Effects Of The Holocaust 2 Essay Research

Effects Of The Holocaust 2 Essay, Research Paper

Psychological Effects of the Holocaust

The Holocaust was a tragic point in history that many people believe never happened. Others who survived it thought it should never have been. Not only did this affect the people who lived through it, but it also affected everyone who was connected to those fortunate individuals who survived. The survivors were lucky to have made it, but there are times when their memories and flashbacks have made them wish they were the ones who died, instead of living the horrible aftermath. The psychological effects of the Holocaust on different survivors of Israel and survivors of the ghettos and camps vary in some ways yet in others are profoundly similar. The vast number of prisoners with varying nationalities and religions in camps made such differences inevitable.

The history of the Jewish survivors from the beginning of the Nazi occupation until the liquidation of the ghettos shows that there are common features and similar physiological patterns in their responses to the persecutions. The survivors often experienced several phases of psychosocial response, including attempts to master the traumatic situation, solid member actions, like rebellion, and finally, submissive cooperation with the persecutors (Krystal 67). These phases must be understood as the development of special mechanisms to cope with the tensions and dangers of the surrounding horrifying reality of the Holocaust (Krystal 68).

In the studies and research that took place, there were many questions that were asked of subjects: What was the duration of the traumatization. During the Holocaust, were the victims alone, or with their family and friends. Were they in a camp or hiding. Did they use false “Aryan” papers. Was he a witness to mass murder in the ghetto or the camp. Who supported them, what family and friends, and what social bonds did they have.(Krystal 5) These studies showed that experiences of those who were able to actively resist the oppression, whether in the underground or among the partisans, were different in every way from the those who were victims in extermination camps.

When survivors integrated back into society after the war, they found it very hard to adjust. They often aroused ambivalent feelings of fear, avoidance, guilt, pity and anxiety (Des Pres 58). This might have been hard for them, but decades after the Holocaust most of the survivors managed to rehabilitate their capacities and rejoin their lost lives (Des Pres 86). This is truer for people who experienced the Holocaust as children or young adults. Their families live with a special attitude toward continuity, fear of separation, and fear of prolonged sickness and death. The Jews that were arrested and brought to the concentration camps during WWII were under sentence of death (Eitinger 120). Chances of surviving the war were minimal. The brutal treatment on the part of the camp guards and even some of the other prisoners influenced the Jews. The months or years already spent in the ghettos, with continuous persecutions and random selections, had brought some to a chronic state of insecurity and anxiety. Others reacted with apathy and hopelessness, although passive and active resistance had also

occurred. Overcrowding, infectious diseases, lack of facilities for basic hygiene, and continuous starvation worsened this horrible situation (Eitinger 122).

When people were transported to concentration camps, they lived in horrible conditions such as filth and lack of hygiene, diseases and extreme nutritional insufficiency, continuous harassment, physical ill treatment, and perpetual psychic stress caused by the recurrent gruesome deaths- all combined to influence the attitudes and mental health of camp inmates (Dimsdale 263). Observations and descriptions by former prisoners, some of who were physicians and psychologists differ drastically. Some described resignation, limitation of emotional and normal feelings, weakening of social standards, regression to primitive reactions, and “relapse to animal state,” whereas others show feelings of comradeship, community spirit, a persistent humanity, and extreme self-sacrifice- even moral development and religious revelation (Dimsdale 263).

After liberation, most of the Jewish camp inmates were too weak to move or be aware of what was happening. Prisoners were not restored to perfect health by liberation. Awakening from nightmares was sometimes even more painful than captivity (Bettelheim 34). In the beginning of physical improvement, the ability to feel and think returned, and many realized the completeness of their isolation. To them, the reality of what had happened was agonizing. They lived with overwhelming personal losses, with impact beyond intellectual or emotional comprehension. They also clung to the hope of finding a family member still alive in the new displaced persons camps that were set up. Many people admitted to those camps being lost with all sense of initiative (Bettelheim 37).

After the war, organizations such as The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, The Joint Distribution Committee, and the International Refugee Organization were founded. Their work was useful, but their methods were not suitable (Dimsdale 265). The ex-prisoner, now a “displaced person”, was brought before boards set up by different co