Chosen Trauma and Terrorism: The Jewish Victim Narrative

¹Turkey
^*Correspondence: Tamseel Aqdas, Turkey, Email:

Received: Mar 03, 2023, Manuscript No. jisr-23-90632; Editor assigned: Mar 06, 2023, Pre QC No. jisr-23-90632; Reviewed: Mar 20, 2023, QC No. jisr-23-90632; Revised: Mar 24, 2023, Manuscript No. jisr-23-90632; Published: Mar 30, 2023, DOI: 10.17719/jisr.2023.90632

Table of Contents

Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 2

The Victim Process ............................................................................................................. 3

Large-group identity and Collective Victimhood .....................................................................3

Psychological domain of collective victimhood........................................................................4

Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma .................................................................... 4

Large-Group Identity and Psychoanalysis ....................................................................... 6

Adjoining Territories and Large-Group Identity .....................................................................6

Sigmund Freud’s Group Psychology .........................................................................................7

Chosen Trauma and Jewish Atrocities ............................................................................. 8

Nazi Atrocities against Jews .............................................................................................. 9

Adoption of Jewish Chosen Trauma .............................................................................. 10

Jewish State-Sponsored Terrorism against Palestinians ............................................... 11

Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 12

Keywords

Chosen Trauma, Victimization, Israel, Palestine, Human Rights Violations, Transgenerational transmission of Trauma.

Introduction

Palestinians have been victims of Israeli atrocities and war crimes, like illegal settlements, killings, evacuations and systematic discrimination¹. Despite this, there is a lack of global condemnation by virtue of chosen trauma, which emphasizes on the Jewish victim narrative. The state of Israel misuses the

holocaust to justify contemporary atrocities and Zionism². This notion is called chosen trauma, and is a by-product of large-group identity and the transgenerational transmission of trauma.

The Victim Process

It is argued that victimhood is an entire process. It is a product of the realization of harm inflicted upon individuals, along with accepting the term ‘victim’ as a social label³. Meaning that the harm experienced is acknowledged socially. It is also critical to understand that, upon carrying the perception of a victim, individuals invoke strive to maintain that status. This notion articulates that the process and acceptance of victimization are dynamic and are a result of stages4. In order to understand this phenomenon, E.C. Viano provides four stages of victimization. The first stage articulates the infliction of harm, injury, or suffering on individuals by a person or an institution⁵. Accordingly, the second step states that certain subjects of suffering perceive those accounts as unjust, there by carrying a victim perception of themselves6. In the third step, the perceived victims strive for the social acknowledgment of the inflicted harm and their victimization⁷. Hence, as per the 5th step, victimized individuals gain external validation, meaning, their suffering is recognized8. Along the same lines, Strobl generates a similar understanding of the steps of victimization. According to him, the first step refers to the identifiable single event leading to harm and the second step is its negative evaluation9. Then, the infliction of harm is viewed as an uncontrollable event, leading it to be personally or socially associated¹⁰. As a result, in the final step, the harm is considered a violation of social norms, and individuals gain the status of victims¹¹.

Large-group identity and Collective Victimhood

Large group identity is the shared recognition of millions of individuals that lack direct association; nevertheless, they demonstrate feelings of oneness plus comparable characteristics¹². This foundation of

² Volkan, V. 1980. " TRANSGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSIONS AND CHOSEN TRAUMAS." NewYork Press.

³ Anderson, Joi D. 2020. "A gender-specific model of trauma and victimization in incarcerated women." Research Gate.

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ Daniel Bar-Tal, Lily Chernyak-Hai, Noa Schori and Ayelet Gundar. 2009. "A sense of selfperceived collective victimhood in intractable conflicts*." corteidh.

⁶ Ibid.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ Exposurea, Post-traumatic cognitions and quality of life in terrorism victims: the role of well-being in indirect versus direct. n.d.

¹⁰ Ibid.

¹¹ Ibid.

¹² Volkan, Vamik D. 2001. "Transgenerational Transmissions and Chosen Traumas: An Aspect of Large-Group Identity." Sage Journals.

identity strengths upon external attacks, this attacks on large groups lead to collective victimhood¹³. Collective victimhood is knowns as the shared mindset of large-groups after intended harm with negative implications¹⁴. Harm in this case is regarded as immoral like slavery and exploitation, which is eventually stored in the mutual memory of large groups.

