Holocaust Survivor: The Next Generation

'The New Batch' -- As the years have rolled on, the number of 'survivors' of the Holocaust have dwindled and the money spinner that has worked tirelessly for the past 60 years needs a re-vamp. So what's the deal we hear you say? Well as the numbers drop, they need a new 'gimmick,' and now it’s the children of Holocaust survivors who are taking over the family business of 'victim' by taking a Class Action against the German Government.


Israeli lawyer Gideon Fisher, himself a child of Holocaust survivors, has launched a class action against the German government to provide therapy for the children of Holocaust survivors who, he argues, are psychologically damaged by their parents' experiences in the camps.


There are more than a million people worldwide who are children of Holocaust survivors. Thousands of people have approached Fisher to take part in the class action. Many live in Israel but others live in various European countries, in North and South America, Australia and South Africa.


The lawsuit is not asking for financial compensation from the German government but is requesting that they pay therapists who can treat the damaged descendants of Holocaust survivors. "It is time to bring out the scream of the second generation who carry in their souls the scars and to acknowledge the fact that they too are Holocaust victims," says Fisher.


Specific problems identified in children include eating disorders, fear of dogs, persistent melancholy and self-imposed seclusion. One of the claimants was repeatedly chastised by her mother for looking Semitic and was told to keep on washing her hands and face in the hope of making her skin look lighter. Another is scared to get on a bus because it reminds her of the trains that her parents and other Jews were sent to concentration camps in.