The past two weeks have not been easy for me. I’ve experienced nightly dreams, thoughts of pending disaster, and hypersensitivity to antisemitism. I’m not alone. In the numerous Facebook pages that I follow, other Jews are experiencing the same thing. I hear from friends and family. We feel afraid and alone. I’m just glad my parents are no longer alive to have to reexperience their wartime trauma.

Over the years, I earned to bury unpleasant memories. Both my parents were capable of this, but my father experienced this phenomenon to a greater extent. Memory reacts to trauma closing off access to painful events. Eventually, I began to become acquainted with the concept of intergenerational trauma.

In 1966, Canadian psychiatrist Vivian M. Rakoff, MD, and his colleagues recorded high rates of psychological distress among children of Holocaust survivors, and the concept of generational trauma was first recognized.

A 1988 study published in The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry found that grandchildren of Holocaust survivors were overrepresented by about 300 in psychiatric care referrals. Since then, Holocaust survivors and their children have been the most widely studied group, but in theory, any type of extreme, prolonged stress could have adverse psychological effects on children (referred to as just 2G) and/or grandchildren (3G), resulting in clinical anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some patterns have emerged. Certain things seem to stand out, including a sensitivity to anti-Semitism and a general concern about their safety. It is common to see first-generation survivors pass on depression and anxiety. They constantly worry about their children, which instills a higher degree of sensitivity. Studies suggest that there is some dilution in marrying a non-survivor. One study suggested that 2G are more likely to experience psychiatric conditions than the general population and that they tend to be overachievers and possess a finely-honed sense of humour. It’s been noted that the pandemic increased many people’s levels of anxiety, and that would include survivors and their children.

Intergenerational trauma doesn’t just affect individuals—it can impact a whole group or community, too. In this case, the definition of intergenerational trauma refers to the collective complex traumas inflicted on people who share a specific identity or affiliation. That might mean their ethnicity, nationality, or religion. This isn’t the exclusive domain of Holocaust survivors. That’s because intergenerational trauma involves what happened in the past, but also what’s happening in the present and what will continue to happen in the future. A legacy of trauma forms in which a community continues to experience distress over generations despite never having experienced the original trauma. Events like the current Israeli-Hamas war or past events like the Munich Olympic attack rip open those scars.

A 2015 study suggests that children of Holocaust survivors may have been marked epigenetically with a chemical coating upon their chromosomes. This would represent a kind of biological memory of what their parents experienced. As a result, some suffer from a general vulnerability to stress, while others are more resilient. I see this in my own family. Previous research assumed that such transmission was caused by environmental factors, such as the parents’ childrearing behaviour. New research, however, indicates that these transgenerational effects may have been also genetically transmitted to their children. Integrating both hereditary and environmental factors, epigenetics adds a new comprehensive psychobiological dimension to the explanation of transgenerational transmission of trauma.

The current hostilities will be prolonged and can easily spread. I believe that if the state of Israel does not survive, it will lead to another Holocaust. There are many people who would be happy to see that happen. I can tell you that your Jewish friends are likely not doing well. Check-in with them.