By DPA
Hamburg : What is worse: To fear for one's life during a bombing raid, to have to run for one's life during a bombing raid or to grow up without a father?
Probably it's all equally as bad for children, and such experiences can cause serious repercussions even 10 years later. Then the fear or sadness returns. People often don't realize that their experiences as children during World War II are the cause.
One-quarter of German children growing up after the war lived without their father present for long periods or without their father at all. About 250,000 children in Germany were orphans who lost both parents during the war, writes professor Hartmut Radebold in his book "The Dark Shadows of the Past".
Among Germany's refugees were two million children and youths, said Radebold, head of the educational institute for alternative psychotherapy in Kassel.
About one-third of the children and youth had had damaging or traumatizing experiences. Many of them still feel the results of this late in life, wrote Radebold. And they usually do not speak about these experiences.
The Germans were the villains in the war, and when the public considers the country's role, it tends to focus on blaming Germany. Thus, people who were children during the war block their memories, said Professor Elmar Braehler of the department for medical psychology and medical sociology at the University of Leipzig.
Many "lived largely inconspicuously," said Corinne Adler of the psychosomatic clinic for the elderly at Nuremberg hospital. The effects of the wartime experiences appear mostly in small things such as never throwing anything away, wrote Radebold.
Some arise gradually and show that the individual has a larger problem. Others memories appear suddenly, said Braehler. They feel helpless when they remember the frightful events, said Adler. If the same feelings arise, it can result in a traumatic reaction.
Sometimes images come up, but often the memories are just feelings of sadness, fear and panic. Headaches or pressure in the chest can result, said Adler.
"Depression or physical problems are behind these complaints," she added. Thus it can be difficult to determine the root cause of the problems.
"The first step is to accept that despondency and sadness are not typical components of age," said Radebold. The people affected should consider what they have experienced. If there was a lot of very bad things, it is advisable to talk to someone about them. This includes one's own children. But the individuals often fear that their questions will rekindle even more terrible memories.
"Talking about the experiences among the family can be liberating," Braehler said. "The elders can decide themselves what they want to recount."
Adler advises people to be careful asking about wartime experiences when they notice their parents have trouble putting it in the context of the war. An alternative is a meeting with a therapist. A third solution is to write a biography, said Radebold.
"Then the individual sorts through his or her memories," he said. This helps them to accept the horrible images they have in their heads as part of their own history.