Breaking the Chain of Intergenerational Trauma: A Psychological Analysis of Mother-Son Transmission and the Path to Emotional Autonomy

This document provides a comprehensive psychological and biographical analysis of intergenerational trauma transmission between Herta Bertel (born Krug, 1943–2024) and her son, Peter Siegfried Krug (FIDE master in chess composition). It explores how childhood displacement, systemic poverty, and public shaming in post-war Austria led to a lifelong "survival mode" in the mother, which was subsequently projected onto the child through emotional unavailability and devaluative labeling. The author outlines the methodological shift from "condemnation to understanding" as a prerequisite for breaking traumatic cycles and achieving late-life resilience.