Overview

The Golden Age, during which Jews experienced peace, serenity, and prosperity in Poland, ended in 1939 with the Nazi invasion. Of the millions of Jews who had lived in large cities and in shtetls of Poland and the neighboring Soviet Republic of Ukraine, only about 10% would survive the Shoah. The Nazi regime, abetted by Ukrainian Nationalists, were efficient in murdering Jews using mobile killing units, incarceration in concentration and extermination camps, and in the many ghettos that had been established. 
This memoir portrays the history of a small number of survivors of a family that had witnessed the horrors of the Shoah. Before the war, some attempted to help Jews immigrate to their ancestral homeland, the Land of Israel. After the invasion of Poland, some family members found ways of eluding the Nazis, or formed small, organized contingents who fought against the merciless oppressors, which allowed them feelings of agency and hope. 
Those who survived and flourished in their new homes in Canada, was facilitated by the close bonds that formed among the families of survivors. These survivors directly or indirectly transmitted the lessons of the Shoah to their children and grandchildren, who also learned about the collective, historical trauma that had been experienced by Jews across generations. Second and third generation descendants of survivors are aware that the increased antisemitism currently witnessed in Western countries are reminiscent of events before the Shoah, and may be harbingers of this Golden Age coming to an end.

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Reviews

In From One Generation to the Next, Professor Anisman integrates the history of his family with the historical events surrounding their lives. Beginning before World War I in Eastern Europe and ending in present-day Canada, he describes how both sides of his family of origin were influenced by the political developments in the areas in which they lived, and how these developments interacted with their own personalities, education and ethnic religious motivations. Of particular interest is the description in fascinating detail of how, surrounded by antisemitism and the enmity of Germans, Poles, and Ukrainians before and during World War II, members of the family took action to fight back as best they could. The book also illustrates very clearly the way in which the history of one generation can influence the behavior of subsequent generations, as befits the work of a distinguished neuroscientist. From One Generation to the Next is a worthy addition to the Shoah literature. - Charles (Chuck) Freedman, Deputy Governor, Bank of Canada (retired) This memoir is a significant and distinctive contribution to Holocaust literature. It shifts the focus from survival alone to the moral, psychological, and cultural transmission of memory across generations. Unlike many Holocaust memoirs that centre primarily on the events of the Shoah itself, and the annihilation of 6 million Jews through systematic extermination, Anisman writes from the perspective of the second generation, exploring how trauma, faith, and resilience shaped the lives of survivors' children. Importantly, he emphasizes their sense of responsibility as the ""hinge generation"" tasked with remembrance and continuity. The book interweaves personal family narrative with deep historical, philosophical, and Jewish cultural reflection, situating individual suffering within a much longer arc of Jewish persecution, survival, and renewal. Its emphasis on intergenerational memory, moral obligation, and the enduring threat of antisemitism [..] sets it apart as both a memoir and a warning, making it as much about the present and future as it is about the past. Anisman is passing this work from one generation to the next honouring his own family and those that had their entire family lines erased.[...] - David Hoffman, Theatrical Producer and former CEO, Time Off Productions. Accounts of the Holocaust often describe the horrid conditions experienced by Jews and the fate of six million. Unlike many other books of this genre, which intimate that the Jews were vulnerable and unable to save themselves, this exceptional, heart-wrenching memoire recounts the resilience of Jews who were able to survive as well as those who fought against the Nazis and their facilitators, including the author's brothers and uncle. The accounts of the Holocaust are at times sad and dispiriting, and yet there are elements that speak to resistance and hope. This book describes numerous Golden Ages during which Jews were accepted in some countries and what led to the end of these periods. The author describes the Holocaust in the context of many earlier events in which Jews were targeted for who they were, and outlines the common thread that has repeatedly led to Jew hatred. The accounts of the cumulative, historical traumas experienced makes one think about how the Jews across generations were able to resume their lives after experiencing the traumas that they did, and whether these wretched experiences fostered the social cohesion that promoted their remarkable resilience. The description of the experiences of the author's family is testament to the strength of will that is passed from one generation to the next. - Zul Merali, Professor and Founding Director, Brain and Mind Institute, Aga Khan University, Kenya and Pakistan.

Author Information

Shimon and Chana Anisman, and their two-year-old son Chaim (Hymie) reached Halifax, Canada on December 31, 1950, after attempting to emigrate from Europe for more than four years following the Shoah. They settled in Montreal, where Hymie attended a Yeshiva and subsequently obtained university training, and then received his doctorate at the University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario) in 1972. He accepted a position at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, in the Psychology Department and subsequently the Department of Neuroscience where he continues to be a faculty member. He was a Fellow of the Ontario Mental Research foundation, held a Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Neuroscience, and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. His research was ranked as being in the top two percent of medical and psychological research in Canada and worldwide.Hymie's research has focused on the neurobiological and immunological effects of stressors and the impact of these processes on psychological and physical health disturbances. Much of his research has concerned the multiple factors that increase an individual's vulnerability to the adverse effects of stressful events and those that imbue them with resilience. These have included the interplay between genetic factors and environmental experiences that can affect diverse pathologies. Adverse experiences comprise events encountered during childhood, chronic discrimination and stigmatization, the distress created by immigration, the consequences of unsupportive social interactions, and the impact of collective historical trauma on the transmission of stressor effects across generations. He is the father of Simon, Rebecca, Jessica, and Max, and grandparents of Aoife and Shep.

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