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The resilience of Jewish communities living in the diaspora: a scoping review

Author(s): Meijer, Judith E. M.; Machielse, Anja; Smid, Geert E.; Schats, Winnie; Jong, Miek C.

Date: 2023

Topics: Main Topic: Other, Psychology, Diaspora, Resilience, Bibliography and Literature Reviews

Abstract: Introduction: Throughout history, Jewish communities have been exposed to collectively experienced traumatic events. Little is known about the role that the community plays in the impact of these traumatic events on Jewish diaspora people. This scoping review aims to map the concepts of the resilience of Jewish communities in the diaspora and to identify factors that influence this resilience. Methods: We followed the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology. Database searches yielded 2,564 articles. Sixteen met all inclusion criteria. The analysis was guided by eight review questions. Results: Community resilience of the Jewish diaspora was often described in terms of coping with disaster and struggling with acculturation. A clear definition of community resilience of the Jewish diaspora was lacking. Social and religious factors, strong organizations, education, and communication increased community resilience. Barriers to the resilience of Jewish communities in the diaspora included the interaction with the hosting country and other communities, characteristics of the community itself, and psychological and cultural issues. Discussion: Key gaps in the literature included the absence of quantitative measures of community resilience and the lack of descriptions of how community resilience affects individuals’ health-related quality of life. Future studies on the interaction between community resilience and health-related individual resilience are warranted.

Resilience to Trauma by Holocaust Survivors: Factors in Surviving, Coping and Thriving

Author(s): Reches, Ruth; Sondaitė, Jolanta

Date: 2017

Topics: Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Holocaust Survivors, Interviews, Trauma, Resilience

Abstract: The current study analyzes how Holocaust survivors coped with different painful situations in their lives during the Holocaust through identification of factors of resilience to the trauma they experienced. Four female and six male survivors were included in the survey. Each informant experienced life in a ghetto or concentration camp at age eight or above. A semi‑structured interview was used to gather data. Thematic analysis was used to achieve the goal. Themes were formulated to describe protective factors which Holocaust survivors said enabled them to survive the war. Among the major resilience factors identified were social support (help received from close relatives, help received from other people); changes in values (changes of attitude towards people, life and God); circumstance (“miracles”, coincidence); integration of experience (acceptance of fate, sharing experiences with others) and self‑reliance (self‑efficacy). Our research suggests both external (social support and circumstances) and internal factors (changes in values, integration of traumatic experience and self‑reliance) determine resilience to trauma by Holocaust survivors.

Trauma, Resilience, and Empowerment: Descendants of Survivors of Nazi Persecution

Editor(s): Rebentisch, Jost; Dymczyk, Adina; Fehlberg, Thorsten

Date: 2019

Topics: Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Holocaust Survivors: Children of, Trauma, Memory, Restitution and Reparations, Age and Generational Issues, Resilience

Abstract: As is well known, traumata can be passed from one generation to the next; and hardly any other group is so affected by this phenomenon as the descendants of those persecuted by the Nazis. Yet, how exactly does this transfer take place? What role do family traditions and continued social practices play? Might genetics play a role? Furthermore, can this cycle at all be broken?

The descendants of those persecuted by the Nazis can draw on unique resources and skills. They make significant contributions to political and social confrontations with the Nazi era, and they work for the welfare of the survivors. Many are active in political education and advocate for an appropriate culture of remembrance. In a time of increasing right-wing populism, their views are indispensable.

Ethnic-Priority Immigration in Israel and Germany: Resilience Versus Demise

Author(s): Joppke, Christian; Roshenhek, Zeev

Date: 2001

Topics: Aliyah, Immigration, Policy, National Identity, Nationality, Main Topic: Demography and Migration, Resilience

Abstract: After World War II, Israel and Germany adopted curiously similar policies of ethnic- priority immigration, accepting as immigrants only putative co-ethnics. The first objective of this article is to provide analytical descriptions of an understudied type of immigration, which is entirely a political artefact and also offers a window into the constitution and contestation of the boundaries of the national community. The second objective is to account for the main variation between the two cases, the resilience of Jewish immigration in Israel, and the demise of ethnic-German immigration in Germany. The very fact of divergent outcomes casts doubt on a “primordialist” account of ethnic-priority immigration, which sees the latter as emanating—in a direct and unproblematic way–from an “ethnic” (as against “civic”) definition of nationhood. We point instead to the possibility of “liberal” and “restrictive” contention surrounding ethnic-priority immigration, and argue that for historical and geopolitical reasons the political space for such contention has been more constricted in Israel than in Germany.