Psychological domain of collective victimhood

Large groups encourage collective victimization, and the domain of psychology regards it socially constructed. Shared beliefs are reproduced in in-group victimization, whereby, the imposed harm is regarded as intentional actions towards the members of a group¹⁵. With the social-psychological theory, Turner claims that principles and beliefs can be regarded as the basis of the formation of large groups16. After de-personalization, individuals carry various “beliefs, attitudes, and emotions from the group”¹⁷. Hence, the infliction of pain on certain members results in empathy by the group, projecting collective victimhood¹⁸. The notion of collective victimhood leads groups to internalize past harms for cultural narratives, causing it become a part of their social identity¹⁹. Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma Clinical investigations were carried out on large groups of victims of trauma, along with their second and third generations. It was deduced that shared tragedy is transmitted along with generations but the intensity can vary²⁰. This notion goes beyond children mimicking the behavior of their parents or acting upon stories heard from previous generations, instead, this is an unconscious psychological process whereby survivors project harmed self-images into the identity of a large group²¹. Projection of trauma can be regarded as “depositing”, and is associated with the concept of childhood identification²². Nevertheless, the notion of depositing also differs from identification, as with respect to identification, the child is the primary recipient of ego and super ego functions23. On the contrary, whilst depositing, adults of “others” push children to establish specific images of self-representation24. In this manner, children are employed as reservoirs for particular images and narratives.

The notion of depositing can be further elaborated through the “replacement child phenomenon”25. The concept takes into account a mother that projects a formed image of her dead child. Accordingly, this image is deposited in the representation of her next child26. Despite the fact that the replacement child has not undergone experiences with the dead sibling, they are treated as a reservoir and reflection of the deceased child27. As a result, the second child is accompanied by ego tasks, seeking to maintain the deposition of the former child28. The influence of these factors on the child can be witnessed under the account of excelling in stages of life, since, deposited representation can be associated with motivation29. On the other hand, individuals can also establish narcissistic personality disorder due to the development of unintegrated self-representation30. It can be argued that the mother projecting the dead child’s image, in this case, encounters mourning difficulties and is drowned in trauma. Hence it can be argued that adults push trauma in generating the self-representation of their children. According to Kestenberg, the transgenerational transportation of trauma simply deposits and projects traumatized images31. The trauma is associated with adults, not children, implying that disturbing memories cannot be passed down but traumatized images can be deposited into the

Self-Representation of Children

The psychological domain of transgenerational transmission of trauma argues that through depositing, the parties become free of the traumatic images and deal with their mental conflicts32. On the contrary, the children gain the psychological gene of influencing self-representation, accordingly, their identity is associated with trauma33. Accordingly, children attain reparation tasks developed for survivors and a shared representation of trauma is generated and generations are knit together. Nevertheless, over the years, original trauma is translated as chosen trauma. This is because, large groups don’t find the historical truth critical; instead, importance is associated with sharing chosen trauma with members of the community34. To elaborate, chosen trauma becomes an identity marker for large groups.

Large-Group Identity and Psychoanalysis

Adjoining Territories and Large-Group Identity To further understand the psychology of large groups Sigmund Freud’s remarks should be highlighted, which were on the narcissism of minor differences. He stated that “it is always possible to bind together a considerable number of people in love, so long as there are other people left over to receive the manifestation of their aggressiveness”35. He elaborates this notion by stating that communities with adjoining territories are in a constant state of conflict, which includes the Spaniards, Germans, English, and Scotts36. However, he argued upon the harmless nature of minor differences, depicting their association with cohesion37. Nevertheless, David Werman opposed Freud’s observation and argued that it could potentially result in hostile actions38. Moving forward, Freud further claimed that communities underwent a drastic change. In the reign of empires and colonization, the administrator of one large group governed territories belonging to people of indigenous origin39. However, in the contemporary notion, states are interdependent regardless of physical proximity, leading to the concept of globalization. Globalization standardizes economic and political elements, thereby making democratic norms universal40. Nevertheless, globalization also brings about the concept of racism, prejudice, and conflict-related to large-group identities41.

According to Sigmund Freud, parents represent and influence a child’s identity and their association with large-group identity42. Psychoanalysts argue that personality is perceived by others, while identity refers to the inner constituency of individuals. According to Erik Erikson, individual identity is the “persistent sense of sameness within oneself, while sharing some characteristics with other individuals”43. Furthermore, Salman Akhtar argues that identity is “the sustained feeling of inner sameness is accompanied by a temporal continuity in the self-experience: the past, the present, and the future are integrated into a smooth continuum of remembered, felt, and expected existence for the individual”44. Identity is associated with inner solidarity and associated with the larger group identity. It is investigated that the psychobiological bias towards one’s own kind originates in the early years of children45. As explained earlier, parents deposit images into the developing identities of children, and children learn associations with their large group.

