research paper about the holocaust

Echoes of the past, lessons for the future: Unraveling the Holocaust’s enduring impact 

In the somber shadow of the Holocaust, the world witnessed not just the aftermath of an unprecedented atrocity, but the genesis of a resilient transformation—one that would stretch across Jewish communities, international law, education and collective memory. 

Nearly eight decades have passed since the horror of those years, yet this tragic event continues to shape our world, our understanding of human rights and our commitment to never forget.

In honor of tomorrow (Jan. 27) being International Holocaust Remembrance Day, The Daily sat down with Jay Geller, the Samuel Rosenthal Professor of Judaic Studies in the Department of History at Case Western Reserve University, to learn more about the Holocaust’s impact on our world.

Geller is an expert on the history of the Jews in modern Germany, with a particular interest in politics, society and relations between Jews and non-Jews. He teaches a wide range of courses on Jewish history, the history of modern Europe, German history and urban history. Among his courses is HSTY 254: The Holocaust.

“The Holocaust is an event whose origins, course, and aftermath are worthy of historical study,” Geller explained, “but the antisemitism, anti-modernism, and fascism that permitted the Holocaust also merit serious examination. They have dissipated, but they still exist in different forms and affect society,” he continued. “I am reminded of this quote by the Holocaust survivor and great Italian author Primo Levi in his book The Drowned and the Saved : ‘It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say. It can happen, and it can happen everywhere.’”

Read on to learn more from Geller about the Holocaust’s enduring impact on Jewish communities, human rights and global consciousness. 

1. Six million Jewish people and countless others were killed in the Holocaust, causing long-lasting demographic and cultural changes.

In 1939, there were approximately 16.6 million Jews worldwide. Six years later, there were only 11 million. We have only reached the pre-Holocaust level in the past year or so. But the European Jewish population has not recovered and never will fully recover demographically.  

Most of the Holocaust’s victims were European Jews, especially eastern European, and most American Jews are descended from European immigrants, especially eastern European. So this massive loss of their ancestors’ civilization and culture has loomed large over American Jewry for nearly 80 years.

On the one hand, rites of mourning for that lost world remain part of the American Jewish liturgy and even its identity. On the other hand, the destruction of European Jewry meant that the chief seats of Jewish learning and cultural production were thereafter in America, at least until Israel became more prominent. The Holocaust led to the Jews of the United States having a leading role in the world Jewish community.

2. The Holocaust’s severe trauma led to epigenetic changes for survivors’ descendants.

In the last decade or so, we have gained a new empirically based understanding of the trauma experienced by Holocaust survivors and their descendants. Trauma can affect a person’s genes in a way that gets passed down to succeeding generations without modifying the DNA.

Scientists call this change “epigenetic” rather than “genetic.” The epigenetics of Holocaust survivors and succeeding generations is a fascinating and broadly applicable area for further research.  

3. The Holocaust led to the creation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

After World War II, many of the top Nazis and their facilitators were put on trial by the allies in Nuremberg. While crimes against humanity was one of the charges levied against them—in addition to crimes against peace, war crimes, and conspiracy—“genocide” was not one of the charges. There was no international convention or law against it at the time.

However, Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jewish lawyer who lost many relatives in the Holocaust and who studied the Armenian genocide, coined the concept of “genocide” and worked to create the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, approved by the United Nations in 1948.

Fifty years later, the International Criminal Court was established to provide a supranational institution to try cases of international crimes, including genocide. The legal definition of genocide is, like many legal definitions, limited and specific. The popular concept of “genocide” may or may not match the legal definition, which is used by the ICC and international bodies.   

4. The memory of the Holocaust had little echo in the wider international community until after 1961.

Holocaust memory was strong in Jewish communities from the start, but it had little echo in the wider international community until the public trial of Holocaust perpetrator Adolf Eichmann in 1961, when the story entered popular consciousness in a way it had not since the war. Eichmann, who had a major role in planning and implementing the Holocaust, escaped justice after the war and was hiding in Argentina. He was captured in 1960 and put on trial in Israel the next year. Millions of people around the world heard his trial on the radio or saw it on television.

Interest in the Holocaust gained further impetus in the late 1970s with the President’s Commission on the Holocaust and the television miniseries Holocaust . The opening of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1993, with its library and research center, led to a massive increase in scholarly attention and popular attention.    

Today, we commonly speak of the field of Holocaust and genocide studies, as scholars seek to apply the lessons of the Holocaust to other genocides or other potential genocides.  

5. The complexities of Holocaust commemoration have led to numerous remembrance days worldwide.

Different communities commemorate the Holocaust on different dates for different reasons, and they choose to remember it in different ways. The international community marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27 because it is the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The Jewish community remembers the victims of the Holocaust on Yom Hashoah, a holiday on the 27th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, in the spring. That date was chosen for its proximity to the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Jewish communities in Germany commemorate Nov. 9, the anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938.  

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• Neurobiol Stress
• v.14; 2021 May

Lifelong impact of extreme stress on the human brain: Holocaust survivors study

Monika fňašková.

a Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC), Brain and Mind Research Program, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

c First Department of Neurology, St. Anne's Hospital and School of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

Pavel Říha

Marek preiss.

d University of New York in Prague, Czech Republic

Markéta Nečasová

Eva koriťáková.

b Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

Ivan Rektor

Associated data.

All data are available upon request at the Repository CEITEC Masaryk University, MAFIL CF.

The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.

We aimed to assess the lifelong impact of extreme stress on people who survived the Holocaust. We hypothesised that the impact of extreme trauma is detectable even after more than 70 years of an often complicated and stressful post-war life.

Psychological testing was performed on 44 Holocaust survivors (HS; median age 81.5 years; 29 women; 26 HS were under the age of 12 years in 1945) and 31 control participants without a personal or family history of the Holocaust (control group (CG); median 80 years; 17 women). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using the 3T Siemens Prisma scanner was performed on 29 HS (median 79 years; 18 women) and 21 CG participants (median 80 years; 11 women). The MRI-tested subgroup that had been younger than 12 years old in 1945 was composed of 20 HS (median 79 years; 17 women) and 21 CG (median 80 years; 11 women).

HS experienced significantly higher frequency of depression symptoms, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and posttraumatic growth, and lower levels of well-being. The MRI shows a lifelong neurobiological effect of extreme stress. The areas with reduced grey matter correspond to the map of the impact of stress on the brain structure: insula, anterior cingulate, ventromedial cortex including the subgenual cingulate/orbitofrontal cortex, temporal pole, prefrontal cortex, and angular gyrus. HS showed good adjustment to post-war life conditions.

Psychological growth may contribute to compensation for the psychological and neurobiological consequences of extreme stress.

The reduction of GM was significantly expressed also in the subgroup of participants who survived the Holocaust during their childhood.

The lifelong psychological and neurobiological changes in people who survived extreme stress were identified more than 70 years after the Holocaust. Extreme stress in childhood and young adulthood has an irreversible lifelong impact on the brain.

1. Introduction

The Holocaust was the most traumatic man-made event in European history. In the former Czechoslovakia, the entire Jewish population suffered from this large-scale genocide, which lasted from 1938 to 1945. It started with social and professional exclusion, humiliation, and suppression of basic rights, followed by deportation to concentration camps, forced labour, and exposure to horrific atrocities, or by illegally hiding or joining partisan groups under constant threat of discovery and execution. All of the holocaust survivors (HS), independently of their age, experienced massive trauma and the post-war shock of having lost family members, including parents, children, and siblings, and the necessity of adjusting to new and difficult life circumstances.

The first studies of the effect of this extreme stress on the health of the HS noted the mental impact but focused on physical health ( Helweg-Larsen et al., 1952 ). The term ‘concentration camp syndrome’ for symptoms including emotional instability, poor concentration, and fatigue was introduced in the 1960s ( Eitinger, 1962 ).

Levav and Abramson ( Levav and Abramson, 1984 ) showed that 30 years after the war emotional distress had a higher prevalence in the former concentration camp inmates than in other European-born members of the community. Barel et al. performed a meta-analysis of 71 studies with 12,746 participants elucidating the long-term psychiatric, psychosocial, and physical consequences of the Holocaust. They found higher-level posttraumatic stress symptoms in HS but also adaptation (cognitive function, physical health, etc.) combining psychological growth with defense mechanisms ( Barel et al., 2010 ). They marked this combination of chronic stress symptoms and resilience as ‘characteristics of the symptoms of Holocaust survivors’.

