The Holocaust was an absolutely horrific event; an attempted genocide of the entire Jewish population in Germany, Europe, and the world. In total, between 11 and 17 million people — including people who were targeted other than Jews, such as Communists or other political opponents — were killed in the thousands of concentration, work, and extermination camps set up by the Nazi regime. Some people from the camps survived, and the terrors they were witness to stayed with them for the rest of their lives. Survivors, their children, and the world were all changed psychologically by the horrors of the camps. Despite the fact that the Holocaust happened over 60 years ago, the psychological consequences still affect today’s society.
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When survivors were liberated from the camps, they believed they would begging home, to their families and their possessions. But, their ideas of a “post-disaster utopia” were soon destroyed when they came home and realized everything in their lives was gone. This was a severe psychological blow that crushed many people's hopes. A feeling that was common among all survivors was confusion. Eva Olsson said in her book Remembering Forever: “I know they wanted to kill me, but why did they torture us as they did?” Psychologists have studied Holocaust survivors for nearly 70 years, and there have been five common themes: death imprint, death guilt, diminished capacity to feel, survivor sensitivity, and struggle for meaning. Death imprint is anxiety related to death; survivors recall vivid imagery of the horrors they witness and become obsessed. Death guilt is simply one feeling guilty that they survived, and others didn't. Survivors became insensitive to human suffering, and often refused help for themselves, despite perhaps knowing they needed it. These all contributed to a lack of meaning of life for many survivors; some believed they had a mission to avenge the dead and hunt for Nazi criminals, while others saw having children as the ultimate defeat of the Nazis. Some went through the rest of their life without purpose, still searching for philosophical answers as to why the Holocaust had happened. Survivors of the Holocaust often went through personality changes, sometimes subtle, others drastic. Depression and guilt were common symptoms, in addition to agitation without reason, and often a sense of paranoia. Eva Olsson describes herself feeling “hollow, empty,” when she thinks about her ordeal the concentration camp system. These feelings were common, and were also expressed as apathy and inertia. There were some other interesting, perhaps unexpected psychological effects
To fully understand …show more content…
When survivors were liberated from the camps, they believed they would begging home, to their families and their possessions. But, their ideas of a “post-disaster utopia” were soon destroyed when they came home and realized everything in their lives was gone. This was a severe psychological blow that crushed many people's hopes. A feeling that was common among all survivors was confusion. Eva Olsson said in her book Remembering Forever: “I know they wanted to kill me, but why did they torture us as they did?” Psychologists have studied Holocaust survivors for nearly 70 years, and there have been five common themes: death imprint, death guilt, diminished capacity to feel, survivor sensitivity, and struggle for meaning. Death imprint is anxiety related to death; survivors recall vivid imagery of the horrors they witness and become obsessed. Death guilt is simply one feeling guilty that they survived, and others didn't. Survivors became insensitive to human suffering, and often refused help for themselves, despite perhaps knowing they needed it. These all contributed to a lack of meaning of life for many survivors; some believed they had a mission to avenge the dead and hunt for Nazi criminals, while others saw having children as the ultimate defeat of the Nazis. Some went through the rest of their life without purpose, still searching for philosophical answers as to why the Holocaust had happened. Survivors of the Holocaust often went through personality changes, sometimes subtle, others drastic. Depression and guilt were common symptoms, in addition to agitation without reason, and often a sense of paranoia. Eva Olsson describes herself feeling “hollow, empty,” when she thinks about her ordeal the concentration camp system. These feelings were common, and were also expressed as apathy and inertia. There were some other interesting, perhaps unexpected psychological effects