published resilience-related research.

These references are not meant to be comprehensive; however, together they show the range of social work arenas in which resilience is a focus, from child development through trauma management, to end-of life care-giving.

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Citations + Related Books

Greene, R.R. (Ed.). (2002). Resilience: An Integrated Approach to Ptactice, Policy, and Research . Washington , DC : NASW Press.

Fraser, M.W., Richman, J.M., & Galinsky, M.J. (1999). Risk, protection, and resilience: Toward a conceptual framework for social work practice. Social Work Research, 23 (3), pp. 131-143.

Fraser, M.W. (2004). Risk and Resilience in Childhood: An Ecological Perspective, 2nd Edition . Washington , DC : NASW Press.

McMillen, J.C. (1999). Better for it: How people benefit from adversity. Social Work, 44 , (5), pp, 455-468.

McMillen, J.C. & Fisher, R.H. (1998). The perceived benefit scales: Measuring perceived positive life changes after negative events. Social Work Research, 22 , (3), pp. 173-186.

Norman, E. (Ed.). (2000). Resiliency Enhancement: Putting the Strengths Perspective into Social Work Practice . New York : Columbia University Press.

Wolin S.J & Wolin, S. (1993). The Resilient Self . New York : Villard Books.

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References Listed In Social Work Abstracts

(Arranged per WEBSPIRS listing, 1978 - 2003)
(n.b. Of the 137 identified through searches as noted above, the following include only those which clearly presented research findings rather than being literature summarization or commentary, or in which the term resilience was used as a descriptive term rather than a construct.)

Ties that protect: an ecological perspective on Latino/a urban pre-adolescent drug use.
AU: Marsiglia-F.F ; Miles-B.W ; Dustman-P ; Sills-S
SO: Journal-of-Ethnic-and-Cultural-Diversity-in-Social-Work. 11(3/4): 191-220, 2002.
Recommendations include social work interventions that support the resiliency characteristics of urban Latino youth in different social contexts such as communities, schools, and families.

Does PTSD differ according to gender among military veterans?
AU: Benda-B.B ; House-H.A
SO: Journal-of-Family-Social-Work. 7(1): 15-34, 2003.
This was a study involving systematic random samples of 225 male and 232 female military veterans respectively that had received services at a VAMC in the South. The purpose was to examine what ecological factors predict a diagnosis of PTSD among those veterans.

Resiliency in family caregivers: implications for social work practice.
AU: Ross-L ; Holliman-D ; Dixon-D.R
SO: Journal-of-Gerontological-Social-Work. 40(3): 81-96, 2003.
A brief survey instrument (the Caregiver Resilience Instrument) was administered to informal caregivers (N = 23) in a rural area in the southeast. Findings from this survey revealed common themes, ranging from identification of the most difficult aspects of caregiving to the benefits of caregiving, as well as ways these caregivers manage stress.

Africentric youth and family rites of passage program: promoting resilience among at-risk African American youths.
AU: Harvey-A.R ; Hill-R.B
SO: Social-Work. 49(1): 65-74, Jan. 2004.
This article examines the effects of an Africentric youth and family rites of passage program on at-risk African American youth and their parents. (This is one of 12 articles in this issue on social work in a multicultural society.).

The myth of "the tangle of pathology": resilience strategies employed by middle-class African American families.
AU: Carter-Black-J
SO: Journal-of-Family-Social-Work. 6(4): 75-100, 2001.
This pilot study identifies resilience strategies and child-rearing practices employed by African American parents to promote the development of children along achievement-oriented trajectories as they socialize their children to become successful adults.

Adolescent resilience: a concept analysis.
AU: Olsson-C.A ; Bond-L ; Burns-J.M ; Vella-Brodrick-D.A ; Sawyer-S.M
SO: Journal-of-Adolescence. 26(1): 1-11, Feb. 2003.
Literature on resilience published between 1990 and 2000 and relevant to adolescents aged 12-18 was reviewed with the aim of examining the various uses of the term, and commenting on how specific ways of conceptualizing of resilience may help develop new research agendas in the field.

Qualitative contributions to resilience research.
AU: Ungar-M
SO: Qualitative-Social-Work. 2(1): 85-102, Mar. 2003.
Qualitative methods are well suited to the discovery of the unnamed protective processes relevant to the lived experience of research participants; provide thick description of phenomenon in very specific contexts; elicit and add power to minority 'voices' which account for unique localized definitions of positive outcomes; promote tolerance for these localized constructions by avoiding generalization but facilitating transferability of results; and, require researchers to account for their biased standpoints.

The impact of political violence: adaptation and identity development in Bosnian adolescent refugees.
AU: Gibson-E.C.
SO: Smith-College-Studies-in-Social-Work. 73(1): 29-50, Nov. 2002.
Because current research on political violence tends to focus on psychopathological outcomes and PTSD sequelae, particular attention was given to examining cultural meanings of trauma and development, as well as the health-promoting forces that can occur in response to extreme trauma.

