LEADER 03735cam a2200373Ia 4500001 32169 005 20240621143835.0 008 990125s1990 xx r 000 0 eng d 035 (OCoLC)37244742 035 32169 049 LHMA 040 LHM |beng |erda |cLHM 090 BF724.85.D43 |bC54 1990 100 1 Chernick, Joseph Ivan. 245 10 Living with death : |bdeath anxiety and adaptation in old age among Auschwitz survivors and Jews who fled Nazi Germany / |cby Joseph Ivan Chernick. 264 1 [Place of publication not identified] : |b[publisher not identified], |c1990. 300 xvi, 321 pages 336 text |btxt |2rdacontent 337 unmediated |bn |2rdamedia 338 volume |bnc |2rdacarrier 502 Thesis (Ph. D.)--California School of Professional Psychology at Berkeley/Alameda, 1990. 504 Includes bibliographical references (pages 246-267). 520 This study examined how older individuals who had suffered prolonged immersion in death now consider, imagine, respond to, and live with the inevitability of their own deaths. Specifically, three measures of death anxiety were used to compare 10 Auschwitz-Birkenau survivors between the ages of 64 and 69 with 10 Jews who emigrated from Europe before 1940, and who ranged in age from 64 to 76. The results confirmed the study's primary hypothesis that the concentration camp survivors would experience greater death anxiety than those not interned in an extermination camp. The Auschwitz survivors received higher death anxiety ratings on both an interview measure and a measure based on their responses to the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). In addition, the survivors' TAT stories contained significantly more death-related themes than did those of the emigres. The responses of the two groups to Templer's Death Anxiety Scale did not differ, however. No correlation appeared between the measure of unconscious death anxiety and two measures of conscious fears. The measures of conscious death anxiety did correlate with each other, however. This finding supported the hypothesis regarding the independence of conscious and unconscious death anxiety, and underscored the importance of using multiple approaches to measuring this phenomenon. In addition, the survivors were found to be more likely than the emigres to have visited a concentration camp, to dream about death, to attribute their survival to their own initiative rather than to luck, and to share their Holocaust experiences with others. They were, however, less hopeful about the future. The study also presents a qualitative discussion of the interview material, describing how the survivors and emigres are integrating their Holocaust experiences as they face the tasks of old age. The interviews made clear that although the trauma of the concentration camps had left deep scars, the survivors confronted both the inevitability of death and their memories of loss in highly adaptive ways. They remained actively engaged in personal relationships and in the community at large, and they used their Holocaust experiences as a basis for contributing to the world around them. 530 Electronic version(s) |bavailable internally at USHMM. 533 Photocopy. |bAnn Arbor, Mich. : |cUMI Dissertation Services, |d1996. |e23 cm. 590 Dissertations and Theses 591 Record updated by Marcive processing 21 June 2024 650 0 Death |xPsychological aspects. 650 0 Anxiety. 650 0 Holocaust survivors |xPsychology. 650 0 Older people |xPsychology. 956 41 |uhttp://dc.ushmm.org/library/bib32169/9030500.pdf |zHosted by USHMM. 852 0 |bstacks |hBF724.85.D43 C54 1990 852 |bebook