Vicki Gordon

The Experience of Being a Hidden Child Survivor of the Holocaust: a Phenomenological Exploration of the Experience of Being "Hidden" in Child Survivors of the Holocaust Vicki Gordon

Child survivors of the Holocaust have only recently been recognized as a distinct group of individuals who survived the war with a different experience to the older child survivors. This book focuses on those child survivors who were hidden. In hiding, some remained "visible" by hiding within convents, orphanages or with christian families. Others were physically hidden and had to disappear from sight. Most children often combined these two experiences in their hiding. Eleven child survivors were interviewed about their experiences and their transcripts were analyzed and organized into meaning units. The analysis revealed that he defining moment of being hidden for these children was the suppression of their identities as Jews. By being hidden, they had to deny the essence of their core selves, including their names, family details and connections to others in a an effort to conceal their Jewishness. This book provides a unique insight into these experiences for a group of children, revealing their challenges and ultimate resilience in the most extreme and horrendous of circumstances.