Resilient children: what they tell us about coping with maltreatment.
AU: Henry-D.L.
SO: Social-Work-in-Health-Care. 34(3/4): 283-298, 2001.
[Through qualitative methods] common patterns that emerged as five themes showing a progression of skills used by adolescents who were maltreated as children. These are: loyalty to parents, normalizing of the abusive environment, establishing a sense of safety through a perception of invisibility to the abuser, self value, and a future view. This research adds important knowledge to the body of practice skills in working with abusing families.

Holocaust survivors: a study in resilience.
AU: Greene-R.R.
SO: Journal-of-Gerontological-Social-Work. 37(1): 3-18, 2002.
This study presents the results of qualitative interviews (on) how each survivor met untoward circumstances during this time of crisis. Suggestions are made for how social workers can use this knowledge to promote client resilience and coping strategies.

Resilience in the face of maternal psychopathology and adverse life events.
AU: Tiet-Q.Q ; Bird-H.R ; Hoven-C.W ; Wu-P ; Moore-R ; Davies-M
SO: Journal-of-Child-and-Family-Studies. 10(3): 347-365, Sept. 2001.
On average children exhibited a greater degree of resilience when they had higher IQ, closer parental monitoring, better family functioning, higher educational aspiration, and were female.

Resilience and social work practice: three case studies.
AU: Turner-S.G.
SO: Families-in-Society. 82(5): 441-448, Sept.-Oct. 2001.
The author describes three case vignettes that illustrate how therapists and clients working together in a resilience framework can discover and bolster strengths that can lead to more enhanced and satisfying lives.

Recovery: resistance and resilience in female incest survivors.
AU: Anderson-K.M.
Dissertation: Univ. of Kansas , PhD, May 2001.
A theory of resilience as it applies to adult incest survivors was developed based on five themes that emerged from the interviews. These themes included resistance to: (a) being powerless; (b) being silenced; (c) doing harm to others; (d) being isolated; and (e) being consumed by the aftereffects. For adult survivors, stories that exemplify their resistance help in coming to see themselves as resilient and provide a more comprehensive understanding to the many dimensions of their incest experiences.

Resilience in ecosystemic context: evolution of the concept .
AU: Waller-M.A.
SO: American-Journal-of-Orthopsychiatry. 71(3): 290-297, July 2001.
The evolution of the resilience literature across diverse social science disciplines over the past two decades is reviewed and a synthesis of recent findings is offered, suggesting that resilience is a multidetermined and ever-changing product of interacting forces within a given ecosystemic context.

Power in the people: strengths and hope.
AU: Saleebey-D
SO: Advances-in-Social-Work. 1(2): 127-136, Fall 2000.
AB: The strengths perspective and resilience literature suggest that social workers may learn from those people who survive and in some cases flourish in the face of oppression, illness, demoralization, and abuse. Social workers need to know what steps these natural survivors have taken, what processes they have adopted, and what resources they have used.

The relationship of constructive aggression to resilience in adults who were abused as children.
AU: Cirillo-I
Dissertation: Smith College , PhD, Aug. 2000.
On quantitative measures, use of constructive aggressive strategies in childhood was positively related to all measures of adult resilience. Thematic analysis of the interviews of the most resilient and the least resilient participants revealed that high resilient participants used less destructive aggression and predominantly relied on constructive aggression strategiesâ¦

Constructive narrative in arresting the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder.
AU: Norman-J
SO: Clinical-Social-Work-Journal. 28(3): 303-319, Fall 2000.
The author shares examples of language and communication given by clients in the adaptive description of traumatic experiences that form the foundation of ongoing healing.

The impact of family of origin on social workers from alcoholic families.
AU: Coombes-K ; Anderson-R
SO: Clinical-Social-Work-Journal. 28(3): 281-302, Fall 2000.
In the case of social workers who are adult children of alcoholics, the authors argue that being part of an alcoholic family may significantly contribute to, rather than detract from, later practice competence.

Social/emotional intelligence and midlife resilience in schoolboys with low tested intelligence.
AU: Vaillant-G.E ; Davis-J.T
SO: American-Journal-of-Orthopsychiatry. 70(2): 215-222, Apr. 2000.
Although childhood social disadvantage did not distinguish the groups with low and high IQs, half of the low-IQ men enjoyed incomes as high and had children as well-educated as did the high IQ men. These resilient low-IQ men were more likely to be generative, to use mature defenses, and to enjoy warm object relations than the high IQ group as a whole.

Perceiving oppression: relationships with resilience, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and reliance on God in African American homeless men.
AU: Littrell-J ; Beck-E
SO: Journal-of-Sociology-and-Social-Welfare. 26(4): 137-158, Dec. 1999.
Two studies sought to determine the impact that recognition of oppression has on a disadvantaged individual's (1) self-esteem; (2) level of depressive symptoms; (3) resilience that includes a sense of mastery and optimism; (4) anger; and (5) reliance on God. These issues were investigated in a sample of African American men seeking services at a soup kitchen ministry. Perceptions of racial discrimination were marginally associated with attenuated levels of depressive symptomsâ¦. (B)elief in a just world was associated with some aspects of resilience and stronger reliance on God. Practitioners endeavoring to empower should be cautious about impairing clients' belief in a just world or undermining a sense of personal control over events.