Traumatic stress is manifested by changes in brain structure. The hippocampus, amygdala, cingulate, prefrontal cortex ( Arnsten et al., 2015 ; Bremner, 2003 ), and insular cortex ( Paulus and Stein, 2006 ) are often mentioned as structures that are vulnerable to the effects of stress ( Ansell et al., 2012 ; Bruce et al., 2013 ; Cohen et al., 2006 ; Kasai et al., 2008 ; Kuo et al., 2012 ; Lupien and Lepage, 2001 ; McEwen et al., 2016 ; McEwen and Morrison, 2013 ; Paulus and Stein, 2006 ; Roozendaal et al., 2009 ; Yaribeygi et al., 2017 ). Neurobiological modifications caused by stress can be linked with the development of diseases like depression ( Bremner et al., 2000 ) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) ( Bremner et al., 1995 ; Logue et al., 2018 ; Villarreal et al., 2002 ). Increased vulnerability to PTSD was observed in Holocaust survivors ( Yehuda et al., 1998 ). In this study, we explored the lifelong impact of stress on brain structure using structural MRI.

The timing of stress exposure is a critical factor for the impacts of stress on brain structure and functions. A younger age during the traumatic period is linked to greater damage to personality development ( Keilson and Sarphatie, 1992 ). During development (prenatal period, childhood, adolescence) and age-dependent changes (ageing), the brain is more vulnerable to the effects of stress hormones ( Lupien et al., 2009 ). Childhood adversities are typically associated with dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and early childhood trauma can cause long lasting neurobiological and psychological deficiencies ( Dye, 2018 ).

To explore the impact of stress during development, we investigated a subgroup of HS who were under 12 years old at the end of the war in 1945. Dividing the research set at the age of 12 makes sense from a developmental point of view; according to Erikson and Erikson, the fourth stage of human life ends at the age of 12. This is the last stage before adolescence ( Erikson and Erikson, 1998 ).

The goal of this study is to assess the lifelong psychological and neurobiological impact of long-lasting extreme stress. The combination of psychological testing with brain MRI more than 70 years after the war provides unique data about the impact of extreme trauma.

Given the ages of survivors, this data probably reflects the last chance to explore the lifelong impact of this extreme trauma and directly learn from the survivors about their evaluations of a life marked by extreme stress. Data from the genetic part of this study have been partially published, including results about telomere length and mitochondrial DNA ( Cai et al., 2020 ; Konečná et al., 2019 ).

The study is based on two hypotheses: 1. We hypothesised that Holocaust survivors have had a lifelong impact on stress-related brain areas combined with psychological consequences of stress as well as signs of posttraumatic growth, identifiable despite the complicated and often stressful life in Central Europe after the war.

2. We hypothesised that the lifelong consequences of extreme stress trauma would also be expressed in people who survived the Holocaust as children, despite the fact that children have a limited ability to cognitively process life-threatening situations ( Sigal and Weinfeld, 2001 ) and the children were not exposed to direct threats of being killed, as most of them survived the Holocaust hidden in other families or institutions.

2.1. Participants and recruitment

2.1.1. research and recruitment.

The study was conducted at the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC) Neuroscience Centre, at Masaryk University in Brno between 2015 and 2020. Part of the data was obtained at the National Institute of Mental Health (NÚDZ) in Klecany. The data were obtained according to the Declaration of Helsinki. The research was approved by the ethics committee at Masaryk University; informed consent was obtained from all participants.

All of the participants were of Czech or Slovak origin, i.e. people with a similar geopolitical background. The two countries formed one state – Czechoslovakia – until 1993, and the close connections between the citizens continue; the Czech and Slovak languages are mutually comprehensible.

The participants were recruited through the cooperation of local Jewish communities (the Holocaust survivors group), announcements in the media, and postings on the university website. For HS and CG recruitment, we also used personal invitations from members of the research team and the snowball sampling method. The CG was completed when the composition of HS was already clear and the CG could be matched with HS.

2.1.2. Participants characteristics

Exclusion criteria: a history of treatment for severe psychiatric disorders (such as psychosis), any kind of severe brain impairment (brain injury, tumours, neurodegenerative diseases), and significant cognitive decline (all participants scored over 26 points in the Mini-Mental State Examination) ( Solomon et al., 1998 ). Contraindications for MRI were metal implants, pacemakers, and claustrophobia.

The HS and CG groups were not significantly different in age, sex, and education; this was verified using Mann-Whitney U test. The groups were 44 HS with median age 82 (71–95) years, 29 women (66%) and 31 Czech and Slovak non-Jewish control participants not exposed to war-related trauma with median age 80 (73–90) years, 17 women (55%). Higher education had been attained by 46% of HS and 36% of CG.

The subgroup under 12 years old in 1945 was composed of 26 HS with median age 78.5 (71–84) years, 17 women (65%) and 24 control participants with median age 78 (73–84), 12 women (50%). Table with demographic group characteristics is in the supplementary material.

Participants who could not participate in MR scanning because of contraindications or who underwent MR scanning with insufficiently quality scans were excluded from the final brain images analysis.

The neuroimaging cohort was composed of 29 HS with median age 79 (72–95), 18 women (62%), and 21 control participants median age 80 (73–86), 11 women (52%). Their psychological profile resembled the profile of the whole cohort ( Table 2 ).

Psychological questionnaires: differences between Holocaust survivors (HS) and the control group (CG).

TSC: Trauma Symptom Checklist; PCLC – C: PTSD Checklist – Civilian Version; PTGI: Posttraumatic Growth Inventory; SOS – Schwartz Outcome Scale.

The neuroimaging subgroup under 12 years old in 1945 was composed of 20 HS with median age 78 (72–84), 12 women (60%), and 21 control participants median age 80 (73–86), 11 women (52%).

No gender-associated effects were found using a two-sample t -test comparing male and female data.

2.1.3. Background of examined groups

2.1.3.1. holocaust survivors group characteristics.

During the Holocaust, 24 HS were in hiding, e.g. living with a non-Jewish family in a small village, in a farmhouse, in an evangelist orphanage, or in a secret room, in their childhood or adolescence. Five HS lived under a false identity or were hiding in the mountains; some of them joined the partisan army.

Fifteen HS were imprisoned in a ghetto (most often Terezín - Theresienstadt) and/or in concentration camps (Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, Dachau, or Mauthausen). Several participants had survived a death march. The persecution increased over six years; the immediate danger of execution, whether after being discovered for people who were hiding or after being imprisoned in a concentration camp, lasted from six months to four years.

Most of them experienced trauma at critical developmental phases; 26 HS were aged under 12 years by the end of the war in 1945. Nineteen of them were in hiding (nine with their parents and ten without them). Seven were imprisoned in the ghetto Theresienstadt.

2.1.3.2. Control group characteristics

The Czech Republic was occupied by Nazi Germany as the Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren. There was a strong oppression of the Czech population, but its majority was not directly exposed to the war events. Participants in CG were civilians and did not participate in military action or resistance; during the war, they were not under direct life-threatening danger.

Post-war life conditions under the communist regime from 1948 to 1989 were difficult and differed from the conditions in Western democracies. The regime was oppressive and often anti-Semitic, in particular in the 1950s, with a series of political processes followed by executions and long-term imprisonments. Jews experienced direct oppression, as did other groups, e.g. private farmers and entrepreneurs, Christians, intellectuals, etc. After a liberalisation period in the 1960s, ended by the Soviet army intervention in 1968, a general suppression of human rights followed for 20 years. Based on individual interviews, we can state that none of our study participants advanced their career based on membership in the Communist Party. In principle, the HS and CG suffered from the communist oppression in a more or less similar way.

2.2. Initial screening

For the initial screening, all participants were tested with the 7-min screen test ( Solomon et al., 1998 ).

The protocol consisted of interviews, psychological questionnaires, and MR scanning. In addition, participants completed the Geriatric Depression Scale test as a part of the initial screening (participants with major depression were not included in the study).

