Internment in Concentration Camps and Its Consequences

ISBN-13: 9783642660771 / Angielski / Miękka / 2013 / 272 str.

R. Grigat; D. Jordan; G. Wedel

Opis

It remained for Nazi Germany to design the most satanic psychological experi ment of all time, the independent variables consisting of brutality, bestiality, physical and mental torture on an unprecedented scale. What were the effects of this massive assault on the human spirit, on man's ability to assimilate such experiences, if he survived physically? While the terror of the Nazi concentration camps has been indelibly engraved in the history of Western civilization as its most shameful chapter, little systematic study has been addressed to the subsequent lives of that minority of inmates who were fortunate enough to escape physical annihilation and lived to tell about their nightmare. Dr. PAUL MATUSSEK, a respected German psychiatrist, aided by a small group of collaborators, performed the task of identifying a group of victims (mostly Jews but also political prisoners), who, following their liberation, had settled in Germany, Israel, and the United States. By careful interviews, questionnaires, and psychological tests he brought to bear the methods of sensitive clinical inquiry on the experiences of those who dared to reminisce and who were sufficiently trusting to share their feelings and memories with clinical investigators. It is a telling commentary that many people, even after the passage of years, refused to respond.

Spis treści

1 Study Methods.- I. Obtaining a Representative Sample of Persecutees.- II. Collecting the Data.- III. Processing the Data.- 2 Stresses Imposed by Concentration-Camp Incarceration.- Outline of Problem.- I. Worst Experiences.- II. Stress Characteristics.- 1. Work Situation.- 2. Severity of Camp Conditions.- 3. Duration of Persecution and Incarceration.- 4. Extermination of Relatives.- 5. Physical and Mental Disorders.- 6. Reason for Persecution.- 7. Age.- 8. Sex.- III. Adaptation to Concentration-Camp Conditions.- 1. Reasons for Survival as Recalled by Inmates.- 2. Personality of the Inmate and his Adaptation to the Concentration Camp Situation.- 3 Late-Appearing Damage to Health.- Outline of Problem.- I. Late Injury Following Incarceration.- 1. Healthy Persons.- 2. The Results of Medical Examinations and Psychological Interviews.- 3. Illness Dimensions in the Case of Injury Suffered by Ex-Persecutees.- Summary.- II. Genesis of the Illness Syndromes.- 1. Sociological Characteristics.- 2. Persecution Stress.- 3. Developmental Influences of Childhood and Adolescence.- Summary.- III. Compensation for Injury to Health.- 1. Influences not Dependent on Illness.- 2. Dependence of the Amount of Pension on the Type of Disorder.- Summary.- 4 Psychiatric Diagnoses.- Outline of Problem.- I. Examination and Compensation.- 1. Selection Criteria for Psychiatric Examination.- 2. Problems of Diagnostic Classification.- 3. Persecution-Relatedness of Psychiatric Illnesses.- II. Experience-Reactive Syndromes.- 1. Experience-Reactive Syndromes and Complaint Patterns.- 2. Symptom Patterns and Genesis of Experience-Reactive Syndromes.- 3. Dimensions of the Psychic Complaints.- Summary.- 5 Basic Forms of Psychic Disturbance.- Outline of the Problem..- I. Manifestation and Genesis.- II. Psychic Disturbances and Reasons for Survival.- III. Symptom-Free Survivors of Incarceration.- Summary.- 6 Contact with Fellow Humans and Society.- Outline of Problem.- I. Dimensions of Interpersonal Contact and Experience.- 1. Ability to Cope with Society.- 2. Attitude to Fellow Human Beings.- 3. Feeling of Belonging to Society.- 4. View of Own Position in Society.- II. Types of Contact in the Various Groups of Persecutees.- 1. Sex-Specific Differences.- 2. Age-Specific Differences.- 3. Reasons for Persecution.- 4. Country of Origin.- 5. Country of Residence.- III. Influence of Earlier Periods in Inmates’ Lives.- 1. Stress of Persecution.- 2. Developmental Influences of Childhood and Adolescence.- Summary.- 7 Occupational Reintegration Following Incarceration.- Outline of Problem.- I. Problems of Reintegration.- 1. Choice of Occupation.- 2. Occupational Progress Patterns.- 3. Standard of Living.- 4. Premature Disability.- II. Occupational Success and Failure.- 1. Measuring Occupational Success.- 2. State of Health.- 3. Age.- 4. Psychic Disturbances.- 5. Handling of Aggression.- 6. Interpersonal Relationships.- III. Influence of Earlier Phases in the Inmates’ Lives.- 1. Persecution Stress.- 2. Developmental Influences of Childhood and Adolescence.- Summary.- 8 Marriage and Family.- Outline of Problem.- I. Family Relationships of Ex-Persecutees.- 1. Harmony of Family Life.- 2. Differences between the Groups of Persecutees.- 3. Contact Outside the Family.- 4. Psychic Condition.- 5. Persecution Stress.- 6. Developmental Influences of Childhood and Adolescence.- II. Types of Marriage of Former Persecutees.- 1. Marriages that Remained Intact.- 2. Second Marriages after the Inmates’ Release from the Camps.- 3. First Marriages Following Release from Incarceration.- Summary.- 9 Weltanschauung and Concentration Camp Incarceration.- Outline of Problem.- I. Ideology and Faith.- 1. An Ideological Priest.- 2. A Believing Priest.- 3. Differentiating Characteristics.- II. Peculiarities of Ideological Personalities.- 1. Pre-Incarceration Period.- 2. Period of Incarceration.- 3. The Post-Incarceration Period.- Summary.- 10 Reasons for Emigration and Ability to Cope with Life in the Case of Jewish Persecutees.- Outline of Problem.- I. Reasons for the Choice of Country of Residence.- II. General Mastery of Life.- 1. Different Ways of Coping with Life.- 2. Influences of Childhood and Adolescence.- 3. Persecution Stress and Behaviour during Incarceration.- 4. Reasons for the Differences in Ability to Master Life.- Summary.- Conclusion.- References.