Clinical applications of the CASPARS instruments: boys who act out sexually .
AU: Gilgun-J.F ; Keskinen-S ; Marti-D.J ; Rice-K
SO: Families-in-Society. 80(6): 629-641, Nov.-Dec. 1999.
This article, part two of a two-part series, demonstrates the uses of the Clinical Assessment Package for Risks and Strengths (CASPARS), newly developed clinical rating scales that incorporate research on resilience and social work's strengths perspectives.

CASPARS: new tools for assessing client risks and strengths.
AU: Gilgun-J.F.
SO: Families-in-Society. 80(5): 450-459, Sept.-Oct. 1999.
This article is part one of the two-part series on the Clinical Assessment Package for Assessing Client Risks and Strengths (CASPARS), a newly developed set of five instruments that gave equal consideration to client strengths and risks. The instruments are Family Relationships, Emotional Expressiveness, Family Embeddedness in Community, Peer Relationships, and Sexuality.

Promoting resilience in urban African American adolescents: racial socialization and identity as protective factors.
AU: Miller-D.B ; MacIntosh-R
SO: Social-Work-Research. 23(3): 159-169, Sept. 1999. Findings suggest that significant interaction does occur among stressors and protective factors in such a manner that they enhance educational involvement.

Better for it: how people benefit from adversity.
AU: McMillen-J.C.
SO: Social-Work. 44(5): 455-467, Sept. 1999.
Researchers in several different fields have discovered that people who have experienced seriously adverse events frequently report that they were positively changed by the experience. Thinking about benefits may help survivors of traumatic events process painful information. This article offers guidance on how to introduce and manage benefit content within a therapeutic relationship and encourages social workers to cautiously reflect clients' unstated benefits, encourage self-assessments in areas where benefits may accrue, explore any benefits discovered, and help clients plan for positive changes. This process converges well with the strengths perspective and constructivist approaches to social work practice. (Journal abstract.)

Risk, protection, and resilience: toward a conceptual framework for social work practice.
AU: Fraser-M.W ; Richman-J.M ; Galinsky-M.J
SO: Social-Work-Research. 23(3): 131-143, Sept. 1999.
(T)his special issue of Social Work Research highlights social work research that uses the concepts of risk, protection, and resilience. In this introductory article, the authors define key terms, discuss methodological issues, and explore implications for the profession.

"Making it": the components and process of resilience among urban, African-American, single mothers.
AU: Brodsky-A.E.
SO: American-Journal-of-Orthopsychiatry. 69(2): 148-160, Apr. 1999.
In contrast to the bulk of research on urban single mothers that focuses on risk and negative outcomes, this qualitative study of 10 resilient mothers living in risky neighborhoods uses the women's own words to conceptualize resilience as an ongoing process of balancing risk and protective factors in eight domains.

Restructuring resilience: emerging voices.
AU: Bachay-J.B ; Cingel-P.A
SO: AFFILIA-Journal-of-Women-and-Social-Work. 14(2): 162-175, Summer 1999.
AB: This study presents a qualitative analysis of the subjective voice of minority women in which the women revealed three constitutional factors that enhanced their resilience: strong measures of self-efficacy, well-defined faith lives, and the ability to reframe barriers and obstacles.

Social worker trauma: building resilience in child protection social workers.
AU: Horwitz-M
SO: Smith-College-Studies-in-Social-Work. 68(3): 363-377, June 1998.
Resilience theories are relied upon to develop strategies for promoting optimal effectiveness of social workers who remain exposed to potentially traumatizing events.

Resilience among social workers: a cross-cultural study of Americans and Israelis.
AU: Amrani-Cohen-I.R.
Dissertation: Boston College , PhD, Dec. 1998.
Research methods include a review of the resiliency literature, descriptive statistics, and multivariate analyses of data derived from a 1993 survey of 1,100 American and Israeli social workers. Identified were the characteristics associated with levels of job resilience among social workers in both countries. Outlined were policy implications for social work education, training and employment.

Risk and resilience in late adolescence.
AU: Carbonell-D.M ; Reinherz-H.Z ; Giaconia-R.M
Child-and-Adolescent-Social-Work-Journal. 15(4): 251-272, Aug. 1998.
The phenomenon of resilience was examined among the at-risk adolescents with no diagnosis, revealing that family cohesion and social support are associated with resilience.

The Perceived Benefit Scales: measuring perceived positive life changes after negative events.
AU: McMillen-J.C ; Fisher-R.H
SO: Social-Work-Research. 22(3): 173-187, Sept. 1998.
If social work researchers are to accurately describe the psychosocial functioning of clients who experience negative events, they need to consider positive as well as negative outcomes. In this article, new measures of self-reported positive life changes after traumatic stressors are introduced. Factor analyses suggest that the Perceived Benefit Scales consist of eight subscales: lifestyle changes; material gain; and increases in self-efficacy, family closeness, community closeness, faith in people, compassion, and spirituality.