2.3. Interview

All participants, HS and CG, were asked about their life before, during, and after the war. HS were also asked how they survived the Holocaust and how long they were persecuted. In the self-report part, the HS answered a short questionnaire focused on the self-evaluation of their personal life and professional career as affected by the Holocaust.

2.4. Psychological measures

Four questionnaires testing the hypothesis of the lifelong impact of extreme stress were chosen for this study. Two tests explored the negative impact of stress, specifically posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and actual stress symptoms (PCL-C and TSC-40 respectively); one test explored the positive impact of stress (PTGI); and one test explored the subjective appreciation of actual quality of life (SOS-10).

All psychological questionnaires are summarised in detail in Table 1 .

Psychological tests.

2.4.1. Statistical analysis

The results of the psychological questionnaires were summarised using median, minimum, and maximum. For statistical testing of differences between HS and GC, a non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test was used. The significance level for all statistical tests was set to p < 0.05. The statistical analyses were performed using STATISTICA 12. The effect of age was tested by multiple regression.

2.5. MR imaging

2.5.1. data acquisition.

MR examinations were performed on a 3T scanner Siemens Prisma using a 64-channel head coil. The MRI protocol for voxel-based morphometry included 3D T1-weighted magnetisation prepared rapid gradient echo (MPRAGE) sequence with TR = 2.3 s, TE = 2.33 ms, TI = 0.9 s, FA = 8°, isometric voxel size 1 mm in FOV 224 × 224 mm and 240 slices.

Part of the data was obtained at a partner workplace, NÚDZ Klecany, with the same type of 3T Prisma scanner, multichannel coil, and protocol sequence.

Data from all participants were manually checked for artifacts and pathology was checked by an experienced radiologist. Participants who did not meet our quality criteria (scans without technical artifacts or lower SNR; scans without significant movement artifacts; participants with brain pathology; and scans without successfully finished segmentation and normalization into MNI space) were excluded from the study.

2.5.2. Data processing

Anatomical MRI data were analysed using SPM12 ( www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk ) and CAT12 toolbox ( www.neuro.uni-jena.de/cat ) running in Matlab R2017b.

Individual data were adjusted for spatial inhomogeneity with an intensity normalization filter and then denoised with the Non-Local Means (SANLM) denoising filter. High resolution data were then segmented into grey matter using the SPM Tissue Probability Map (TPM) and registered into common MNI space using shooting template IXI555_MNI152_GS. Finally, spatially normalised and modulated GM maps were smoothed with 6 mm FWHM isotropic Gaussian kernel.

2.5.3. Statistical analysis

Group statistics for stress effects were calculated with a second-level model using SPM12. The modulated GM images were multiplicatively corrected with total intracranial volume and then analysed. A two-sample t -test comparison of GMV files between stress group (respectively stress subgroup under 12 years of age) and the control group was performed; sex, age, and MRI machine were included as nuisance variables.

Resultant t-statistic maps were initially thresholded at a P value of <0.005 uncorrected and then only significant clusters at P < 0.05 FWE cluster level were picked.

2.5.4. Grey matter volume and PTSD checklist scale correlation

Based on the Automated Anatomical Labeling (AAL) atlas ( Tzourio-Mazoyer et al., 2002 ), we selected the mean GM volume in an area consisting of the ACC, OFC, and insula, which are constantly repeated stress areas in the literature ( Ansell et al., 2012 ; Bolsinger et al., 2018 ; Kasai et al., 2008 ). These GM volumes and PCL-C values were correlated using Pearson correlation in HS to examine the relationship between brain morphology and posttraumatic stress manifestation.

3.1. Interview

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).

3.1.1. Self-report

All HS participants were asked how they evaluate their current life in relation to the Holocaust. The questions were as follows: 1. Was the Holocaust the worst experience of your life? (84.1% answered yes or rather yes); 2. Did the Holocaust have a lifelong negative influence on your life? (70.5% answered yes or rather yes); 3. Are you satisfied with your personal life (lifelong view)? (79.6% answered yes or rather yes); 4. Are you satisfied with your career (lifelong view)? (86.4% answered yes or rather yes).

3.2. Psychological measures

3.2.1. depression symptoms.

Depression symptoms were screened using the GDS. The prevalence of depression symptoms was significantly higher in HS (p < 0.001): depression symptoms were experienced by 15 HS (34.1%) and by 3 participants of CG (9.7%).

3.2.2. Psychological testing

The results of the psychological testing ( Table 2 ) significantly differed between HS and CG in all questionnaires. PCL-C showed higher rates of lasting symptoms of chronic stress in HS (in 21; 47.7%) than in CG (2; 6.5%). PTGI presents a higher rate of posttraumatic growth in HS, in 31 (70.5%), than in CG, in 11 (35.5%). SOS-10 displays a lower rate of well-being in HS, who could be classified as ‘maladjusted’ (9; 20.5%) than in CG (3; 9.7%). The effect of age was not statistically significant when used as covariate.

The results of the psychological testing in a subgroup of participants who were under the age of 12 in 1945 ( Table 3 ) significantly differed between HS and CG in all questionnaires. PCL-C showed higher rates of lasting symptoms of chronic stress in HS (in 13; 50%) than in CG (1; 4.2%). There is a higher rate of posttraumatic growth in HS, in 18 (69.2%) than in CG, in 9 (37.5%). SOS-10 displays a lower rate of well-being in HS (6; 23.1%) than in CG (1; 4.2%).

Psychological questionnaires: differences between HS under age of 12 in 1945 and age-matched CG.

3.3.1. Neuroimaging group characteristics

The neuroimaging cohort psychological profile resembled the profile of the whole cohort ( Table 4 ). No gender-associated effects were found using a two-sample t -test comparing male and female data.

Psychological questionnaire results of participants participating in the neuroimaging part of this study.

Psychological test results are similar to those in the entire HS group: a greater rate of chronic stress symptoms (significantly in PCL-C) and a lower rate of well-being in HS. Posttraumatic growth is stronger in the HS group but with a borderline p-value of 0.0504.

3.3.2. GMV reduction in holocaust survivors

VBM showed a significant GM volume reduction in HS in regions described in Table 5 and Fig. 1 .

Holocaust survivors vs control group: Structural MRI, clusters with significant GM reduction compared control group. Initial threshold 0.005 uncorrected, 0.05 FWE cluster level significance.

Structural MRI. Holocaust survivors vs control participants thresholded at 0.005; axial slices.

Significant results up to p = 0.05 FWE cluster level. Larger clusters overlap several structures and can be divided into substructures for interpretation purposes. R – right, L – left, R and L – cluster covering bilateral medial cortices. Coordinates indicate the location with the maximum cluster value.

3.3.3. GMV reduction in holocaust survivors under 12 years in 1945

VBM showed a significant GM volume reduction in HS under 12 years in regions described in Table 6 and Fig. 2 .

Holocaust survivors, age under 12 years in 1945. Structural MRI, clusters with significant GM reduction compared to control group. Initial threshold 0.005 uncorrected, 0.05 FWE cluster level significance.

Significant results up to p = 0.05 FWE cluster level. Larger clusters overlap several structures and can be divided into substructures for interpretation purposes. R – right, L – left, R and L – cluster covering bilateral medial cortices. Coordinates indicate the location with the maximum cluster.

Structural MRI. Holocaust survivors younger than 12 years in 1945 vs control participants, thresholded at 0.005; axial slices.

Structural MRI map of Holocaust survivors younger than 12 years in 1945 vs control participants with a liberal initial threshold of p = 0.01 is presented in Supplementary Material. The comparison of the subgroups of HS under 12 years did not yield a qualitatively different pattern from the comparison of the entire groups of participants when lowering the threshold to compensate for the small group sizes.

3.3.4. Correlation between GMV and PTSD symptoms

We found a significant correlation r = 0.395, p-value = 0.034, between grey matter volume in the stress-related network comprising ACC, OFC, and the insula and PCL-C test score.

4. Discussion

Extreme stress in childhood and young adulthood has an irreversible lifelong impact on the brain. More than 70 years after World War II, it is possible to identify lifelong psychological and neurobiological changes in people who survived the Holocaust as compared to a control group without a similar trauma history. There are apparent persistent differences in the frequency of depression symptoms, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and posttraumatic growth, in levels of well-being, and in GM volume in the brain.

Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) displayed a significant GM volume reduction in the HS as compared to CG. The areas of reduced grey matter correspond to the map of the impact of stress on the brain structure: insula, anterior cingulate, ventromedial cortex including the subgenual cingulate/orbitofrontal cortex, temporal pole, prefrontal cortex, and angular gyrus. The reduced structures were reported in connection with stress, emotions, affective disorders, autobiographical memory cognition, and behaviour.

The massive reduction of insular volume is of particular note. The insula is functionally linked with other structures that showed volume reduction in HS, in particular with anterior cingulate (ACC), ventromedial prefrontal, and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) ( Perez et al., 2017 ; Phillips et al., 2003 ). The anterior insula may be critical for processing emotions, self-awareness ( Stevens and Jovanovic, 2019 ), and in disorders of mood and anxiety ( Rolls et al., 2018 ).

The ACC is a limbic region associated with a multitude of cognitive and affective processes ( Perez et al., 2017 ) including fear regulation Diekhof et al. (2011) ( Drevets et al., 2008 ); and social behaviour ( Devinsky et al., 1995 ). The medial prefrontal cortex includes the pregenual/subcallosal ACC, subgenual cingulate, and OFC and is associated with the processing of emotions, emotional behaviour, and memory ( Noriuchi et al., 2019 ). The subgenual cingulate (BA 25) is being used as a target for deep brain stimulation therapy for major depression ( Rolls et al., 2018 ).

The temporal pole (TP) is a paralimbic region involved in the regulation of emotion ( Holland et al., 2011 ). A GM reduction in the left medial temporal gyrus and right superior frontal gyrus, possibly associated with autobiographical memory retrieval, was described in PTSD ( Li et al., 2014 ). The angular gyrus is linked to several cognitive functions including self-referential processing ( Stevens and Jovanovic, 2019 ). In a combat veteran PTSD study, the burden of psychological trauma across the lifespan correlated with reduced cortical thickness in limbic/paralimbic areas and in the medial precentral and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices ( Lindemer et al., 2013 ).

It can be summarised that the regions with reduced GM volume are associated with functions that could have been influenced by extreme stress. Sustained stress exposure leads to persistent changes in brain circuits regulating behaviour and emotion ( Arnsten et al., 2015 ). This appears even more evident when looking at these regions from the network perspective. The insula is a core region of the salience network that is involved in dynamic prioritising of internal and external stimuli and is implicated in mood/anxiety disorders ( Perez et al., 2017 ). The reduced volume of the insula, ACC, and OFC is considered a sign of increased vulnerability to stress ( Bolsinger et al., 2018 ). Cumulative lifetime adverse events were associated with reduced insular, subgenual ACC, and medial prefrontal volumes ( Ansell et al., 2012 ). The regulation of emotions and of self-awareness are processed in a network composed of the insula and perigenual ACC/ventromedial prefrontal cortex ( Perez et al., 2015 ). The map of reduced GM volume in HS is nearly identical with the set of regions involved in social cognition ( Stevens and Jovanovic, 2019 ).

The affected regions belong to the three core neurocognitive systems crucial for cognitive and affective processing: the salience network, the default mode network, and the central executive network. Deficits in the three networks are associated with a wide range of stress-related psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder ( Menon, 2011 ).

Extreme trauma experienced in childhood has demonstrably lifelong consequences. The reduction of GM was significantly expressed in the young HS, who were under the age of 12 years in 1945. The brains of children are vulnerable despite the fact that children have a limited ability to cognitively process life-threatening situations ( Sigal and Weinfeld, 2001 ). The GM volume reduction in children is probably a consequence of maladaptive experience-dependent neuroplastic changes that are more expressed in a developing brain ( Thomason and Marusak, 2017 ). A lower GM volume in the ACC was found in individuals with prenatal stress ( Marečková et al., 2019 ). Early-life adverse events have been associated with smaller insula, ACC, and OFC ( Dannlowski et al., 2012 ; Rolls et al., 2018 ).

There were no observable changes in the hippocampus and amygdala. The volume reduction of the two structures has been reported in PTSD and affective disorders ( Bremner, 2006 , 2007 ; Teicher et al., 2003 ) but findings are not consistent. Earlier studies also did not find a reduction of the two structures in HS with PTSD ( Cohen et al., 2006 ; Golier et al., 2005 ).

Several hypotheses explain the mechanisms of the alterations in brain structure induced by stress. Activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis leads the increased release of corticosteroids which can exert a negative effect on neurogenesis and an increase in apoptosis ( Li et al., 2014 ). However, a decrease in GM volume associated with a reduction in glia, with no loss of neurons, was described in ACC ( Drevets et al., 2008 ). In a stress model in mice, the GM reduction was explained by the loss of dendrites ( Blais et al., 1999 ; Kassem et al., 2013 ).

The GM reduction in our study is very probably the consequence of major psychological trauma. It is not explained by the effects of malnutrition on the brains of the survivors, as the majority of surviving children (with significant GM reduction) were hidden in non-Jewish families and did not experience extreme malnutrition. We found a significant correlation between grey matter volume in structures forming the stress network (insula, ACC, OFC) and PCL-C test score. This means that there is a clear link in our data between the grey matter volume and the psychological manifestations of posttraumatic stress symptoms.

To summarise the MRI part of our study: it shows an enduring lifelong effect of extremely stressful trauma on brain structure. The GM reduced areas correspond to the map of the impact of stress on the brain. The published studies mostly report the impact of stress on the human brain after a limited time period and do not address the question of whether the structural changes are reversible. Our data showing the lifelong consequences more than 70 years after extreme stress indicate that the GM reduction is irreversible. On the other hand, it is evident that the consequences of extreme stress can be compensated on a psychological level.

The psychological testing and HS interviews confirmed the profile corresponding to this structural map; however, the life course and other psychological signs display a more complicated and more positive pattern. After World War II, the psychopathology that characterised Holocaust survivors were described as a combination of chronic anxiety, depression, feelings of guilt, emotional instability, memory disturbances, and personality problems, alongside unresolved mourning and sadness ( Barel et al., 2010 ; Chodoff, 1963 ; Graaf, 1975 ; Helweg-Larsen et al., 1952 ; Prager and Solomon, 1995 ; Sagi-Schwartz et al., 2003 ).

In our study, the HS, when compared to CG, presented a more frequent occurrence of symptoms of chronic stress and depression and lower levels of well-being scores. On the other hand, the HS presented signs of resilience that probably considerably influenced their post-war life ( Heitlinger, 2011 ). They presented higher posttraumatic growth than the CG, and their self-estimation of their lives over the more than 70 years since the Holocaust showed a surprisingly positive pattern. The HS declared that they were satisfied with their lifelong personal life (in 79.6%) and with their professional careers (86.4%). That means that most of HS had productive and successful lives despite the atrocities they endured.

Surviving the Holocaust led to different reactions, including frequent suicides after the war. Those who were available for investigations for several decades after the Holocaust showed successful adaption capacities, similar to our study. The meta-analysis by Barel et al. elucidating the long-term consequences of the Holocaust for survivors suggested that alongside profound sadness there is room for growth ( Barel et al., 2010 ). Several studies have provided support for resilience in survivors of other genocides and persecutions, such as in Bosnia and Cambodia ( Ferren, 1999 ; Rousseau et al., 2003 ).

Holocaust survivors are not a homogeneous group and they vary in their post-trauma adjustment. Our study surpasses other published studies in the time that elapsed since the Holocaust – 70 to 75 years. The HS were up to 95 years old. We can speculate that surviving the Holocaust and living to a very advanced age could reflect a personality profile. It has been shown that Polish Holocaust survivors who immigrated to the British Mandate for Palestine after 1945 lived longer than the Polish Jews who immigrated before 1939, i.e. before the Holocaust ( Sagi-Schwartz et al., 2013 ). The results of a study of Holocaust survivors aged 75 and older revealed almost no differences regarding the sociodemographic and interpersonal variables when compared to a control group. Nevertheless, survivors were found to be more vulnerable ( Landau and Litwin, 2000 ).

