tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post8301759169184747534..comments2024-03-23T12:38:46.260+00:00Comments on The History Girls: Second-generation trauma, by Leslie WilsonMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-77068293882925627872012-09-25T20:55:28.461+01:002012-09-25T20:55:28.461+01:00Thank you all so much. It wasn't an easy post ...Thank you all so much. It wasn't an easy post to write - shook me up quite a lot. Your comments have been both heartening and thought-provoking. 'The shuttered look' that Anonymous mentions, is such a good way of putting it - though I have to say that not everyone is like that about one being half German, especially not of late years. I felt really happy that the schoolchildren so loved my books about Germans in Nazi Germany, it healed a lot of the hurts that the attitudes of my contemporaries, at school, dealt to me.<br />And of course, it must be true for British people, too - I thought that, Ann, when I was writing the piece. Mefinx - my mother was also obsessed with saving food, and also starved herself, as did my grandmother. Audrey Hepburn had the same problem, having starved after the war, as my mother did. Of course, some people - and some Germans - had the opposite attitude, and ate too much to compensate. Or tried to fill the wounds with food? Who knows. <br />This is not to say that I am in favour of wasting food, however! But my mother used to say, about things that made me sick, like liver: 'You would eat it if you were starving.' This is undoubtedly true, but irrelevant when one has a choice of food. Also, whereas my friends were told to eat up their food because there were people starving who'd be glad of it, my brother and I were told to eat up our food because our mother had starved during the war. As if we could retrospectively fill her starving belly.<br />It does focus one's mind on the issue of sexual violence against women, though. It's not just one generation that suffers it.<br />Incidentally, I remember reading in Marika Cobbold's 'Guppies for tea' - a character had a nervous breakdown and the psychiatrist said about her: 'if people have nothing to upset them, they invent things.' But this character's Jewish father had survived concentration camp. I was furious with the psychiatrist. Fictional he may have been, but representative of far too many people's attitudes.<br />I have so much appreciated your comments.Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-7820966202521311332012-09-25T13:57:38.250+01:002012-09-25T13:57:38.250+01:00Thank you for this, it's fascinating. I'd ...Thank you for this, it's fascinating. I'd never really thought about how my mother's experiences (she lived in Belfast at the height of the war in Northern Ireland) affected me, but I guess they have in other ways than just being sensitive when someone brings up Ireland (though she wasn't pregnant until much later, so I probably don't have any physical symptoms).Juliettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00203399623895589924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-69799665359988968802012-09-24T13:06:57.453+01:002012-09-24T13:06:57.453+01:00What a thoughtful and thought-provoking post, Lesl...What a thoughtful and thought-provoking post, Leslie - thank you so much.Jenny Alexanderhttp://jenalexanderbooks.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-76705246341449150302012-09-24T12:28:24.741+01:002012-09-24T12:28:24.741+01:00Thank you, Leslie, for this moving and powerful po...Thank you, Leslie, for this moving and powerful post. As someone who was born during the war I have always felt that I belong to that time, even though I remember nothing of it. The family stories are there, and are part of me. And the nervousness and strange fears I suffered as a child are no doubt connected to the stress my mother endured. Given your background and the trauma your mother suffered it's inevitable that you feel a need to write the books you do - and thank goodness you do, because they are not only great stories but they need to be heard. Ann Turnbullhttp://www.annturnbull.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-22954914625128657812012-09-24T10:09:35.073+01:002012-09-24T10:09:35.073+01:00A superb piece of writing, Leslie - thank you for ...A superb piece of writing, Leslie - thank you for the thought and work you must have put into it. Both impressive and appalling, and very moving.<br />It makes me glad that my parents were very young during WWII and largely unaffected. Your post makes me realise how precious their childish nonchalance to it all truly was.Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-83020825464028363992012-09-24T08:57:09.076+01:002012-09-24T08:57:09.076+01:00A powerful and beautifully written post. Thank you...A powerful and beautifully written post. Thank you for sharing.<br /><br />It would be hard to over-estimate how much the world of children born in the 1950s was shaped by their parents' experiences in wartime; a relatively trivial example compared to your own experiences, but I can still recall my mother-in-law's obsession with saving food, pursued to the point of near-anorexia at times, which I'm sure went back to severe poverty in childhood followed by years of rationing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-77978771197572532202012-09-24T07:12:33.412+01:002012-09-24T07:12:33.412+01:00I remember, about 3 years ago, explaining how the ...I remember, about 3 years ago, explaining how the attitude of older Brits might affect a young German woman who was coming over here to work temporarily. She was startled when I told her that she might get abuse from total strangers purely because she's German. I don't think she had any idea how much the two Wars has affected the British psyche even down to the third generation. <br /><br />Myself, I got interested in WW1 when I was in my 20s, having grown up with the stories of my grandparents and uncles (my mum was born in '48 so missed out on it) about their WW2 experiences, and the turning point in my attitude towards the Germans (which until then had been fairly in line with most British attitudes, I'm sure) was reading Remarque's 'All Quiet on the Western Front'. I suddenly realised that the German soldiers were actually not much different to the British ones - and it was only people like Hitler & the Gestapo who were the monstrous ones. Since then I've done my best to educate myself by reading accounts of the Wars by Germans as well as the British.Michelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15888298679182871669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-25233318102003359322012-09-24T00:28:15.610+01:002012-09-24T00:28:15.610+01:00The