Assessing resilience in adults with histories of childhood sexual abuse.
AU: Liem-J.H ; James-J.B ; O'Toole-J.G ; Boudewyn-A.C
SO: American-Journal-of-Orthopsychiatry. 67(4): 594-606, Oct. 1997.
Characteristics of both the individual and the early family environment distinguished resilient from nonresilient abuse survivors, as did the physically coercive nature of the abuse experience.

Resilience in late adolescence: young people at risk who have positive functioning .
AU: Carbonell-D.M.
Dissertation: Simmons College , PhD, Apr. 1996.
The study also examined aspects of "resilience" among the group with no diagnosis by comparing the family environments and social support networks of those who were functioning particularly well to the remaining adolescents with no diagnosis. Differences emerged among the three "diagnostic" groups. Differences were also found in the family environments and perceptions of social support among the resilient and comparison subgroups. The resilient group reported greater family cohesion and higher satisfaction with social support.

Risk and resilience in adjustment to sickle cell disease: integrating focus groups, case reviews, and quantitative.
AU: Barbarin-O.A.
SO: Journal-of-Health-and-Social-Policy. 5(3/4): 97-121, 1994.
The results provide a basis for speculating about the process of adjustment to illness and the value of a family approach to psychosocial intervention.

From surviving to thriving: the complex experience of living in public housing.
AU: O'Brien-P
SO: AFFILIA-Journal-of-Women-and-Social-Work. 10(2): 155-78, Summer 1995.
Interviews with 12 African American women who were long-term residents of a public housing complex and were engaged in tenant management activities found that obstacles in the complex reinforced their resilience, and that their roles as mothers and their adherence to spiritual beliefs gave their lives meaning.

Resilience at the front lines: hospital social work with AIDS patients and burnout.
AU: Egan-M
SO: Social-Work-in-Health-Care. 18(2): 109-25, 1993.
Findings challenge the assumption that burnout is primarily an organizationally induced phenomenon and affirm the influence of workers' self and world views on burnout. Hospital administrators, social work directors, and educators are encouraged to foster workers' sense of mastery and self-esteem to prevent burnout.

Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms.
AU: Rutter-M
SO: American-Journal-of-Orthopsychiatry. 57(3): 316-31, July 1987.
The notion of resilience is concerned with individual variations in response to risk: some people succumb to stress and adversity, whereas others overcome life hazards. Moreover, individuals who cope successfully at one point in their lives may react differently at another point. Four main processes or mechanisms affect resilience: (1) reduction of the impact of the risk factor through either alteration of the risk or alteration of exposure, (2) reduction of negative chain reactions, (3) establishment and maintenance of self-esteem and self-efficacy, and (4) opening up of opportunities.

Coping behavior of elderly flood victims.
AU: Huerta-F ; Horton-R
SO: Gerontologist. 18(6): 541-46, 1978.
[In data from total of 387 flood victims] Education correlated poorly with indices of deprivation and anxiety. Findings revealed that respondents viewed the threat of disaster as an ever-present aspect of living. The elderly victims of the flood did not show excessive feelings of personal disorganization as a result of losing their home and possessions. Comparisons between those over age 65 and those under age 65 revealed that older persons were less adversely affected by the disaster than the younger respondents. Resilience and fortitude were much more apparent among the elderly than among younger respondents who expressed more despair.

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THE EMPTYING OF APARTMENTS IN "KISVAROS"

2004-12-29T21:18:00.000-05:00

The Infamous "Yellow Star" Jews Were Forced to Wear

2004-12-29T01:39:00.000-05:00

Jewish Women Considered "Fit for Work" at Auchwitz

2004-12-29T01:32:00.000-05:00

Photo Gallery
Jewish women considered "fit for work"

The women who survived the first and critical "Selektion" at Auschwitz, were shaved and given camp clothes. Disoriented and ignorant of their futures, they were as yet unaware of the tragic deaths of their relatives in the gas chambers.

Date: June 0, 1944 Era: During WWII

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TRANSFER OF JEWS INTO THE GHETTO OF "KISVAROS"

2004-12-29T01:12:00.000-05:00

Photo Gallery
Transfer of Jews into the ghetto of "Kisvaros"

Following the German occupation of Hungary, Hungarian Jews were forced out of their homes and packed into crowded and isolated ghettos. Shown is the St. George Street entrance to the Jewish ghetto of "Kisvaros".

Date: 1944 Era: During WWII

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Jewish Hungarian Family Novels After the Holocaust

2004-12-29T01:07:00.000-05:00

From Yad Vashem:

Rita Horvath: Jewish Hungarian Family Novels After the Holocaust

The family novel has become one of the dominant genres of contemporary Jewish Hungarian literature. This article analyzes the reasons why contemporary writers find the controversial genre of the family novel the most suitable approach to the harshly discontinuous history of Hungary and especially that of Hungarian Jews. It also assesses the crucial role that the awareness of the Holocaust plays in this striking literary phenomenon. The article examines how current artists rejuvenated the genre of the family novelâ which had already been considered outdated half a century earlier by leading literary figures by incorporating non-narrative or less narrativized discourses, such as genealogical thinking, into their works.