Based on our data, we suggest that the combination of depression and chronic stress symptoms with GM reduction in critical areas and posttraumatic growth with good adaptation to life present characteristics of Holocaust survivors. It appears that the strong motivation of Holocaust survivors to rebuild their lives manifested itself primarily in raising families, becoming involved in social activities, and showing achievements on a wide spectrum of social functioning ( Joffe et al., 2003 ; Krell, 1993 ). The neurobiological consequence of extreme stress, i.e. reduction of GM in areas related to stress symptoms, may be compensated by resilience and psychological growth. The lifelong consequences of the Holocaust on survivors may help to understand the adaptational challenges for survivors of more recent wars and catastrophic events.

A brief conclusion of our study is that Holocaust survivors continue to show neurobiological and psychological signs of having been traumatised even more than 70 years after the extreme stress. Extreme stress in childhood and young adulthood has an irreversible lifelong impact on the brain.

5. Limitations

• • The fact that the study was conducting with older participants limited the time available for testing. A selection of brief psychological tests was chosen. The investigation lasted from 3.5 to 5 h. Participants were evaluated for depression symptoms but emotions were not otherwise tested; they were partially revealed in the interview.
• • We did not detect lifetime symptom stresses. The gold standard for posttraumatic stress disorder (CAPS; Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5) was not used, as it is time consuming.
• • The old age of the participants also limited the number of participants with MR data in sufficient quality.
• • The control group was composed of people with no Jewish heritage. In Central Europe, it is not possible to find Jewish participants who were not affected by the Holocaust. Otherwise, the geopolitical background of all participants was similar.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Monika Fňašková: Project administration, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Visualization. Pavel Říha: Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Investigation. Marek Preiss: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation. Petr Bob: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation. Markéta Nečasová: Investigation, Formal analysis. Eva Koriťáková: Formal analysis. Ivan Rektor: Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing – original draft.

Declaration of competing interest

Acknowledgement.

The authors wish to thank Alena Damborská, Marie Dračková, Veronika Juričková, Alice Prokopová, and Nikola Vaseková for their participation in collecting data; Irena Rektorová and Klára Marečková for valuable advice; and Anne Johnson for grammatical assistance. We thank the MRI team at NÚDZ Klecany (led by Filip Španiel) for recording part of the data and the Jewish Community of Prague for providing financial help for this recording. We thank the Jewish communities in Brno and Prague and the Foundation for Holocaust Victims for their support and help with the recruitment of Holocaust survivors.

We acknowledge the core facility MAFIL of CEITEC MU, supported by the Czech-BioImaging large RI project (LM2015062 funded by MEYS CR), for their support with obtaining scientific data presented in this paper.

Appendix A Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynstr.2021.100318 .

Supported by a grant from the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, grant no. AZV NV18-7 04-00559.

Data availability

Appendix a. supplementary data.

The following are the Supplementary data to this article:

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section History of the Holocaust

Introduction, general overviews.

• Jewish Responses in Germany to Persecution during the Prewar Period, 1933–1941
• The Third Reich, the German Public, and Nazi Anti-Semitism
• Racial Science
• Other Victims
• Final Solution: Decision-Making Process
• Killing by Shooting: Einsatzgruppen and Their Compatriots
• Concentration Camps / Forced Labor
• Extermination Centers
• Perpetrators
• Women in the Holocaust
• Economic Aspects of the Holocaust
• Punishment/Trials
• Church Responses
• Memoirs, Diaries, and Oral Histories as Historical Sources
• Holocaust Historiography

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History of the Holocaust by Deborah Lipstadt LAST REVIEWED: 26 May 2016 LAST MODIFIED: 26 May 2016 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199840731-0127

Many historians consider the Holocaust, the systematic murder of approximately six million Jews during 1941–1945, as one of the defining moments, if not a touchstone, of the political, ethical, and religious discourse of the 20th century. It is the only time that a state, as opposed to an insurgent entity or a group of independent actors, determined to murder every member of a particular group, irrespective of their age, gender, education, location, political or religious outlook, or national identity. Any Jew across the European continent and beyond (e.g., Libya, Crete, and Rhodes) whom the Germans could lay their hands on became a potential victim. As a result of this program, which the Germans called the Final Solution, nearly two-thirds of world Jewry was murdered. The Nazis considered killing the Jews such an urgent and necessary act that even when they were losing the war they pursued this goal. From the earliest history of the Nazi Party in the 1920s, the party cast the Jew as an existential threat to the German nation. While the Nazis made the threat posed by the Jews a cornerstone of their ideology and were intent on murdering all Jews they could find, they also targeted other groups. The first to be mass murdered were those inhabitants of the Reich—“Aryans” and Jews—whom the Nazis deemed to be physically or mentally disabled and consequently “unworthy of life.” German authorities also severely persecuted German homosexuals and murdered many eastern European (particularly Slav and Polish) intellectuals and religious leaders. They also killed two to three million Soviet prisoners of war. Millions of slave laborers, particularly from eastern Europe, served in horrendous conditions, and many died as a result. The mass killings of Jews took part in two phases. The first one started in June 1941, after the invasion of the Soviet Union. Conducted by special German units called the Einsatzgruppen and Ordnungspolizei (Order Police) with extensive aid of the Wehrmacht (German army) and non-German local militia, police, and civilians, these mass shootings resulted in the murder of over a million Jews. By the end of 1941, German authorities, concerned about the emotional toll the shooting was taking on the shooters, introduced gas buses and then gas chambers.

The vast geographic reach of the Holocaust presents a challenge to historians who want to address its broadest contours. There is an immense body of research on a myriad of aspects of the topic. This makes the need for syntheses all the more crucial. Hilberg 1985 is one of the earliest comprehensive studies of the bureaucratic structure of the Final Solution. It is highly detailed and remains a standard. More-readable volumes include Friedländer 1997 and Friedländer 2007 , which take a broader perspective and focus on the victims as well as the perpetrators. Dwork and van Pelt 2002 and Bergen 2009 were written as textbooks for college use, while Longerich 2010 is more recent and includes new archival information. Berenbaum and Peck 2002 and Friedman 2011 are particularly useful in that they each contain a range of articles by leading scholars in the field. Hayes 2015 is a most useful teaching tool with long selections on most of the topics that would be included in an introductory history of the Holocaust. Hayes and Roth 2010 contains articles by leading scholars who both review a particular aspect of the Holocaust and assess the state of the current research on that aspect.

Berenbaum, Michael, and Abraham J. Peck, eds. The Holocaust and History: The Known, the Unknown, the Disputed, and the Reexamined . Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002.

This edited volume contains articles by experts in the field on many of the issues central to the history of the Holocaust, including anti-Semitism within Nazi ideology, the bureaucracy of the Nazi state, the background and motivation of the killers, the concentration camp system, Jewish leadership and resistance, rescuers, onlookers, and the survivor experience.

Bergen, Doris L. War & Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust . 2d ed. Critical Issues in World and International History. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009.

A concise history of the period that also asks some of the broader and more-theoretical questions. An excellent starting point for those with little background or who want an overview of the history and the underlying theoretical issues.

Dwork, Debórah, and Robert Jan van Pelt. Holocaust: A History . London: John Murray, 2002.

This comprehensive textbook artfully weaves together historical data with memoirs and other firsthand sources. Currently, this is one of the best texts for classroom use or to introduce someone to this vast topic.

Friedländer, Saul. Nazi Germany and the Jews . Vol. 1, The Years of Persecution, 1933–1939 . New York: HarperCollins, 1997.

This is a sweeping, authoritative, and exceptionally readable account of the initial years of Nazi rule. Friedländer weaves together evidence from the perpetrators as well as the victims.

Friedländer, Saul. The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939–1945 . 1st ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2007.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in history, this volume elegantly melds the story of the persecution with the experience of the victims.

Friedman, Jonathan C., ed. The Routledge History of the Holocaust . Routledge Histories. New York: Routledge, 2011.

An exceptionally useful edited volume on an array of aspects of the history of the Holocaust, by leading figures in the field. Many of the authors pay particular attention to the evolution of their historical field. The volume serves, therefore, both as a historical and historiographical tool.

Hayes, Peter, ed. How Was It Possible? A Holocaust Reader . Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2015.

Hayes believes the title’s question is answerable. This compendium of highly readable selections from participants, witnesses, and scholars addresses the fundamental issues that ultimately “explain” the Holocaust. It can be a text for a Holocaust history course as well as of interest to those already familiar with the topic.

