On "Man's Search For Meaning" : Alienation and Dehumanization of Jews
Man’s Search For Meaning is Viktor Frankl’s voyage to find hope even in the darkest of times, and even in the most vulnerable human states. He does not let himself be beaten by the atrocities taking place around him, but rather derives from these experiences lessons of survival, suffering, and love.
Born on 26th March 1905 to a Jewish family, Frankl was interested in psychology from a very young age. He was deported to a Nazi ghetto in 1942, and he spent around 3 years in different camps before being liberated from Dachau in 1945. His specialization in psychology and psychiatry proved to be helpful during his time as a prisoner in the Nazi camps, as he was often assigned the responsibility of medical and psychiatric care. It was through this experience too, that he laid the foundation for “Logotherapy”, or Therapy for the Soul.
The Holocaust, or Shoah, was the state-sponsored persecution and genocide of around six million Jews and certain minority groups during the Second World War under the Nazi regime. In a step-by-step process leading to the “final solution to the Jewish Question”, Jews were first segregated and distanced from mainstream German society and sent to Ghettos. This was followed by their departure to the concentration camps where they were gassed to death. This process of sending Jews to their death was accompanied by very systematic processes of alienation and dehumanization. The aim here was not just to put an end to the Jews, but also to ensure that they were broken down physically, socially, mentally, and emotionally.
The process of alienation began with the Nazis propagating prejudice against the Jews. They were made to wear the Star of David to appear different from the rest of the society and were segregated from Germans in workplaces, educational institutions, and every possible social sphere. Frankl, on being shaven off of all body hair, says, “What else remained for us as a material link with our former lives?”. The Nazis ensured that the prisoners had nothing to do with their past life. By being alienated from their own self-concept, the Jews now made themselves susceptible to domination because of their confused and dazed states.
On passing through the town which Frankl grew up in, he describes his vision as that of a dead man who had come back from the dead. The torture that he had been through had distorted him so much that he could no longer identify with the places from his past. The Jews on the train could no longer associate with what was happening around them, for the Nazis had succeeded in putting up several walls between them and the rest of the world. The alienation was not just physical, but was also emotional and mental. Having barely any time to sit and have a conversation with a fellow worker, the Jews were forced to withdraw deeper and deeper within themselves.
The Jews were transported from their houses to ghettos and camps in goods trains, with about 100-200 sharing space intended for 50 people. Treated like commodities which were to be stacked and transported from one city to another, “The authorities were interested only in the captives' numbers… Any guard who wanted to make a charge against a prisoner just glanced at his number.”. The identity of a person is closely tied, and to an extent, dependent on his name. Taking away someone’s name and replacing it with a mere number is the first step to stripping one of his identity. The Jews in the camps were nothing more than cattle or sheep to them, and treating them like actual people was a privilege the Nazis were unwilling to give.
Once they entered these camps, they were “herded” from one room to another to be stripped off their clothes and to be shaven off of all body hair. This brings out a vague image of a processing chain in a factory, where factory products move from one belt to another to give them a good finish. The Jews experienced a similar fate, being identified only by the labour they provided.
Frankl states, “The sufferers, the dying and the dead, became such commonplace sights to him after a few weeks of camp life that they could not move him any more.”. Empathy is one of those virtues that makes us human, and the suffering that the Jews endured within these camps was so intense that the prisoners barely had any time or space to feel; feeling for someone else was too farfetched. They had successfully been transformed into stones, deprived of the one quality that truly made them human.
The survival of a Jew in the camp was dependent on his strength to work, for which he needed food. Food was a luxury rarely accorded to the Jews in rational quantities. “What did the prisoner dream about most frequently? Of bread, cake, cigarettes, and nice warm baths.”. The extent of their deprivation was so high that they were reduced to primal beings with primitive urges and mere survival instincts.
The legacy of this alienation and suffering still continues today. However, like Frankl, it is imperative that we seek hope and meaning in life to ensure that this horror is never repeated.
Born on 26th March 1905 to a Jewish family, Frankl was interested in psychology from a very young age. He was deported to a Nazi ghetto in 1942, and he spent around 3 years in different camps before being liberated from Dachau in 1945. His specialization in psychology and psychiatry proved to be helpful during his time as a prisoner in the Nazi camps, as he was often assigned the responsibility of medical and psychiatric care. It was through this experience too, that he laid the foundation for “Logotherapy”, or Therapy for the Soul.
The Holocaust, or Shoah, was the state-sponsored persecution and genocide of around six million Jews and certain minority groups during the Second World War under the Nazi regime. In a step-by-step process leading to the “final solution to the Jewish Question”, Jews were first segregated and distanced from mainstream German society and sent to Ghettos. This was followed by their departure to the concentration camps where they were gassed to death. This process of sending Jews to their death was accompanied by very systematic processes of alienation and dehumanization. The aim here was not just to put an end to the Jews, but also to ensure that they were broken down physically, socially, mentally, and emotionally.
The process of alienation began with the Nazis propagating prejudice against the Jews. They were made to wear the Star of David to appear different from the rest of the society and were segregated from Germans in workplaces, educational institutions, and every possible social sphere. Frankl, on being shaven off of all body hair, says, “What else remained for us as a material link with our former lives?”. The Nazis ensured that the prisoners had nothing to do with their past life. By being alienated from their own self-concept, the Jews now made themselves susceptible to domination because of their confused and dazed states.
On passing through the town which Frankl grew up in, he describes his vision as that of a dead man who had come back from the dead. The torture that he had been through had distorted him so much that he could no longer identify with the places from his past. The Jews on the train could no longer associate with what was happening around them, for the Nazis had succeeded in putting up several walls between them and the rest of the world. The alienation was not just physical, but was also emotional and mental. Having barely any time to sit and have a conversation with a fellow worker, the Jews were forced to withdraw deeper and deeper within themselves.
The Jews were transported from their houses to ghettos and camps in goods trains, with about 100-200 sharing space intended for 50 people. Treated like commodities which were to be stacked and transported from one city to another, “The authorities were interested only in the captives' numbers… Any guard who wanted to make a charge against a prisoner just glanced at his number.”. The identity of a person is closely tied, and to an extent, dependent on his name. Taking away someone’s name and replacing it with a mere number is the first step to stripping one of his identity. The Jews in the camps were nothing more than cattle or sheep to them, and treating them like actual people was a privilege the Nazis were unwilling to give.
Once they entered these camps, they were “herded” from one room to another to be stripped off their clothes and to be shaven off of all body hair. This brings out a vague image of a processing chain in a factory, where factory products move from one belt to another to give them a good finish. The Jews experienced a similar fate, being identified only by the labour they provided.
Frankl states, “The sufferers, the dying and the dead, became such commonplace sights to him after a few weeks of camp life that they could not move him any more.”. Empathy is one of those virtues that makes us human, and the suffering that the Jews endured within these camps was so intense that the prisoners barely had any time or space to feel; feeling for someone else was too farfetched. They had successfully been transformed into stones, deprived of the one quality that truly made them human.
The survival of a Jew in the camp was dependent on his strength to work, for which he needed food. Food was a luxury rarely accorded to the Jews in rational quantities. “What did the prisoner dream about most frequently? Of bread, cake, cigarettes, and nice warm baths.”. The extent of their deprivation was so high that they were reduced to primal beings with primitive urges and mere survival instincts.
The legacy of this alienation and suffering still continues today. However, like Frankl, it is imperative that we seek hope and meaning in life to ensure that this horror is never repeated.
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