I have tried to edit this properly - but cannot.

The Sealed Jewish Ghetto of "Kisvaros"

2004-12-28T22:32:00.000-05:00

Photo Gallery
The sealed Jewish ghetto of "Kisvaros", Hungary

The entrance to the Jewish quarter was blocked with a brick wall (right), totally isolating the Jews from the rest of the town. (After a short while in the ghetto, the Nazis deported "Kisvaros" Jews to Auschwitz, where most were murdered.)

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History of "Kisvaros"

2004-12-28T22:31:00.000-05:00

A city in W. Hungary on the Austrian border. Jews were living there during the 14th century, according to the prevailing custom in a "Jewish street." The land registry records of 1379 show that 27 houses were owned by Jews. After King Louis the Great expelled the Jews in 1360, those who lived in the town left for nearby Wiener Neustadt in Austria. When Louis authorized their return in 1365, their houses were transferred to Christian ownership. Upon their return the Jews demanded that the validity of their promissory be recognized, but the townsmen succeeded in revoking them.

From 1495 a special tax was imposed on the Jews by the governor of the town until in 1523 the king took them under his protection. The Jews then numbered 400.

When the whole of Hungary was conquered by the Turks in 1526, the Jews were expelled from the town "forever." They infiltrated back into "Kisvaros" in the 18th century but its gates remained closed to them until freedom of residence was authorized by a law in 1840. In 1855, 180 Jews were living there. The municipal council of "Kisvaros" again attempted to oppose them, and in 1858 anti - Jewish riots broke out in the town. In 1857 the Jews were authorized to organize themselves as a community but they did not possess a cemetery or synagogue. In 1862 the municipal council prevented the community from purchasing land for a cemetery and the Jews were compelled to acquire an estate for this purpose (1869). A synagogue was erected in 1876, and in 1884 a school was built. A Talmud Torah was established in 1874, and a yeshivah was founded in 1917 by S. Posen, the rabbi of the town (1930 - 44), who later settled in the United States.

The Jewish population numbered 1,152 in 1881; 1,632 in 1891; 2,255 in 1910; 2,483 in 1920; and 1,885 in 1930. they were mainly occupied as merchants, and included industrialists and contractors, as well as a number of craftsmen and members of the liberal professions. The anti - Jewish tradition in the town continued and its German inhabitants rapidly adopted the theory of racism.

Holocaust and Contemporary Periods

During World War II, after the German occupation (March 19, 1944), the Jews, numbering 1,861 in 1941, were deported to the death camp at Auschwitz. Only a few returned. Even after the deportation, the inhabitants of "Kisvaros" did not help to alleviate the suffering of the thousands of Jews from the forced labor camps who passed through the town on their last halt before being sent to the death camps in Germany. After World War II, only 274 Jews remained in "Kisvaros" (1946), and only 47 in 1970.

HUNGARY REMEMBERS THE HOLOCAUST

2004-12-28T22:06:00.000-05:00

An estimated 600,000 Hungarian Jews died in Nazi concentration camps during World War Two. On Thursday, some of those who survived, as well as the relatives of many of those killed, gathered to pray in a synagogue in Budapest that is now part of the just-opened Holocaust Memorial Center.

Located on a narrow street in Budapest, the center is surrounded by a marble wall containing the names of many of the Hungarian Jews who died in Nazi camps. The center also includes a museum and education center, which is now showing an exhibition of photographs of Hungarian victims arriving at Auschwitz from the northeastern village of Bilke, which is now part of Ukraine.

In his remarks inaugurating the center, Israeli President Moshe Katsav said he hoped it would help to combat the re-emergence of hatred toward the Jewish people. Underscoring those worries was news that Hungarian police on Tuesday arrested three suspects who allegedly wanted to blow up a Jewish Museum, although police officials have denied it was the Holocaust Memorial Center.

The main suspect, a 42-year old Hungarian citizen and Imam of an Islamic community, is in police custody, but two other suspects identified as Syrians have now been released.

The Israeli president also made clear how moved he was by what he saw at the center. Mr. Katsav said it was difficult to put his thoughts together as he saw pictures and other documents about the Hungarian Holocaust. He added that it was hard "to see the trembling of a hand, the shaking of knees, the anguish of suffering" among those being deported to concentration camps. He urged Hungarians to remember those who are depicted in pictures, as well as the many thousands more who are not.

His opinion was shared by Hungarian-born American Tom Lantos, the first Holocaust survivor to be elected to the United States Congress.

Answering a question from VOA ahead of the ceremony, Mr. Lantos said he hopes the Holocaust Memorial Center will help Hungarians to remember their country supported Nazi Germany during most of World War Two.

"I deeply regret that there are still elements in Hungary who wish to blame the Holocaust entirely on Germany, which is inaccurate," he said. "Vast numbers of Hungarians personally participated in the most outrageous, murderous acts."