Hayes, Peter, and John K. Roth, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Holocaust Studies . Oxford Handbooks. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

This profoundly useful book recognizes that study of Holocaust history crosses traditional boundaries of academic disciplines. The forty-seven essays in the book summarize the state of the field at the time of publication and delineate future challenges. Each essay is an excellent starting point for someone interested in exploring a particular topic in depth.

Hilberg, Raul. The Destruction of the European Jews . New York: Holmes & Meier, 1985.

Considered one of the most authoritative texts on the destruction process, this book eschews victims’ testimony and relies only on German documents. Though Hilberg addresses the destruction process, not the Jewish response, in a few places he attributes to Jews an ingrained pattern of anticipatory compliance. These observations remain quite controversial.

Longerich, Peter. Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews . New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

In this expanded version of his German-language Politik der Vernichtung (Munich: Piper, 1998), Longerich analyzes the ideological, political, and personal sources of the genocide. Relying on a wide range of documents, including some that were released only after the unification of Germany, Longerich argues that the Nazi policy concerning the Jews was a central, not an ancillary, aspect of their other policies.

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The Holocaust: Primary Sources

Primary sources.

Here is a sampling of just some of the digital collections that you can find on the web. Please keep in mind that online collections of primary sources often include commentaries, essays, and other text that is secondary and should be used as such.

• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: YouTube Channel Videos created by the museum in Washington, D.C. about their collections and exhibits, as well as topics like genocide.
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: Collections Search Repository of Holocaust evidence that documents the fate of victims, survivors, rescuers, liberators, and others. The collection contains documents, artifacts, photos, films, books, and testimonies.
• USC Shoah Foundation: Visual History Archive Online An online portal that allows users to search through and view video testimonies of survivors and witnesses of genocide.
• Lost Art Internet Database Data on cultural objects lost as a result of Nazi persecution or the direct consequences of the Second World War.
• Aristides de Sousa Mendes Virtual Museum Virtual exhibits and online resources about the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux during World War II who signed 30,000 visas for people fleeing Nazi persecution.
• European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) Document Blog An international project providing online access to information about dispersed sources relating to the Holocaust.
• Yad Vashem - The World Holocaust Remembrance Center A pioneer of Holocaust museums worldwide, the center places great emphasis on educating the younger generations about the Holocaust. The Holocaust Resource Center includes sources from the Yad Vashem archives and Holocaust survivor testimonies. The Digital Collections include photo and document archives, as well as a database of Holocaust victims.

Testimonies

• USC Shoah Foundation: YouTube Channel Audio-visual interviews with survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides.
• Voices of the Holocaust Audio recordings and transcripts of Holocaust survivor testimonies from the British Library.
• National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism Online collection of eyewitness testimonies, as well as vivid photographic material and documents.
• Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust Audio recordings of Jewish Holocaust survivor testimonies from the British Library.
• Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies Collects, records and preserves Holocaust witness testimonies, and makes its collection available to researchers, educators, and the general public.
• Gathering the Voices Oral testimonies from Holocaust refugees and survivors who went to Scotland.
• 70 Voices: Victims, Perpetrators and Bystanders Explores the Holocaust through 70 sources – including diaries, letters, testimonies and poems – created by victims, survivors, perpetrators and other witnesses. A digital Holocaust Educational Trust project marking 70 years since the end of the Holocaust in 2015.
• Voices of the Holocaust A portal for the exploration of digitized, restored, transcribed, and translated interviews with Holocaust survivors conducted by Dr. David P. Boder in 1946. Hosted by the Galvin Library at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
• The Avalon Project: The International Military Tribunal for Germany Contents of The Nuremberg Trials Collection at the Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.
• The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy All twentieth century documents held by the Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School, including many that related to the events leading up to and after World War II.
• Nuremberg Trials Project Examine trial transcripts, briefs, document books, evidence files, and other papers from the trials of military and political leaders of Nazi Germany. Hosted by the Harvard Law School Library
• Indictments from Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings held by United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals Indictments from the 12 trials held after the Nuremberg Trials by the the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals. Preserved through the Library of Congress.
• Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings held by United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals This 15-volume series, also known as “The Green Series,” focuses on the 12 trials of almost 200 defendants between 1946-1949. Digitized by the Library of Congress.
• The Nizkor Project Along with many other primary sources, the digitized, complete transcripts of the Eichmann trial can be found at this website.

German History

• DigiBaeck: German-Jewish History Online A growing treasury of artifacts that document the rich heritage of German-speaking Jewry in the modern era. Created by the Leo Baeck Institute (New York and Berlin).
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• Nazi and East German Propaganda Site maintained by Randall Bytwerk, a professor emeritus at Calvin University.
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Social Structure and Development: A Legacy of the Holocaust in Russia

We document a statistical association between the severity of the persecution and mass murder of Jews (the Holocaust) by the Nazis during World War II and long-run economic and political outcomes within Russia. Cities that experienced the Holocaust most intensely have grown less, and cities as well as administrative districts (oblasts) where the Holocaust had the largest impact have worse economic and political outcomes since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Although we cannot rule out the possibility that these statistical relationships are caused by other factors, the overall patterns appear generally robust. We provide evidence on one possible mechanism that we hypothesize may link the Holocaust to the present---the change it induced in the social structure, in particular the size of the middle class, across different regions of Russia. Before World War II, Russian Jews were predominantly in white collar (middle class) occupations and the Holocaust appears to have had a large negative effect on the size of the middle class after the war.

We are particularly grateful to Mark Harrison for his help and many suggestions and Omer Bartov for his detailed comments on an earlier draft. We also thank Josh Angrist, Bob Davies, Esther Duflo, Elhanan Helpman, Amy Finkelstein, Tim Guinnane, Lawrence Katz, David Laibson, Jeffrey Liebman, Sergei Maksudov, Joel Mokyr, Cormac Ó Gráda, Kevin O'Rourke, Leandro Prados de la Escosura, four anonymous referees, and seminar participants at Harvard and CIFAR for useful comments. We also thank Elena Abrosimova, Victoria Baranov, Tatyana Bezuglova, Olga Shurchkov and Alexander Teytelboym for excellent research assistance. Tarek Hassan is grateful for financial support from the William A. Ackman Fund for Holocaust Studies and the Warburg Foundation. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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Harvard Professor James A. Robinson was one of three authors of a study of the continuing economic malaise in parts of Russia decades after the Holocaust.

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In Russian areas most devastated, economic growth has lagged

Russian cities and regions whose Jewish populations bore the brunt of deaths and displacement in the Holocaust have seen lower economic growth and wages ever since, according to a detailed new analysis of seven decades of Soviet and Russian data. These same areas have tended to resist political reform, exhibiting greater popular support for Communist candidates since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The findings, by political scientists and economists at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, are presented in a new working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

“The Holocaust wiped out many of the most educated and productive people in western Russia,” said co-author James A. Robinson, the David Florence Professor of Government at Harvard. “It was a major shock to the social structure of the invaded regions, dramatically reducing the size of the Russian middle class. While there is a broad body of literature on the psychological effects of the Holocaust, there has been almost no study of the long-term economic and political impact on the societies left behind. We set out to better understand how this cataclysmic event has continued to reverberate in Russia.”

Most historians believe that a million Soviet Jews perished in the Holocaust, as the German army thrust into Soviet territory in 1941, followed by paramilitary death squads that systematically eradicated Jewish populations.

Robinson and co-authors Daron Acemoglu of MIT and Tarek A. Hassan of Chicago Booth found that the killing of Jews in the Holocaust appears to have hurt many Russian cities and regions by permanently reducing the size of the middle class there. The analysis shows that Jews, despite being a small minority, made up a disproportionate share of the Russian middle class. Before World War II, 67 percent of Russian Jews held white-collar jobs, compared with only about 15 percent of non-Jews. In some of the invaded areas, 70 percent of physicians and many workers in high-skill jobs in trade and education were Jews.

“The persecution of Jews had long-lasting effects on the societies left behind, not because Jews constituted a large share of the population, but because they constituted a large share of key strata of society, which are essential constituents of economic and political development,” said Hassan, an assistant professor of finance at Chicago Booth.

