In our exploration of the Holocaust, the concept of the so-called "second Holocaust" was presented, which is described by Laub et al. , 1997, p. The manifestation of this phenomenon is seen most clearly in the accounts of survivors, as well as – perhaps crucially – in the experiences of the children of those who survived the Holocaust, who, like their parents, are described as resigned to “attenuated conditions”. and devitalized lives” (Peskin et al., p. 1). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay This work will examine the concept of the “second Holocaust” through the context of the survivor literature we have explored, and I I will use as a point from which to present my thoughts on this very sensitive subject, especially as it reflects the subconscious ways in which grief can be expressed and how people's deepest pain is often misunderstood or difficult controlled following extensive trauma. Through reflection on the work of Primo Levi and Charlotte Delbo, this work will show that the acute fears and concerns faced by these survivors in the aftermath of their liberation from concentration camps influence all facets of their lives to come. While each would continue to lead productive and successful lives, both would also continue to be plagued by the trauma they experienced, particularly when that trauma manifests itself in abstract forms, particularly in their dreams. These two authors suffered a terrible “second Holocaust”, as their work shows. This work will explore the nature of this resurgent trauma and attempt to show how this pain is expressed in their works.Primo Levi and the Fear of SilenceA key piece that has informed my understanding of this concept is Primo Levi's work If This Is a Man. (1947), which describes in extraordinary detail the terrible pain and anguish endured by Levi – who was held at Auschwitz for almost a year – during which the greatest difficulties often had nothing to do with the more mundane problems encountered by those who avoided immediate execution. The work contains a strong consideration of the broader psychological effects of the camps, particularly how those held there were silenced, often through brutal violence at the hands of unresponsive guards, but also often as a result of exhausting work imposed on them. to reform, or a loss of mind. The work is full of small moments high in life-and-death struggles, including a fight over a piece of bread or a pair of shoes, and throughout the reader is given the author's unique insight into this world terrible. Perhaps it is simple to understand the root of this author’s trauma; After all, the Holocaust took a terrible toll on survivors, particularly psychologically. To this end, the reader may be unable to easily understand the author's confusion at the dreams that begin to consume his sleep, in which he was at home and telling people about his experiences, only to be met with indifference or to the confusion or outright denial of his Even if Levi was released with the rest of Auschwitz and was able to continue his life, it was this fear of denial and confusion among those to whom he sought to tell his story which constitutes his “secondholocaust.” Although not common, Levi was able to survive and return to a world in which memories of the Holocaust frequently mix with skepticism and the slow slide toward decline in the popular imagination. The threat of having one's pain canceled out or "reduced" by the forces of indifference can be seen as an element of the psyche of Holocaust survivors who constitute – albeit unconsciously – the bulk of their trauma in the decades that followed. A key point that is established through this work's consideration of both its author's time in the camps, as well as his traumatized life to follow, is whether there was a larger purpose to the suffering he faced. and his comrades were confronted at the hands of their executioners. Levi's search for greater meaning in his experience is notable for the way he is able to imbue his presentation of one of the worst excesses of the 20th century with a sense of force, and his philosophical stance illuminates the larger work. simply a man who went through a terrible experience - one that few would be able to comprehend - and who lived to tell the tale, nor does the work take the form of a simple list of grievances against horrors of a state-sponsored genocide. Instead, Levi attempts to find greater meaning in his experience, particularly with respect to whether it can be used to better think about any aspect of human nature: Pushed to the brink, Levi responds not with anger or sorrow, but with quiet introspection. . It is from this stance that the book makes some of its greatest contributions to eyewitness history. In his description of how humanity reacts when every "civilized institution is removed", as in a situation in which the machinations of politics and industry have been destroyed. put to work in a manner as profoundly profane as The Holocaust, Levi does not despair; Instead, he argues that in this situation it does not necessarily reduce perpetrators and victims to the depths of “brutality, selfishness, and stupidity” (Levi, 1947, p. 100). Instead, the main conclusion he draws is one of general despair, observing that "in the face of the need to drive and physical disabilities, many social habits and instincts are silenced" (Levi, p 100). this observation can be seen as reflecting his view of the concentration camp system and the inherent silence it brought to its worst victims -- beaten, perhaps, into silence by their extreme brutality -- these observations can be extended to illuminate his observations of the world he found during his escape. Although his descriptions of his pain and sorrow seem to end with his escape, the "second Holocaust" for which Levi is particularly unprepared can be best described in the same language he uses to inform his explanation of the eternally increasing sadness of life inside the camps. When he explains that his rare moments of black humor must have been experienced in "grave astonishment" to see that more and worse suffering extended beyond those already experienced, an entirely different type of suffering... 