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy, who was also at the ceremony, said he was ashamed that Hungary had actively participated in the Holocaust.

Mr. Medgyessy said whole families were exterminated. He said there was "no excuse and no explanation for the "heinous and unforgivable crimes" committed by Hungarians against Hungarians."

Hungarian officials also said it was time to guarantee a better future for all people and ethnic groups, a view reflected by other politicians who joined the inauguration via video links from Auschwitz and the Holocaust Memorial in Washington.

Story supplied by: VOAnews

From www.somethingjewish.co.uk

Hebrew-Hungarian Prayer Book

2004-12-28T01:04:00.000-05:00

Hebrew-Hungarian Cemetery Prayer Book 1930s

One of the items that my mother had with her until she died was a Hungarian-Hebrew prayer book that she brought with her from Kisvaros to Paris, after being liberated. Until she learnt English, she prayed from this Hungarian-Hebrew prayer book. When she was well and going to the synagogue she used the English-Hebrew prayer books. When she became very ill, she reverted to using the Hungarian-Hebrew prayer book.

MY FATHER'S FAMILY IN BUDAPEST DURING THE WAR

2004-12-28T00:58:00.000-05:00

MY FATHER'S FAMILY LIVED IN BUDAPEST BEFORE THE WAR

In 1941, about 184,000 Jews lived in Budapest. Another 62,000 were considered Jews according to anti-Jewish laws in effect, so the total Jewish population was 246,000. At the beginning of the war Hungary sided with Germany and, consequently, was not occupied until March 1944.

More than 15,000 Jews from Budapest were killed in labor camps and deportations before the German occupation. After the occupation, Adolf Eichmann started a Budapest Jewish council and denied freedom of movement within the city for Jews and forced them to wear a yellow badge. A Jewish ghetto was formed in June 1944; a month later, 200,000 Jews were moved to 2,000 homes. Plans were made to deport these Jews in July and August.

MY AUNT AND HER CHILDREN AND MY FATHER WERE SAVED BY WALLENBERG

**Raoul Wallenberg**

Meanwhile, the neutral states planned rescue actions for the Jews of Budapest. Raoul Wallenberg came to Budapest as secretary of the Swedish Foreign Ministry in July 1944 with instructions to save as many Jews as possible. He issued thousands of Swedish identity documents to Jews to protect them from Nazi deportation and is credited with ultimately saving as many as 100,000 people. He worked with the Swiss consul Charles Lutz, as well as Portuguese and Spanish legations to create "protected" houses and a "protected" ghetto to house the Jews with international identity papers. Wallenberg was last seen leaving the city on January 17, 1945, right after the Soviet army liberated the city.

THE GREEN ARROW CROSS PARTY WERE MADE UP OF HUNGARIANS WHO WERE FASCISTS

During the German occupation, the Hungarian fascist Arrow Cross Party came to power and carried out violent attacks against the Jews. They were shot and thrown into the Danube River. Tens of thousands of Jews died on death marches from Budapest to Austria. By the end of December 1944, 70,000 Jews lived in the central ghetto in Budapest and tens of thousands in the international ghetto or protected houses. The Hungarian government ceased to recognize international safe-conduct passes in January 1945. The Arrow Cross searched for Jews across the city and murdered them.

THE SOVIETS "LIBERATED" HUNGARY

The international ghetto was liberated by the Soviets on January 16, 1945, and the central ghetto two days later. About 94,000 Jews remained in the two ghettos at the time of liberation. Another 20,000 came out of hiding from the city, and another 20,000 returned from labor camps and labor service detachments. Nearly fifty percent of Budapest's Jewish population died during the Holocaust

HUNGARIAN STATISTICS SHOWED THAT 50% OF ALL JEWS IN HUNGARY AT THE TIME PERISHED

Aunt and 2 children saved by Swiss Protected House

2004-12-27T20:50:00.000-05:00

Holocaust Document Protected House OMZSA Budapest 1944

My father (who my mother met after 1945) and his family lived in Budapest. When the war came to Hungary, many men were taken to forced labour. Many of the remaining Jews were made to live in the Budapest Ghetto. There they lived with no heat, no running water, little food. My aunt C., who looked Christian as she had blonde hair, sneaked out of the Budapest Ghetto to buy food for her children. At the end of the war, when there was no longer any hope but to get into the Swiss Protected House, my Aunt and her 2 children, sat in front of the protected house and said Psalms for hours, until it finally opened.

INSIDE THE OLD SYNAGOGUE

2004-12-27T20:44:00.000-05:00

The Entrance to the Synagogue

2004-12-27T13:49:00.000-05:00

A zsinagoga bejarata

This is the entrance to the old synagogue in Kisvaros.

FROM COUSIN S.K.G.

