Holocaust 9
Holocaust 9The world's biggest desolation that caused the murders of millions of
Jewish people took place during WWII. The Holocaust orchestrated by the
Nazi Empire destroyed millions of lives and created questions about
humanity that may never be answered. Many psychological effects caused by
the Holocaust forever changed the way the Jewish people view the world and
themselves. The Jewish people have been scarred for generations and may
never be able to once again associate with the rest of the free world.
Further, these scars have now become the looking glass through which the
survivors and their children view the world. Through narrow eyes, the
survivors relate everything to the experiences they endured during the
Holocaust. Likewise, these new views on the world shapes how the survivors
live, interact, and raise a family both socially and spiritually. Some
survivors are scarred so deeply they can not escape the past feelings and
images of terror; they call this Survivor Syndrom. A Survivor is one who has encountered, been exposed to, or witnessed death, and has himself of herself remained alive. The symptoms affected not only survivors, but their families as well. The symptoms included an inability to work, and even at times to talk. The Jewish people fear that it may happen again. Also a fear of uniformed police officers because of their position of power became very common. There were also many feelings
of guilt for having survived when others had not. "Why am I alive?" Why not
my sister and brother...my whole family?" The survivors had thoughts of
death, nightmares, panic attacks, and various other symptoms. Disinterest
in life, people, and sometimes even in reality played a huge role in
marital problems and suicide.
There are five main categories of Survivor syndrome. The first is the
Death imprint, which is the idea of not only death itself, but of all forms
of torture and gruesome images of death. For many survivors they can recall
the smell of smoke and the voices of the tortured. Some survivors are
trapped in time; mentally they are unable to escape the torture that they
had witnessed. In other words, they are unable to move beyond the imagery
and are stuck in time. The survivors are mentally scarred with images they
can never escape or share. The inability to sleep or work is a direct
consequence of what they endured in the death camps.
The second category is where the guilt of death is found. Here is where the
survivors feels remorse for the loved ones they had lost and ask "why them
and not me". The survivor remembers feeling helpless at times of need, "why
didn't I resist" or "how could I have saved someone." The survivor can not
escape the feeling of debt to the lost and feels guilty. Some survivors
have been known to feel guiltier about the Holocaust then the actual
Perpetrators. Guilt is the most common feeling among survivors and...
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