Therapy can provide a space to explore these facets of a person’s history. I think for people of all cultures, the past can have a really powerful impact on how people see and experience the world that we need to be open to.’ The idea of intergenerational trauma is not “airy fairy”, it’s very grounded in what we know about how people’s psychologies are shaped. Pointing to epigenetics, he added: ‘The very core of our biological embodied being can be affected by life experiences. ‘Obviously, you can’t assume that a person is the way they are now because of something that has happened in their past but it can be very important to understand that that might be part of the person’s narrative and to recognise the influence it can have,’ he said. I think that is passed down.’ Biological impact of family traumaĪs a psychologist, Mick can see the value in offering clients a space to talk through family stories in order to understand the wider context. So, there’s that sort of distrust of anyone, including people you think you might know. He recognises the language, so he emerges, only to be met by the kidnappers. ‘There’s a part of the story where Moishe is hiding in a pipe, and someone calls for him to come out and says it’s safe for him to do that. If they weren’t scared, then their children would be taken away. She explained that her research provided a fresh understanding of family traits such as anxiety: ‘These communities had to be scared. The experience also proved to be therapeutic: ‘I looked back and thought, “Maybe this is why I think of things the way I do now”, or “Maybe this is why I have certain characteristics”,’ she said. Maya explained that she was able to connect with her grandfather, who died when she was one, through his writing: ‘I had never delved that deeply into my family history and, because it is such a horrific story, it was really difficult to think that this is what someone in my family went through.' I had to translate papers from Yiddish and Hebrew and find books that I had to get shipped over from America.’ ‘The whole history of the Cantonists has been buried. Researching such traumatic content about her ancestors with a view to turning it into a film has been a long and sometimes difficult process for Maya. ‘We still celebrate Jewish holidays, but we are not religious, and I think probably a lot of that has to do with losing a bit of that identity,’ Maya said. Mick and Maya carry a sense of this loss having passed down the generations. Like a lot of the Cantonists, Moishe did however lose a lot of his Jewish identity, culture and mannerisms. ‘It’s something that a lot of the children never did, because they were taken when they were so young, and they had no idea how to get back,’ Maya added. He went on to be a musician in the Tsar’s band during the Crimean war and eventually returned home, moving to the UK in his later years. They would suffocate the children in these steam rooms.’Īlthough many did convert to Christianity, due to their young age, Moishe never did. It’s really horrible, most of it too horrible to describe. From what we know, they tried to force him to convert for instance, by only giving him food that wasn’t kosher, and salt water to drink. Maya tells her great, great-grandfather’s story: ‘Moishe was about 12 years old when he was taken from his home to an institution. Exploring the family history has led both Maya and Mick to contemplate the impact intergenerational trauma can have on a person and the role that religion can play in shaping a person’s identity. Years later, Mick’s daughter, Maya, a film-maker and actress herself, is bringing the story to the screen. Mick’s father had written down his grandfather’s experience and always hoped to turn it into a film. He was one of tens of thousands of children known as the Cantonists. Psychologist and author Mick Cooper grew up hearing stories about his great-grandfather, Moishe, a young Jewish boy from Ukraine, who was kidnapped by the Russian empire and forced to join the army and convert to Christianity.
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