2004-12-26T21:51:00.000-05:00

SHE WAS A TRUE LADY; A GREAT WOMAN

I was so sorry to hear about your mother. She was a true lady. I am sorry I didn't write sooner but my e-mail was on the fritz last weekend and I didn't get your notice. I told my mother to keep me updated, but she has a tendency to forget what I ask of her these days. I know what you mean about not believing she's gone. I remember when my father died, we buried him and sat shiva, but it still wasn't real. About 2 days after we got up from shiva I was driving and I passed a cemetery. All of a sudden, an unbelievable sadness came over me and I couldn't stop crying. It was real to me. My father was gone. No one loves you like your parents, and I know your suffering. I hope when time passes, Your left with wonderful memories of a great woman. Take it easy. I hope to hear from you soon.

E-MAIL FROM COUSIN A.R.

2004-12-26T21:43:00.000-05:00

MY MOTHER - BRAVE, SMART AND GOOD

I am truly sorry to hear of your mothers passing i unfortunately did not hear but my dad was away for 2.5 months and we were out of touch-for most of the time--i have been e-mailing replys i am sorry you have not been getting them--
i in fact mailed your mom a get well card recently with a picture of the kids i am assuming she did not get them
she has been in all our thoughts and prayers for a while i hope she did not suffer to badly--she was a brave smart and good women so much like you are--it must be very sad for you-- i hope you can find comfort in the fact that she loved you so much and what a truly wonderful person and daughter you are!!! we send all our love and sympathy and hope if there is anything we can do for you and your husband to make this time alittle easier please let us know you always have a place in our hearts and in florida--you are our family ! Love.....

HUNGARY REMEMBERS NAZI ATROCITIES

2004-12-26T21:03:00.000-05:00

Nazi atrocities - 60 years on - stark and calumnious - April 14, 2004
"Final Solution": To be found only in freedom, love and brotherhood
In Remembrance of Hungarian Jews who had perished in the Holocaust of 1944-45, at Budapest’s House of Terror, serving as a permanent reminder of the curse of Nazism and Communism. History’s 'Memory Lane' by now stretches onto a third generation of survivors standing to attention in the rain amidst a Nation, itself often persecuted. No excuse can ever be offered either for extinguishing a single life or conducting genocide. The horror of horrors grows possibly even starker and the more grotesque when death’s meted out to children. Their brief lives brutally ended before they could savour the pride and joy of coming into age. Some one and a half million children had their innocence forcefully taken away from them. About one tenth of them were Hungarian, babes-in-arms, toddlers or teenagers. All this cruelty exercised in the name of a misbegotten ideology, just one of the plagues of 'ism's that have been visited upon mankind in the XX. century. As for the living, our sacred duty in this world of ours becomes two-fold. For we keep faith with the victims - the children in particular - by pledging that we "shall never forget them and that we shall never let anything like their tragedy happen again - anywhere - whatever it may take to resist the Will of Evil". Photos: Bertalan Gaál
Never too young to be reminded
DNPI reporters

PHOTOGRAPHS:

Bowed heads in the silence of Atonement
Star of David shining bright
Jewish community leader Gusztáv Zoltai
Historian and co-host Gábor Kiszely
Dr. Gábor Demszky, Lordmayor of Budapest
Never too young to be reminded
Never too old to remember
The agony of survival
Ex-PM Viktor Orbán and executive assistant Szilvia Sunyovszky, actress
A candle's lit for lives snuffed out
The dual curses of the century: Nazism and Communism
House speaker dr. Katalin Szili and the beraved in solemn salute

source: DunaNovaPress
http://www.dnp.hu/dnp.php?lang=EN&cikk=2082&mode=full&depth=4

MY MOTHER, MYSELF

2004-12-25T19:22:00.000-05:00

The self portrait I painted before is also a portrait of my mother. As I got older, my resemblance to my mother increased. Many woman are afraid of becoming like their mothers. I am happy to become more and more like her as I admired her qualities of critical thinking, intelligence, humour and sophistication.

My mother was born around 1910 plus or minus 4 years. These were called the Edwardian or Victorian times in England. And like in England there was a Queen Elisabeth, except that she was not really a Queen, but the consort of Franz Joseph of Austria. She supported Hungarian causes, so she was popular in Hungary. Lots of girls were named after her. So was my mother. And like in England where there was a "good Queen Bess", my mother's Elizabeth was shortened to Bessie.

2004-12-25T18:37:00.000-05:00

Eva Weaver self portrait after Modigliani

Back to KISVAROS

2004-12-25T08:14:00.000-05:00

Following the wedding, my mother and Ferenc returned to the town of KISVAROS to live. Kisvaros was a bit of a rural, videcki, hick town that was at the base of the Austrian Alps. People went there to ski in the winter and hike in the fall. Many people had villas in the surrounding woods where they spent the summer.

Ferenc joined his father-in-law's law practice while my mother set up housekeeping in a new apartment. Ferenc proved to be an inept lawyer, a faithless husband, but a great party guy. He was always planning parties, especially New Year's Parties, called St. Sylvester's Eve. In December 1943, Ferenc was still planning New Year's 1944.....

