Somatic Memories of Historical Violence: Transgenerational Trauma from Antisemitism and Racism, and the Body as an Archive of Violence

The body remembers histories of violence, even if our consciousness forgets or suppresses them. Contained in the body, experiences of violence are passed on from the past to the present. Thus, the body can be conceived of as a historical archive, bearing witness to past injuries and derivative, present forms of injustice. But how is this language of the body to be deciphered? To learn to interpret this somatic memory within the history of the body, it is useful to turn to medicine and neuroscience.

Research on transgenerational epigenetic effects of Holocaust trauma yields differentiated accounts of how historical violence translates into somatic signatures, and how traumatic events can alter genetic transcription mechanisms over generations. Epigenetics thus becomes an echo of ‘Zeitzeugen’ – in a time when their oral testimony is about to be lost. But the epigenetic approach also allows for multiple cross-references between the descendants of survivors of the Holocaust, slavery, the Porajmos, the Rwandan genocide, and other instances of collective historical violence.

At the same time, the medicalization of trauma and the biologization of affected groups present a challenge that can only be addressed historically and politically rather than medically. This talk will critically examine both the potential and the pitfalls of utilizing medical knowledge in the history and legacy of historical violence, genocide and the Holocaust.