Sigmund Freud’s Group Psychology

In order to aid with this concept, Sigmund Freud introduced the theory of “group psychology”. According to him, groups went beyond race, religion, and nationality46. For instance, despite the differences between the church and military on supreme leadership. The members of a group idealize leaders and identify each other with the opposite ego. The image of a leader was linked to that of a “primal father”, meaning, it has not been observed in reality47. These fathers essentially hinder the process of their sons satisfying their sexual desires since only the successors can gain access to that capability48. Similarly, individuals in large groups establish and develop new experiences, that are based on subjective standards49. Hence, if the mutual ties between individuals in a group simply cease to exist, a sense of panic and conflict can start50. Moreover, such large groups also establish a sense of prejudice towards members outside their group51.

According to Anna Freud, the development of psychoanalysis has increased the scope of understanding large-group identity and chosen trauma52. More individuals are now diagnosed with narcissistic and borderline personality disorders, along with understanding the influence of childhood on behavior patterns as an adult53. Accordingly, developments also demonstrated that the development of a child’s mind is not simply influenced by the mother, and attention should also divert to preoedipal issues54. According to individual psychology, the mother and the pole can be regarded as the symbol of the primal father55. Nevertheless, the main element representing large-group psychology is the pole, as it is shared by all the members of the group56. The pole can be represented in subgroup identities, in the form of professional identity, or following a sports team. As a child the subgroup identity can be changed without the influence of anxiety, however, the process of shifting becomes difficult subsequent to adolescent years57. This means, that the core large-group identity is developed as a child, based on their life experiences. For instance, migration into a new country can result in developing bi-culturalism. Moreover, terrorist organizations and cults also develop the large-group identity of coming generations in their adolescent years as in the case of Israel58.

Chosen Trauma and Jewish Atrocities

It can be argued Jewish atrocities are a result of their violent past. The Holocaust from 1933 till 1945, refers to the state-sponsored persecution of six million European Jews by the hands of the German Nazi Regime59. The era of the Holocaust began with Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933. However, after the Allied Powers defeated Germany in World War 2, the Holocaust reached its end in May 194560. It is also named “the Shoah” which is Hebrew for catastrophe. The Nazi regime did not carry out mass murders immediately after coming to power. Nevertheless, government policies directed Jews to be dispatched from German society. Meaning, that anti-Semitic measures were undertaken through discriminatory laws that directly targeted the Jewish population61.

However, the atrocities become radical from the years 1933-to 1945. The goal was to carry out the mass murder of European Jews through the Operation “Final Solution to the Jewish Question”62. The aspiration to target the Jews was due to deep-rooted anti-Semitism in the organization, meaning, they had a prejudice against the Jewish population. As a result, anti-Semitism became the basic ideology of the organization.

In order to execute this process, the Nazi regime misleadingly faulted the Jews for the social, economic, and political problems faced by Germany63. In fact, the Jewish population was also accused of causing Germany to lose World War 1, which lasted from 1914-to 1918. The German population accepted the Nazi narrative, and frustration of the economic and political crisis subsequent to the defeat installed deep-rooted anti-Semitism within the German population64. Adding on, Germany was dissenting into further instability based on the fears of communism, the Great Depression, and the Weimar Republic. Hence, the Nazi ideas were more radically accepting, which also included the concept of antisemitism. The Nazis believed that various races resided on earth, and that the German’s were the superior “Aryan” race65. On the other hands the Jewish race was weak and dangerous; hence, they had to be removed from German areas66. The Nazis saw Jews as a menace who needed to be expelled from German society.

Nazi Atrocities against Jews

Since its ascent into the authority in 1933, the Nazi dictatorship has developed a number of detention facilities to jail and exterminate "enemies of the state," both real and imagined67. Political inmates, such as German Communists, Socialists, and Social Democrats, as well as Roma, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, and anyone suspected of "asocial" and morally delinquent behavior, made up the majority of those imprisoned in the early concentration camps. Many of these locations were referred to as concentration camps. Almost 30,000 Jews were “imprisoned in the concentration camps of Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen throughout Germany, originally until they could prove their capacity to emigrate”68.

Nazis developed forced-labor camps, and thousands of individuals died from exhaustion and hunger69. Later, killing centers were introduced for mass murders in carbon monoxide gas chambers. Some famous examples of which are, “Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka extermination camps70”. Three million Jews were killed through this process.