MARRIAGE TO FERENC

2004-12-24T11:04:00.000-05:00

My mother married Ferenc when she was 24 years old. The marriage took place in the Nagy Zsinangoga on Dohany utca in Budapest. I have heard that this is the second largest synagogue in the world and one of the most beautiful. They married here and not in their little synagogue in their little town because her in-laws-to-be wanted a big wedding, a Budapest wedding, an impressive wedding. Before the wedding my mother had a strong premonition that this was the wrong thing to do. She wanted to leave the groom at the altar, but in those days; girls just did not do that.

In Memorium

2004-12-23T12:42:00.000-05:00

I wish to dedicate this blog to the memories of my parents, my grandparents (who I never knew) and to a world that is gone forever.

HUNGARY1875-1945

WHY THE INDEX IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BLOG

R.J. RUMMEL - 20TH CENTURY DEMOCIDE - EXCELLENT! PLEASE READ

20TH CENTURY DEMOCIDE

HITLER AND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

CHRONOLOGY OF THE HOLOCAUST - BY LINDA M. WOOLF, Ph.D.

Chronology of the Holocaust 1933 - 1945

Compiled by Linda M. Woolf, Ph.D.

CURRENT HUNGARIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY

MY MOTHER LIVED IN "KISVAROS"

KISVAROS MAIN SQUARE

1941 - Jewish Population 1,861 in "Kisvaros"

MALTHUS SOCIETY RATIONALE AND CORE PRINCIPLES

The Core Principles of Malthus:

FORECASTING GENOCIDE

WHO COINED THE WORD GENOCIDE?

DEFINITION OF DEMOCIDE (GENOCIDE and MASS MURDER)

By R.J. Rummel

THE EIGHT STAGES OF GENOCIDE

Hungary and the Jews

The Virtual Jewish History Tour

Hungary

By Rebecca Weiner

Middle Ages to the Ottoman Empire Ottoman Empire Hapsburg Empire Period of Emancipation (1867-1914) and World War I Cultural and Religious Life in the 19th Century Inter-War period: 1919-1939 The Holocaust Post-World War II Hungary Communist Rule Hungary Today

Middle Ages to the Ottoman Empire

Memorial Jewish stone from the time of the Roman Empire

Ottoman Empire

Early 20th century postcard photo of the synagogue in Kecskemet. The synagogue is now used as a church.

Hapsburg Empire

The synagogue in Debrecen was built between 1895-97 and destroyed by fire in 1948.

Period of Emancipation (1867-1914) and World War I

Cultural and Religious Life in the 19th Century

Inter-War period: 1919-1939

The Holocaust

Hannah Szenes

Post-World War II Hungary

Pecs Synagogue

Communist Rule

The synagogue in Gyor was built in 1871 and designed by Karoly Benko. The synagogue was sold in 1969 and now used as a dance school.

Hungary Today

Hannah Szenes' grave

Low Cortisol Levels May Predict PTSD Risk: Children of Holocaust Survivors

Low Cortisol Levels May Predict PTSD Risk

WHY IT WAS SO HARD TO CARE FOR MY MOTHER

Children of Holocaust Survivors can suffer "secondary trauma"

IDENTITY AND BELONGING

THE EVILS OF INDIFFERENCE

HITLER'S LAST VICTIMS: THE JEWS OF HUNGARY

ELIE WIESEL ON INDIFFERENCE

Mount Sinai - Department of Psychiatry - POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

MY FATHER WAS IN FORCED LABOR

CHILDREN OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS

RESILIENCE

RESILIENCY: A SOCIAL WORK (NASW) RESEARCH WEBSITE

Two definitions of resilience are citied by Greene

Citations + Related Books

References Listed In Social Work Abstracts

THE EMPTYING OF APARTMENTS IN "KISVAROS"

The Infamous "Yellow Star" Jews Were Forced to Wear

Jewish Women Considered "Fit for Work" at Auchwitz

TRANSFER OF JEWS INTO THE GHETTO OF "KISVAROS"

Jewish Hungarian Family Novels After the Holocaust

The Sealed Jewish Ghetto of "Kisvaros"

History of "Kisvaros"

HUNGARY REMEMBERS THE HOLOCAUST

Hebrew-Hungarian Prayer Book

MY FATHER'S FAMILY IN BUDAPEST DURING THE WAR

Raoul Wallenberg

Aunt and 2 children saved by Swiss Protected House

INSIDE THE OLD SYNAGOGUE

The Entrance to the Synagogue

FROM COUSIN S.K.G.

E-MAIL FROM COUSIN A.R.

HUNGARY REMEMBERS NAZI ATROCITIES

MY MOTHER, MYSELF

Back to KISVAROS

MARRIAGE TO FERENC

In Memorium

20TH CENTURY
DEMOCIDE

Middle Ages to the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
Hapsburg Empire
Period of Emancipation (1867-1914) and World War I
Cultural and Religious Life in the 19th Century
Inter-War period: 1919-1939
The Holocaust
Post-World War II Hungary
Communist Rule
Hungary Today

The synagogue in Debrecen was built
between 1895-97 and destroyed by fire in 1948.

The synagogue in Gyor was built in 1871 and designed by Karoly Benko.
The synagogue was sold in 1969 and now used as a dance school.