sirens get me. Before you mentioned it in this...The sirens get me. Before you mentioned it in this article, I'd never thought of it, but they are absolutely horrific. I was in Memphis a few years ago and they have a siren over there to warn of high winds. I heard it on the television from where I was in the kitchen and it was.... for a moment, everything just stopped in me. I've no idea if this is related to past trauma through several generations (I suspect not, knowing me!) but I find the notion intriguing and I hadn't thought of that moment before until you started your article with it. Thank you for making me think! :)<br /><br />Incidentally, I've never before read of another English person talking about their family's experiences in wartime Germany and Austria before. I was beginning to think I was some sort of rare breed - someone who knew that their family while German, was not Nazi. Certainly I know that my family's history has affected me and the way I see the world, even if it's not necessarily directly relevant to me two generations on or if it's a result of trauma and chemical changes in the body during that. You're absolutely right about us as habitats - my parents and older relatives either lived through the war or were told stories of it by people who had done so. As Germans living in England post-war, it was important to them to remember. And I grew up hearing the odd story here and there about so and so during the bombing etc. The infrequency of the stories made them more important, I attached meaning to them, and as a result even though I'm only part German, German heritage is immensely important to me, especially as my family seems to be at odds with everything I learned about Germans and Nazis at school. I need to remember all this the next time someone gives me the shuttered look when I mention my family's German - they could well have also heard stories passed down through their parentage, or have chemical trauma in their DNA that makes their reaction equally as valid as my own.<br /><br />I really didn't expect to be thinking about this in so much detail! Thank you!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-54050242977055942752012-09-23T19:27:55.661+01:002012-09-23T19:27:55.661+01:00Goodness, how powerful. Your poor mother.Goodness, how powerful. Your poor mother.Sue Purkisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084528571944803477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-65831375143236006832012-09-23T16:39:41.392+01:002012-09-23T16:39:41.392+01:00Interesting discussion. I'm not sure trauma is...Interesting discussion. I'm not sure trauma is the right word for the second generation, but children are affected by what happened to their parents, because they feel their pain and grief. If parents are too traumatised to deal with the tragedy in their lives, its bound to affect the next generation. However we need to beware when personal tragedy affects politics, and perceptions of national identity. Children should know about loved ones who have been lost by their parents, and from my own experience, it can also be lovely and important for both, to tell the stories of normal life, pranks and fun which was part of their family life before tragedy. Ilona Ahttp://www.harappa.com/investigatorsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-43041368336036211932012-09-23T12:55:32.818+01:002012-09-23T12:55:32.818+01:00A humbling post to read, Leslie, thank you very mu...A humbling post to read, Leslie, thank you very much. To say how sorry I am to hear about your mother's suffering doesn't really seem enough, that's the trouble with words - I suppose that's where the crucial nature of storytelling comes in - to cut through platitudes and give us some emotional comprehension of the suffering of others.<br /><br />Also really like your final image. I always think of the personal, human interior past as a more strandish thing; those threads of DNA and experience gathering and twining together as we go on - but I much prefer your image of us as habitats. Jane Borodalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04869783602793206715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-35680243493214055772012-09-23T11:48:15.068+01:002012-09-23T11:48:15.068+01:00What an arresting post. And what affecting images...What an arresting post. And what affecting images. The instinct to share and pass on is such a strong one, isn't it? Often, as you so beautifully put, the sour grapes consumed by the parents set the children's teeth on edge, but sometimes, as with your post, the offspring do something positive with their inheritance. Thanks, Leslie. Linda B-Ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01599899073420595717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-69861513524468865422012-09-23T11:37:52.425+01:002012-09-23T11:37:52.425+01:00Great post. There is also research to show that th...Great post. There is also research to show that the families of someone suffering Post Traumatic Stress can take three generations before the children are born without a heightened probability of mental health problems. (Makes you wonder about the children of those fighting in Afghanistan ...)JOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03127111575563904349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-39252267008409838622012-09-23T10:43:22.016+01:002012-09-23T10:43:22.016+01:00And I am glad you can write about it - because the...And I am glad you can write about it - because the rest of us need people to do it. Thankyou.catdownunderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06959328192182156574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-62296400690017853242012-09-23T09:18:05.190+01:002012-09-23T09:18:05.190+01:00Oh my, Leslie, powerful indeed. Thank you.Oh my, Leslie, powerful indeed. Thank you.Joan Lennonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15763862159032836768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-49183813211670594862012-09-23T08:57:49.895+01:002012-09-23T08:57:49.895+01:00An incredibly powerful post. Thank you for sharing...An incredibly powerful post. Thank you for sharing such personal memories.Frances Bevanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04844654551121374440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-16284776387995551032012-09-23T08:45:00.690+01:002012-09-23T08:45:00.690+01:00Thank you for sharing such a thought-provoking pos...Thank you for sharing such a thought-provoking post.Michelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15888298679182871669noreply@blogger.com