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About 3GH
3GH – Beginnings
3GH emerged from Melbourne, Australia, one of the largest Holocaust survivor populations per capita in the world. The foundations of 3GH include a psychology honours thesis, which engaged the writer in a deeply personal and powerful inquiry, interviewing sixteen third generation descendants, in addition to focusing on mechanisms of transmission across generations.
Early in 2006 ten third generation descendants gathered at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum to talk about what the Holocaust means in their lives. In a focused and safe forum, participants were invited to engage in a personal inquiry, asking where the Holocaust lives inside of their own identities. A raw footage documentary of this process entitled "Somewhere Inside of Us" was produced and presented at Limmud Oz and Yad Vashem "Teaching the Holocaust to Future Generations" in June of 2006.
Aims of the Workshop
3GH workshop advocates a deep and honest exploration into how the Holocaust impacts on the identity of the third generation with two aims:
1. Exploration
With the Holocaust as the entry point, bigger identity questions are encouraged to be explored.
Emergent themes include Jewish identity, desensitisation, carrying and re-defining the legacy, responses to the mantras ‘never again” and “remember”, persecution - real or imagined, responses to anti-Semitism, family dynamics, relationship with grandparents and parents, intergenerational transmission of trauma, responsibility for social activism and consideration of world view in a post-Holocaust era.
This project asks - can such a process create personal empowerment and insights which usher in new narratives and inspire expression, voice and action - three generations on?
2. Action.
The desire to dedicate energy towards acts of change ranges from personal to political; from improving interpersonal relationships to a commitment to ensuring it truly doesn't happen again. Whether its about individual, family, communal or global change, the third generation often feel charged with this imperative.
Genocide is still a reality. Professor Yehuda Bauer refers to the Shoah as unprecedented but not unique. In his public address at the United Nations ‘International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust’ on the 27th Jan 2006, he said:
There are two aspects to the genocide of the Jews which we call the Holocaust. One is the specificity of the Jewish fate, the other are the universal implications, they are two sides of the same coin. The Jews were the specific victims of the genocide. But the implications are universal, because who knows who the Jews may be next time.
(Bauer, 2006)
The commonalities between other genocides and the Holocaust are evident (e.g. Rwanda and Darfur). With this in mind pathways to social action becomes an imperative.
3GH Achievements
- Successful recipient of a grant from the Besen Family Foundation
- Winning the Meyer Burston Scholarship from the "Friends of the Melbourne Holocaust Museum"
- Creation of a half hour raw footage documentary entitled "Somewhere Inside of Us"
- Workshops and presentations with Yad Vashem, Melbourne Jewish Holocaust Museum, The Wiener Library, London, Limmud UK and Limmud Oz
- Articles published in 'Centre News', 'Mifgashim', an international Psychodrama publication (Natalie Krasnostein, Dr George Halasz and Sue Daniel)
- Youth workshops and presentations at Mount Scopus Limmud Oz year 11 symposium and King David Year 11 students
- Fund raising event - 16th December, at "Eurotrash" and website launch.