How did it affect the survivors?

​The Holocaust negatively affected the survivors of the Holocaust. The Holocaust brought lasting effects on a lot of families. It did this by the ptsd, poor psychological well-being, and offspring mental health problems the family suffered even years after the holocaust ended.  

​First, The Holocaust caused problems with offspring. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov states, "Holocaust survivor mothers have been observed to be more influential for the mental well-being of their offspring than fathers, and having two survivor parents resulted in even higher mental health problems." This shows that by the parents being affected by the Holocaust there children were affected too. This shows how the Holocaust brought lasting effects on families by how their offspring was affected.

​Secondly, The Holocaust brought ptsd to a lot of the survivors with its traumatising experiences. The text "Holocaust Survivors Nightmare" states, "For the next 35 years, the horrors he saw went unsaid, but were ever present in his life. Knoller suffered from nightmares and often woke in the night with great fear and panic, believing he was back in Auschwitz. He tried to ignore the nightly horrors." This shows they the holocaust caused ptsd by the trauma the the holocaust caused.

​Thirdly, The Holocaust cause poor psychological well-being. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ​states, "In the interviews with the Holocaust survivors, respondents from the focal group typically cited war events (e.g. death of parents, war as a whole, hiding during the war, transport to and stay in a concentration camp, loss of a loved one), as well as topics related to communism (e.g. secret police interrogations, anti-Semitism) and health problems (e.g. ventricular fibrillation, partial disability, accident, illness) as dominant life events. The control group was typically dominated by lifetime losses (e.g. parents, spouse) and health problems (e.g. heart attack, broken arm)." This is data from a survey that the NIH took in 2021. This shows that when asked the group can describe in detail how they still remember these moments. This in effect causes poor psychological well-being. 

​In conclusion, The Holocaust negatively affected the survivors of the Holocaust by bringing lasting effects on a lot of families. "What can we do?" You might as well you can help make sure nothing like this will never happen again. 

Parker Bates Mar, 11, 2025.