You were born around 1950-1980 and recognize one or more of the following emotions (or you know someone who does): a deep feeling of heaviness, insecurity, or fear? And yet you can’t find a real origin for those feelings in your life? Then I can promise you: there is a way into joy, ease, and safety.

Because: you are one of the so-called War Grandchildren (Kriegsenkelinnen), meaning a child of people who were children or were born during World War II. And with that, the chance is quite high that these heavy and limiting emotions are not from your own biography, but from the unresolved traumas of your parents and grandparents.

Even though we think that World War II lies decades in the past now, its effects are still palpable in many families today. Recent insights from epigenetics and transgenerational trauma research show that war experiences and their consequences can be passed on not just psychologically, but biologically over generations.

Who are the War Grandchildren?

The War Grandchildren are descendants of the War Children — the generation who were born during or shortly after World War II. Their parents experienced flight, expulsion, bombings, loss of loved ones, and often emotionally cold or detached upbringing in the post-war period. Because many of those experiences were never processed, they continue to influence subsequent generations on epigenetic, psychological, and family-dynamic levels.

Typical Patterns and Symptoms of the War Grandchildren Generation

Some common patterns include:

• Excessive focus on achievement & perfectionism — as a strategy to gain safety and recognition.
• Feelings of guilt & collective shame — often with no clear personal cause, but as emotional burdens inherited from family history.
• Emotional distance within families — many war children learned to suppress their feelings, which is then passed on to the next generation.
• Difficulty with closeness & bonding — war-traumatized parents often couldn’t build stable emotional connections with their children.
• Survival patterns & scarcity mentality — “One must always prepare, because everything could be lost again.”

If you see yourself in these patterns, here’s good news: these patterns are not immutable — they can be consciously recognized and transformed.

Personal Example

I’ll give myself as an example: My grandmother was in labor with my mother in 1944. My mother was born during a barrage of bombs in what was thought to be a safe maternity shelter. And at that time I already existed as an egg cell in my mother — and therefore also in my grandmother.

Because of this, I for my whole life had a panic response to “air raid alarms” and fire-cracker noises. New Year’s Eve was horrific for me.

Until one day my mother happened to tell me about her birth and the circumstances, and suddenly I understood why I had what I called my “firecracker trauma.” And with targeted work with the ancestors I was able to resolve it.

How Can a War Grandchild Break Transgenerational Patterns?

As in my case, it can happen that our parents share experiences and suddenly “something clicks” for us. If this does not happen, then it’s important to become aware of your own imprinting. Specifically, to recognize what fears or patterns are not from your own biography but stem from family history.

Even when you cannot determine the precise origin, you can still achieve epigenetic transformation — for example with ECHO. The method has been explicitly developed to shift epigenetic imprinting. This includes working with the ancestral field. As a War Grandchild you can acknowledge your ancestors’ stories, yet simultaneously detach from what no longer serves you — without losing connection to family.

This allows emotional self-empowerment. So instead of continuing to live in fear and survival patterns, you can consciously make new decisions.

The Story of the War Grandchildren is Not Fixed

The phenomenon of the War Grandchild shows impressively how deeply collective traumas reverberate across generations — but it also shows: we can break these patterns.

Research is clear: war trauma is not only psychologically, but also biologically anchored — yet with targeted methods it is possible to consciously loosen these connections. ECHO is one of those methods that uses this approach intentionally, in order to enable sustainable change.

We carry the past within us — but we don’t have to carry it forward.

We may write our future anew.