This book is the work of Frankl after he was thrown into the Nazi concentration and extermination camp. He survived by a miracle. The book does not outline on how Frankl suffered in the camp but rather accounts on the source of his strength to survive. He says that a man who has a reason to live can go through any pain. He tries to describe the prisoners who committed suicide and says that they totally lost hope in life thus; they saw no need to stay alive. Lack of food or medicine was not a major cause of death than lack of hope (Frankl 1959, 2).
Throughout his stay in the camp, Frankl found out that the forces that we cannot control in our lives can take away all that we posses but cannot take away our will to make a decision on the way to handle the situation per se. he says “You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you feel and do about what happens to you”. He argues that we can never be left without anything as long as we have the autonomy to choose the best way to respond to our problems (Frankl 1959, 29).
When the prisoners were being taken into the camp, everything was taken from them and all that they were left with was a tattoo and a number. They ended up losing their identity because all the time they stayed in the camp no one was concerned about their names; they were only referred to by use of their numbers. Throughout his writing the author examines his experience and that of his fellow prisoners. He summarizes the camp life in three phases the admission period, the period of acclimatizing to the camp life, and the period after release and liberation (Frankl 1959, 35).
The first phase was full of shock but slowly by slowly they had to get used to the immense horror in the gas chambers, massacres and crematoriums. However, almost every prisoner had an illusion that one day they would be freed and everything would go back to normal just like a man who is condemned and immediately before he is executed he gets an illusion that the last minute he might be freed. Frankl held tight to the shred of hope and believed that it would not turn out bad until the last minute (Frankl 1959, 41).
Those illusions evaporated slowly by slowly and most of the prisoners were overcome by the situation thus had nothing else to lose other than their own lives. It was only sleep that could work as a relief from the fears that surrounded them. By this time, everyone entertained the thought of suicide. It was made more serious by the hopelessness they faced constant perils of death and the fact that the real death was imminent.
There are serious things, which definitely end up making one lose his reason or simply have nothing to lose. A reaction so abnormal to a situation that is also abnormal is considered a normal behavior. New prisoners went though the torture most emotions, which were so painful, but Frankl tried to overcome all this. The newcomers got disgusted due to the ugliness that surrounded them while at the camps. A prisoner could not stand the sight of another prisoner being punished. They would look away most of the times.
As days and weeks went by, the prisoners graduated to the second phase of the camp life. At this stage they saw it so normal when a fellow prisoner got punished and they could not look away any more for their feelings were blunt so they could just watch unconcerned and unmoved.
The blunted emotions, apathy and the careless attitude were the main symptoms in the second phase of the psychological reaction of the prisoners. These made them to become insensitive to the hourly beatings. This insensibility soon surrounded the prisoners with a necessary shell of protection. A slight provocation led to beatings and even the beatings could arise for no apparent reasons. In such moments, the physical pain never hurt most as compared to the mental agony resulting from injustice as well as the unreasonableness of the predicament (Frankl 1959, 65).
Frankl argues that a blow which hits its aim can be less hurting that the one that does not hit its aim. A hardened prisoner can be roused by indignation not because of the pain but the insult thereby connected. The main 2nd phase symptom was apathy and it was a necessary self-defense mechanism. Reality seemed to whirl away and every effort as well as emotion was centered only on one task, that is to preserve own life and that of a fellow prisoner. This situation of trying to stay alert to preserve life lowered the prisoners’ lives to very primitive levels and even the mental state was never spared. Desires and wishes became obvious only in their dreams. They lacked satisfaction to the very simple desires in life and this made them to search for wish- fulfillment. Even the strong prisoners were constantly longing for that moment when a good food could be available for this would give them hope that a good life still existed (Frankl 1959, 76).
Regardless of these sweet dreams, the prisoners would still wake up, face the reality, and realize that he was still surrounded by harsh camp life and it was really contrasting with the dreams illusions. Other than undernourishment, sexual urge was also a cause of stress in the camps. All these forces acted to bring lack of sentiments to the prisoners as argued by the author.
Looking at life presently, today many people undergo stress due to lack of financial capability or rather are unable to cater for the simple basic needs. This may give a person sleepless nights. The worst comes when the person is unemployed and there is no other way to sail out. When uncontrollably overwhelmed, one may opt to commit suicide so as to offload his soul of this heavy load. Life becomes so unbearable for such a fellow. There seems no better side to fall back to. The life itself seems like a prison for someone is nursing arrested thoughts thus one cannot think freely. All his thoughts are controlled by the life situation and thus one lacks no other life to lead.
Like Frankl explains in his book, due to lack of food, prisoners became so emaciated and they just looked like skeletons with the sagged skins. They were controlled by only one though, to stay alive for the family awaiting them at home but for how long could they handle it? Therefore, suicide was fuelled by this hopelessness situation.
Reference
Viktor E. Frankl, ‘Man's Search For Ultimate Meaning ‘, Beacon Press, Boston, 1959
