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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.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
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.- III. Adaptation to Concentration-Camp Conditions.- 3 Late-Appearing Damage to Health.- Outline of Problem.- I. Late Injury Following Incarceration.- II. Genesis of the Illness Syndromes.- III. Compensation for Injury to Health.- 4 Psychiatric Diagnoses.- Outline of Problem.- I. Examination and Compensation.- II. Experience-Reactive Syndromes.- 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.- II. Types of Contact in the Various Groups of Persecutees.- III. Influence of Earlier Periods in Inmates' Lives.- 7 Occupational Reintegration Following Incarceration.- Outline of Problem.- I. Problems of Reintegration.- II. Occupational Success and Failure.- III. Influence of Earlier Phases in the Inmates' Lives.- 8 Marriage and Family.- Outline of Problem.- I. Family Relationships of Ex-Persecutees.- II. Types of Marriage of Former Persecutees.- 9 Weltanschauung and Concentration Camp Incarceration.- Outline of Problem.- I. Ideology and Faith.- II. Peculiarities of Ideological Personalities.- 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.- Conclusion.- References.
Zusammenfassung
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.