Moving forward, Jews were also victims of sexual violence. Women were subject to unwanted male attention, while groping was deemed as normal71. Sexual aggression was witnessed during physical searches, and women were injected in utero to prevent further child birth. Rape frequently occurred in conjunction with the pillage of Jewish properties. Rape was used as a kind of horror and torture to terrify women and learn where goods were hidden, or as a punitive measure if the perpetrators did not get what they arrived for72. Camp leaders also forced young girls into inter-course in exchange for food73.

Adoption of Jewish Chosen Trauma

The transgenerational evolution of trauma is related with upsetting stories of large groups. Israel conveys this due to prior collective trauma plus the current atrocities against Palestinians. After the Holocaust, the Jewish narrative was witnessed in media, and political rhetoric74. As a result, the Holocaust survivors were proclaimed as national heroes in their resistance against a collective danger75. In this manner, the holocaust victim’s memories reached public consciousness through media, film, and literature; hence, causing the trauma to be passed down future generations. Thus, generations later, the Jewish population still experiences Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)76. The wounds of the holocaust go along with heroism and the need to bring justice to their ancestors. The current population of Israel believes that they are still under threat and our victims, due to which they target the Palestinian community. They argue that they challenge the existence of the Israel, hence violence is justified.

As highlighted in the transgenerational transmission of trauma, the parental dilemma of the Holocaust survivors also impacted choosing trauma. The parents were unable to provide physical and emotional care for their children. Scharf and Mayseless claimed that, the parent-child relationship represents survival issues, low emotional resources, and children struggling to please their parents. Meaning, the holocaust produced unhealthy attachment styles, thereby generating undesired psychological development in offspring’s. The Holocaust also exterminated millions of Jews, as a result the offspring’s gained fewer family support. Surviving parents were not able to provide emotional support for their children. To elaborate, children with one survivor parent demonstrated less trauma, in comparison to those with two survivor parents. Furthermore, experiencing trauma during pregnancy can cause distress in unborn children, leading to mental health concerns. Thus, media and biological factors resulted transgenerational transmission of trauma, causing the radicalization of Jews to take radical measures in protecting their identity. Jewish State-Sponsored Terrorism against Palestinians

Over the years, the government of Israel and Zionist agencies have launched systematic, military, political and economic measures to destroy Palestinian populations. As a result, the Palestinian national, ethnic and religious identity is targeted. After the annexation of the West Bank and Gaza, several human rights organizations have deemed the actions as an "incremental genocide" of the Palestinians77. An occupying force cannot absorb the people or area it occupies, according to international law. According to human right lawyer Michael Ratner, around 700 Palestinian villages have been destroyed in this process. In addition, actions like “genocide, crimes against humanity, and apartheid” are being carried out78.

Based on the atrocities undertaken by the Jewish state of Israel, it is evident that chosen trauma is employed as a justification for these actions. The construction of the state of Palestine directly challenges Israeli territory and control over Jerusalem. Since, there has been transgenerational transmission of trauma subsequent to the Holocaust, contemporary Jewish individuals project chosen trauma. As a result, actions of terrorism are employed against the Palestinian community, as means to main Israeli territorial integrity, and to make sure instances like the Holocaust are unable to be conducted again. The trauma lingers even years after the Holocaust, with the help of media projection and biological factors; which highlights how large groups ensure grounds for their identity are maintained.

Conclusions

In conclusion, it is deduced that the process and acceptance of victimization are dynamic and are a result of stages. Victimization is often induced in large groups, which gain identity through the collective recognition of thousands or millions of people who are not directly associated with one another; however, they carry a sense of oneness and similar characteristics. This means, that the basis of identity becomes stronger upon attacks or threats from external groups, and attacks generate collective victimhood. Which is the collective mindset of large groups subsequent to intentional harm with critical consequences? The resulting concept is that; the perceived harm is stored in the collective memory of large groups. Moving forward, shared tragedy is transmitted through generations by virtue of “depositing”.

The psychological domain of the transgenerational transmission states that parties can become free from traumatic images through depositing. The result is chosen trauma, where entitlement due to recovering from ancestral collective trauma is demonstrated. Hence, the Holocaust survivors of pass down trauma through generations, and current Jews aim to avenge history by invoking domination over Jerusalem. Hence, Palestinians experience state-sponsored terrorism since they challenge the Jewish ambitions. Thus, chosen trauma is employed to justify contemporary atrocities against Palestinians.