המסע והמשא של ילדי מעברות העולים

In this paper I will discuss the issue of childhood in the Israeli transit camps. I will analyze the role and functioning of the camps’ children, in some cases as cultural,linguistic, and social agents; the independence thrust upon them prematurely; and above all, the reversal of parent-child roles – the disappearance and lack of parental authority and the complex survival mechanisms developed by the children. I will argue that alongside their functioning as agents of socialization for their parents and other adults, the memories of interviewees about their childhood in the camps, as well as documents from the period, show the onerous burden they carried in their daily lives – a load that proved to be a harsh and significant catalyst of maturation.I will also discuss the gap between the nostalgic expressions of childhood in the camps and its actual manifestations, which can assist in tracing the contours of a generation seen as fulfilling the Israeli ethos, yet bearing the signs and scars that were to govern its members’ lives.