In a five-year effort, the researchers combed over census and other data from across Russia, comparing economic and political outcomes in areas never occupied by the Nazis, those occupied with large Jewish populations, and those occupied with small Jewish populations.

In the 11 Russian oblasts (administrative districts) most affected by the Holocaust, the Jewish population declined by an average 39 percent between 1939 and 1959. These areas now have markedly lower per-capita gross domestic product and lower average wages. The average GDP per capita was just $4,555 in 2002, compared with a nationwide average of $5,855.

Acemoglu, Hassan, and Robinson also found a lasting tendency toward anti-reform politicians in these regions. In the 11 oblasts that suffered most under Nazi occupation, voters in the 1990s were more favorably disposed toward Communist candidates than were citizens in other regions. They also demonstrated greater support for preserving the Soviet Union in a 1991 plebiscite called by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

While the correlation between economic and political outcomes and the decline in Jewish population is a strong one, Robinson cautions that the relationship may be influenced by other factors.

“We find a robust relationship between the decline in Jewish populations and subsequent economic development, but this study is not meant to be the final word on this topic,” he said. “This is a first attempt to analyze this question, and one which will hopefully encourage other researchers to study the long-term political and economic effects of this wrenching event.”

The research was funded in part by the William A. Ackman Fund for Holocaust Studies and the Warburg Foundation.

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Among those who take prescription amphetamines, 81% of cases of psychosis or mania could have been eliminated if they were not on the high dose, findings suggest

Holocaust-Era Assets

Records and Research

Researching Holocaust-Era assets at NARA can be a daunting task, in part because of the vast quantity of records, some 20 million pages of textual records (as well as nontextual records) directly or indirectly relating to Holocaust-Era assets. These records were created or compiled by over 30 federal agencies. Researchers using these records, first and foremost, must remember that the records follow or reflect functions and activities and are not, at the macro level, arranged according to subject; they are arranged by the entity that created or received the records. So researchers need to know which government agency or agencies were responsible for certain functions and activities. This information can be gained by various means, including, and especially, by looking at published and unpublished National Archives finding aids , by communicating with others involved in similar research, and using the research tools on NARA's website. Additionally, researchers should consult secondary literature. Besides providing information about subjects of interest, books, articles, and reports often provide specific citations to NARA's holdings. Researchers should also take the time to study the contents of these web pages as it will save them time later as they navigate NARA's holdings of records relating to Holocaust-Era assets.

Papers and speeches about doing research in the National Archives relating to Holocaust-Era Assets

Articles in the record.

• Searching for Records Relating to Nazi Gold, Part I.   The Record , May 1997, by Greg Bradsher.
• Searching for Records Relating to Nazi Gold, Part II.   The Record , May 1998, by Greg Bradsher.
• Documenting Nazi Plunder of European Art:   Records in the National Archives Provide Research Base for Tracking Works Seized During War.  The Record , November 1997, by Greg Bradsher.
• Searching for Documents on Nazi Gold .  The Record , May 1997, by Greg Bradsher.

Articles in Prologue

• Monuments Men and Nazi Treasures: U.S. Occupation Forces Faced a Myriad of Problems In Sorting Out Riches Hidden by the Third Reich (Summer 2013) Tells the true tale of the men and women of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFA&A) Section of the U.S. Army, also known as "Monuments Men."
• Archives Receives Original Nazi Documents That "Legalized" Persecution of Jews (Winter 2002) Describes how the records of the U.S. Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality came into the possession of the National Archives.
• A Time to Act: The Beginning of the Fritz Kolbe Story, 1900–1943 (Spring 2002) Recounts how Kolbe, a mid-level official in the German Foreign Office, supplied the Allies with some of their most important intelligence of World War II.
• Spoils of War Returned: U.S. Restitution of Nazi-Looted Cultural Treasures to the USSR, 1945–1959 (Spring 2002) The story of how the United States undertook an unprecedented program of cultural restitution in an effort to restore displaced treasures to the countries from which the Nazis had confiscated them.
• Nazi Looted Art: The Holocaust Records Preservation Project (Summer 2002) The Holocaust Records Project is providing greater access to the records that tell the story of artworks and artifacts damaged and looted during World War II.
• Nazi Gold: The Merkers Mine Treasure (Spring 1999) American troops discover gold and art in a German mine at the end of World War II.

Papers and Other Information:

• Berenbaum, Michael. Testimony before the Nazi War Criminals Interagency Working Group , June 24, 1999.
• Bradsher, Greg, German Administration of American Companies , May 9, 2000. (Revised June 6, 2001)
• Bradsher, Greg. Archivists, Archival Records, and Looted Cultural Property Research . Paper presented at the Vilnius International Forum on Holocaust-Era Looted Cultural Assets, Lithuania, October 3, 2000.
• Bradsher, Greg. Art Looting Records and Research at the National Archives . Presented to the National Archives Assembly on April 17, 2001.
• Doing Looted Art Research at the National Archives . Talk given at the Provenance and Due: A Workshop/Conference, New York University, April 29, 2000. Sponsored by the International Foundation for Art Research and New York University.
• Bradsher, Greg. Holocaust-Era Assets Records and Research at the National Archives . Speech given by Greg Bradsher at the Conference on "New Records-New Perspectives: World War II, the Holocaust, and the Rise of the State of Israel" (December 13-16) Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, December 14, 1998.
• Bradsher, Greg. Investigative Reporters, the National Archives, and the Search for 'Nazi Gold' and Other Treasures . Speech given at the annual meeting of the Investigative Reporters and Editors, Kansas City, Missouri, June 5, 1999.
• Bradsher, Greg. Nazi Gold: The Merkers Mine Treasure . Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration , Spring 1999, vol. 31, no. 1.
• Bradsher, Greg. Research, Restitution, and Remembrance: The Federal Government and Holocaust-Era Assets 1996-2001 . Speech given to the B-nai Israel Synagogue, April 20, 2001, Wilmington, North Carolina.
• Bradsher, Greg. Researching Holocaust-Era Assets Records 1996-1998 . Presentation Given at the Society of American Archivists' Government Records Section Meeting, September 4, 1998, Orlando, Florida.
• Bradsher, Greg. Speech given at the annual meeting of the Society for History Government, Archives II, College Park, Maryland, March 19, 1999.
• Bradsher, Greg. Turning history into justice: Holocaust-Era Assets Records, Research, and Restitution . A "War and Civilization Lecture" given at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, North Carolina, April 19, 2001.
• Bradsher, Greg. Turning history into justice: the search for records relating to Holocaust-Era Assets at the National Archives . Paper given at the Society of American Archivists, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 27, 1999.
• Kleiman, Miriam. My Search for "GOLD" at the National Archives . Paper given at the Society of American Archivists, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 27, 1999.
• Marchesano, Louis. Classified Records, Nazi Collecting, and Looted Art: An Art Historian's Perspective . Paper delivered to the Nazi War Criminal Records Interagency Working Group at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles, June 24, 1999.
• Rickman, Gregg. The Truth Shall Set You Free: The Archives and the Swiss Bank . Paper delivered at the Society of American Archivists, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 27, 1999. Rickman later discussed his new book, Swiss Banks and Jewish Souls, at the National Archives' Author Lecture and Booksigning event on September 9, 1999.
• Sullivan, Steve. Marta's List: The Pursuit of Holocaust Survivors' Lost Insurance Claims .
• Truman Library opens papers on Post-World War II Jewish history . The Harry S. Truman Library has opened three manuscript collections that relate to different aspects of the history of the Jewish people in the years following World War II.

Related Posts on The Text Message Blog

The Text Message , which features posts related to NARA's holdings, includes many entries related to the subject of Holocaust-Era Assets research .

The Record, a newsletter put out by the National Archives and Records Administration, suspended publication with the September 1998 issue. 1998 issues are available online .

Holocaust-Era Assets: Conference & Symposium Papers & Proceedings

Papers and Proceedings relating to the National Archives and Records Administration's Holocaust-Era Assets Symposium and Conference held in December 1998.

