Writing Workshop and Emotions in senior Holocaust survivors

Abstract

The goal of this research is to evaluate and describe the kind of emotions that emerge in senior Holocaust survivors over 73 years old at the writing workshop held at Tzedaka Foundation. For this purpose, the goals have been divided into three. Firstly, the description of the emotions the participants claim to feel before, during and after performing their writing task, and at the moment of sharing it with their peers. Secondly, the description of the observed emotions of the participants at the moment of sharing their writing task with their workshop peers. Lastly, the description of the emotions that emerge from the writing itself. In order to carry out this descriptive study, seven Holocaust survivors living in the City of Buenos Aires have been interviewed: one man and six women of Polish, Russian, French, Lithuanian and German nationalities, ranging from 73 to 92 years of age, all part of the above mentioned writing workshop. By the same token, the detached observation of each subject in the workshop and the analysis of the emotions arising from the text have been carried out. The analysis of the resulting data has shown that writing and sharing their writing tasks, whatever the topic or genre, is beneficial and it generates positive emotions in this senior adults’ group, and more specifically, highly traumatic situations’ survivors.