Holocaust survivorship and trauma: agency and coping

Determination, ingenuity, education, and religiosity have been associated with agency and resilience during trauma. Studies indicate that agency may be related to socioeconomic background and schemas prior to traumatic experience. This qualitative study thus examines agency as noted in the interviews of seventeen Holocaust survivors and members of the Holocaust Speaker’s Bureau, reflecting on their experiences before, during, and after the Shoah. Themes related to individual agentic responses in terms of socioeconomic background, relationships, routine versus immediate (ad hoc) survival response, determination, hope, and worldview are discussed and their meaning for future study of trauma and clinical practice is addressed.