They Left It All Behind

This book explores the influence of historical events and intergenerational transmission of trauma on the psychological lives of pre-1924 Eastern European Jewish immigrants and their children. It explores disavowal of loss, homesickness, and anti-Semitic violence, as well as parents’ sacrifices and their children’s success.

Hannah Hahn maintains a full-time private practice as a psychologist and psychoanalyst in New York City. After graduate-level work in English literature, she obtained a master's degree in psychology from Harvard University, a PhD in clinical psychology from Columbia University, and psychoanalytic certification from the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, where she currently supervises candidates. She taught attachment at the New York Institute for Psychoanalytic Training in Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence. Her publications and presentations include "They Left it All Behind," in M. O'Loughlin's The Ethics of Remembering and the Consequences of Forgetting (2015) and "A Safe Place to Stand: The Holding Environment with Child Patients and Their Parents" (2005).

Foreword: In the Shadow of the Sthetl Preface: They Left It All Behind Acknowledgments Introduction Dramatic Personae 1 They Left It All Behind and the Disavowal of Loss 2 Communicating about the Past and Trauma 3 Missing the Old Country and Life in America 4 Childhood: Growing Up in America 5 The First Generation: Adulthood Conclusions: From Silence to Connection: Memory, History, Trauma, and Loss Appendix A: Questionnaire: Eastern European Jewish Immigrants and Their Children in America Appendix B: Research Approach Glossary: Yiddish Words and Other Terms References About the Author