Conference Proceedings

• Available in hardcopy

Symposium Proceedings. Available on videotape

• Purchase Options
• Video Order form

Symposium Papers: December 1998

• Dugot, Monica. Holocaust-Era Looted Art: Sources, Resources, and Documentary Evidence .
• Feldman, Gerald D. Insurance in the National Socialist Period: Sources and Research Problems .
• Friedman, Max P. Holocaust-Era Assets, the Archives and Non-Archival Resources .
• Latham, Ernest "Tyger."  Conducting Research at the National Archives into Art Looting, Recovery, and Restitution .
• Lillie, Catherine A. Researching Unpaid and Unclaimed Holocaust-Era Insurance Policies: Documentary Evidence for Claims .
• Murphy, Greg. Insurance Research at the National Archives .
• Trooboff, Hannah E. Researching Swiss Refugee Policy .
• Wythe, Deborah. Record keeping in Museums .

HIST 358: The Holocaust

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Primary sources at a glance.

The Holocaust is one of the most documented events of the twentieth century. You can start your search for primary sources in any of these places:

Newspaper and Magazine Archives

• Published compilations of primary sources
• Collections of digitized primary sources compiled by museums, libraries, and archives
• Online collections of survivor oral histories and testimonies
• News, Policy & Politics Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window Includes the backfiles of 15 major magazines (including the Newsweek archive), spanning areas including current events, international relations, and public policy. These titles offer multiple perspectives on the contemporary contexts of the major events, trends, and interests in these fields throughout the twentieth century. The collection will provide valuable primary source content for researchers in fields ranging from history and political science, through to law and economics. Coverage from 1918 - 2015

Published Primary Sources

The resources here are collections of primary sources that have been translated and published for greater scholarly use. If you would like to search WorldCat for similar sources, you can try searching using the following phrases: 

• Personal narratives

Alternatively, you can try using the following subject headings to identify published primary sources: 

• Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives
• Holocaust survivors -- Personal narratives
• Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Sources

If you have questions about identifying what part of these resources are the primary sources, be sure to ask a librarian!

Online Primary Sources

Several archives, museums, and special collections are digitizing and making their collections available online. The links below will take you to some of these digitized collections. If you need assistance navigating any of these collections, please contact the librarian for help.

• Nuremberg Trials Project - Harvard Law Library An open-access project of the Harvard University Law Library to provide access to digitized files related to the Nuremberg Trials. Includes trial transcripts, briefs, document books, evidence files, and other papers.
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collections The digitized collections of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. These include artworks, diaries, films, oral histories, and photographs. Users can browse collections or search for specific material.
• Yad Vashem Digital Collections Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, offers several digital collections, including an online photo archive, survivor testimonies, and photographed artifacts.

Oral Histories and Survivor Testimonies

Survivors of the Holocaust have given hours of testimony about their experiences. These are just a few collections of these testimonies that are available. 

• The Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies Hosted by Yale University, the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies has gathered thousands of survivor accounts since the 1970s. Users will be required to sign up with Aviary, the hosting platform, to access the collection.
• Oral Histories at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum This link takes you directly to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's collection of oral histories.
• Yad Vashem - Survivor Testimonies The Archives at Yad Vashem have collected over 15,000 survivor testimonies. Some are available as video, others are as documents. The testimonies are given in several languages.

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• Next: Organize and Cite Your Sources >>

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The International Institute for Holocaust Research

About the International Institute for Holocaust Research

Research and publications on the Shoah have always been high priorities of Yad Vashem since its official founding by the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament) in 1953. Due to the increase of international interest in the Shoah, the desire to encourage and support worldwide scholarly research on the Shoah and related topics, Yad Vashem established the International Institute for Holocaust Research in 1993.  Continue reading...

• The John Najmann Chair of Holocaust Studies
• Yad Vashem Publications
• The Diana and Eli Zborowski Centre for the study of the Holocaust and its Aftermath
• The Moshe Mirilashvili Center for Research on the Holocaust in the Soviet Union
• Fund for Research of the Holocaust in Hungary and Hungarian Jewish History in Honor of Dr. Ingrid D. Tauber

Research Projects

Untold Stories - Murder Sites of Jews in Occupied Territories of the USSR

The online project of the International Institute for Holocaust Research, Untold Stories - Murder Sites of Jews in Occupied Territories of the USSR , has recently been posted at Yad Vashem’s website.This project tells the story of the murder of Jews in the occupied areas of the former Soviet Union that began with the German invasion of the former USSR on 22 June 1941.

The Yad Vashem International Book Prize for Holocaust Research

The recipients for the 2023 Yad Vashem International Book Prize for Holocaust Research in Memory of Benny and Tilly Joffe z”l are:

Dr. Laurien Vastenhout for her book Between Community and Collaboration: Jewish Councils in Western Europe under Nazi Occupation . 

Prof. Edward Westermann for his book Drunk on Genocide:  Alcohol and Mass Murder in Nazi Germany .

Learn more about the Yad Vashem International Book Prize...

Events of the Research Institute

The International Institute for Holocaust Research is active in organizing symposia, workshops and international conferences sometimes in collaboration with universities and other research institutions in Israel and abroad.  Continue reading...

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The Holocaust: A Learning Site for Students

This content is available in the following languages.

• Portuguese-Brazil

Organized by theme, this learning site presents an overview of the Holocaust through historical photographs, maps, images of artifacts, and testimony clips. It is a resource for middle and secondary level students and teachers, with content that reflects the history as it is presented in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Permanent Exhibition. 

Browse 9 articles about the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany. Learn about how the Nazis took control of the police and turned Germany into a dictatorship; used propaganda and censorship to implement a racist ideology; and implemented brutal policies as Germany annexed and occupied parts of Europe.

Article: Nazi Rule

Article: Hitler Comes to Power

Article: The Nazi Terror Begins

Article: SS Police State

Article: Nazi Propaganda and Censorship

Article: Nazi Racism

Article: World War II in Europe

Article: The Murder of People with Disabilities

Article: German Rule in Occupied Europe

Jews in prewar germany.

Browse a series of 9 articles about Jewish life in Germany and Europe before 1939. Learn about antisemitism and international attitudes toward Jews. Also, read about how the Nazis implemented antisemitic laws and organized state-sponsored violence and discrimination against the Jews of Germany. Each article includes three key dates related to its main topic.

Article: Jews in Prewar Germany

Article: Jewish Life in Europe Before the Holocaust

Article: Antisemitism

Article: The Boycott of Jewish Businesses

Article: The Nuremberg Race Laws

Article: The "Night of Broken Glass"

Article: The Evian Conference

Article: Voyage of the St. Louis

Article: Locating the Victims

The "final solution".

Browse a series of 8 articles on the Nazi plan to deliberately murder European Jews. These articles explain how the Nazis implemented the “Final Solution” by establishing ghettos and killing centers in occupied Poland; deploying Einsatzgruppen (special action squads) to commit mass shootings; and the organization of mass deportations of Jews to ghettos and killing centers. 

Article: The "Final Solution"

Article: Ghettos in Occupied Poland

Article: Life in the Ghettos

Article: Mobile Killing Squads

Article: The Wannsee Conference and the "Final Solution"

Article: At the Killing Centers

Article: Deportations

Article: Auschwitz Camp Complex

Nazi camp system.

Browse a series of 8 articles on the history of the Nazi camp system. Learn about the different types of camps operated by the Nazi regime; who was incarcerated in these camps and why; what happened to the prisoners of the camps at the end of the war; and about the Nuremberg Trials established to bring Nazi perpetrators to justice.

Article: Nazi Camp System

Article: Prisoners of the Camps

Article: "Enemies of the State"

Article: Forced Labor

Article: Death Marches

Article: Liberation

Article: The Survivors

Article: Nuremberg Trials

Rescue and resistance.

Browse a series of 7 articles on rescue and resistance. Learn about how some Jews survived the Holocaust despite the inhumane conditions created by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Read about people who tried to rescue Jews; resistance groups who opposed the Nazi regime and occupations; and Jews who revolted against Nazi oppression in the Warsaw ghetto and in killing centers.

Article: Rescue and Resistance

Article: Rescue in Denmark

Article: Jewish Partisans

Article: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Article: Killing Center Revolts

Article: The War Refugee Board

Article: Resistance inside Germany

Thank you for supporting our work.

We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies, Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, the Claims Conference, EVZ, and BMF for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of donor acknowledgement .