Merilyn Moos
Rowman & Littlefield 2015
358pp ISBN 978-1783482962
The author writes:
About 70-80,000 people fled Nazism to Britain,
mostly because of anti-Semitism but a significant minority because of their
opposition to the Nazis. My book looks at how that ‘second generation’,
although born in Britain, continue to feel displaced and feel a sense of
‘otherness’. But there are differences within the British second generation as
well as similarities. The children of the political refugees appear to be less likely
to see themselves or their parents as victims. At the heart of the book are the
stories that members of the second generation told me: ‘breaking the silence’. Although
not the book’s focus, in the current period with hundreds of thousands of
asylum seekers (the so-called ‘hordes’ of ‘immigrants’) desperately seeking
sanctuary, the effects of exile on subsequent generations is especially
pertinent.’
Below is Bob Cant’s review for Scottish Review, 15
September 2015
Breaking the Silence is an exploratory research
study which contextualises and analyses the experiences of people of the second
generation and is primarily based around a series of testimonials by people
from that group. Central to their narratives are questions about belonging. Some
of the most powerful stories are from people talking about the ways they faced up
to topics-which-could-notbe- discussed during their everyday lives as
children.’ She [Moos] shares the concern of Judith Butler that the focus on
'trauma’ can actually demean the suffering of the survivors and can result in
're-enacting the past as the present’. She found this individualistic approach
to trauma and victimhood ahistorical and disempowering; she welcomed signs of
resilience in some of her informants.” The indicators of distress that she
identifies among the second generation of refugees from nazism will prove invaluable
for those studying and seeking to promote the wellbeing of people who have
survived any of the catastrophes of our age.
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