'awaits in a world of relative peace. to be continued (Lévi, p. 82). This is an internal disorder that often presents itself in the context of one's dreams. The nature of this second suffering, and indeed of Levi's "second Holocaust", is one that is informed by the nature of the suffering he experienced, but which he fears will later be disbelieved. In this way, Levi expresses his deepest fears that the outside world can makeinvisible or cancel his terrible struggles. Far from using the memory of the Holocaust as a means to gain a better understanding of human nature, he fears (as his dreams show) that he will discover – upon his release – that the observations he made about the Holocaust would also be easily extrapolated to illuminate the postures, behaviors and state of mind of those he imagines having learned about them second-hand. That is, through his dreams of attempting to inform the world about his experiences, he would find their response to reflect the same type of silence that came to conceal the passions and hatreds of his fellow camp survivors, perhaps for the sake of to silence. or as a means of ensuring their own protection against unfamiliar or hostile ideas about humanity. Whether to protect himself or to protect himself. incredulous, he fears that the people with whom he would attempt to share his experiences would receive them with “total indifference” (Levi, 1947, p. 138). Those who had the luxury of skepticism (or who perhaps wished not to hear his terrible story) would instead choose to “talk confusedly about other things among themselves, as if I were not there” (Lévi, p. 65) . In this way, Levi's "second Holocaust" – which takes the form of a recurring dream he has throughout his life – is the manifestation of a second suffering, but this time, rather than inflaming the world of indignation, it has fallen on deaf ears, that is to say it takes the form of an “always repeated scene of an unheard story” (Lévi, p. 65). In many ways, through Levi's calculating and focused approach to presenting the details of his suffering, he sought to make more sense of his story, as if the Holocaust (much more than a massive crime) could manifest as a teaching moment for all humanity. In his writings and through his observations, Levi contributes to this. However, he continues to suffer the fate, if only in dreams, of a man who faced oblivion and the deepest depths of human cruelty, then returned to find that no one would believe his history. Perhaps it was his “Second Holocaust” that prompted Levi to write If This Is a Man in the first place, as an expression of defiance or an “attack” on this horrible but ever-present fear. Extrapolated to a broader, predominantly Jewish population of Holocaust survivors, this fear (that the world would not believe them or ignore their plight) may serve to explain the continued prevalence of Holocaust survivor stories and other literary works by eyewitnesses. Charlotte Delbo and Mourning The SelfA second, very similar example of such resurrection of traumatic memories is found in Charlotte Delbo's Auschwitz and After, in which the author, after being buried at Auschwitz, Birkenau and Ravensbruck, uses short vignettes and poetry to describe her experiences, particularly the hunger and thirst, as well as the beatings and deprivations that she and her co-buried faced in these concentration camps. However, in a description that mirrors Levi's work, she describes a series of events that happen to those who survived to return home: amid stories of a woman who was never able to get warm (never mind the number of diapers she stacked), or an innocent man accused of betraying his fellow resistance fighters upon his release, it is Delbo's own account that serves to so strongly support the idea of ​​the "second holocaust" . In this work, she explains that she has dreams in which she escaped from the concentration camp, only to choose to return of her own accord. In this way – like Levi – Delbo torments himself by these dreams, through the “continuous and subconscious fallout from the pain she suffered; Acute trauma influenced this survivor's life and, as such, provides an extraordinary means of understanding the experience of Holocaust survivors experiencing loss of self. More than the fear of returning voluntarily, the work is compounded by the trauma of Delbo and the other survivors, whom she describes as a pitiful group, whose suffering was so great and their pain so great that they were indelibly marked by their experiences in concentration camps for the rest of their lives. She explains that, towards the end of the first book, in a section titled "None of Us Will Come Back", there is a statement of absolute fatalism about the existence of those who survived the Holocaust, so much their suffering were big: “What difference does it make? it does,” she asks, referring to the quality of life that is lived outside the camps, throughout a resurgent and perhaps provocative survivor’s life, in light of the fact that “no one of them will not return, since none of us will return.” return” (Delbo, 1995, p. 18). This remark may seem paradoxical at first, but reflects the profound changes that each of the survivors experienced this ordeal, as well as the fear – in each of them – of no longer being the same people as before their departure. This idea forms the core of Delbo's conceptualization of her "second Holocaust," with the idea that a large part of her was forcibly removed to the camps, that she was no longer the same person she was. she was when she entered it. Looking at the photos of the surviving victims of the liberated concentration camps, one can first notice the horrible gaunt and emaciated forms of these individuals, but what haunts me most is always their eyes. They are people without hope, even though some photographs from this period were taken by the Allied liberating forces. Through Delbo's writings, we can much better understand the impact of the Holocaust on those who survived; This was not simply a period of great trauma that they had difficulty coping with once their trauma was over. In many ways, not only was their trauma so great, but their escape was so completely improbable that they are no longer the same people. Although this idea may seem like hyperbole, it hides much more than that; Delbo herself claims that she understands her great fortune in the fact that she failed to recognize herself in her memories of Auschwitz, as if this person – who suffered these horrors – was another person, and that by having escaped to tell the story, she was a different person from that version of herself who had suffered so horribly. This fear brings this consideration back to the heart of Delbo's "second Holocaust," her frequent dreams of returning to the camps, as if drawn there by manic compulsion. In this context this cannot be seen as some sort of masochistic desire, she clearly has no reason to want to return for any reason, and yet she still dreams of returning to the camps. There are many reasons why this could be the case, but I believe the simplest explanation lies in the dissociation described, as well as the loss of self, personality and humanity, which she has suffered through his traumatic experience. complicated beast, and it manifests itself in many ways, not all of which are rational or can be easily described with tidy arguments from reason or causality. I believe – as there is little evidence in this work to indicate why she dreams this way, and it is likely she does not know.