Say yes to the psychologist in the concentration camp. Online reading of the book Say Yes to Life! Say "Yes" to life! Psychologist in a concentration camp

History has remembered Viktor Frankl as a famous philosopher and psychologist who, throughout his life, managed to show the real qualities of a fighter fighting an unfair reality. Frankl had to endure the loss of his family and the concentration camp life, but he never for a moment lost faith in himself and did not stop experiencing an irresistible thirst for life. After being released from the concentration camp, Viktor Frankl actively began to develop scientific and literary activities. One of his most famous and useful works, people recognized the book “Say Yes to Life!”, in which he collected answers to the most popular questions about the meaning of life and the essence of being.

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What is this book about?

In the book Say Yes to Life, Viktor Frankl summarized his entire life experience and interpreted it for the reader's consciousness. In his life, Frankl managed to find the answer to a question that has been worrying entire generations of people for hundreds of years. The author offers his own version on the topic “What is the meaning of life?”, which he managed to find, having gone through a path strewn with failures and suffering.

The author, by his own example, tries to excite the minds of mankind and make them look at their lives from a different angle. The main principle of Viktor Frankl, which he adheres to in his book “Say Yes to Life!”, is that no matter what happens, you should never give up. The thirst for life is the only need that should not be quenched, because as long as a person wants to live, he will be able to overcome everything and climb to the very top.

What does this book teach?

In Say Yes to Life, Viktor Frankl masterfully combines the scientific foundation of philosophy and psychological aspect ov knowledge of human and worldly essence, along with their own acquired skills. As a result, his book becomes a universal practical guide for every person, which makes you reevaluate your life and guides you along the right path.

The author teaches to endure any blows of fate, and to rise in case of defeat. His advice and recommendations are a kind of training program for willpower and one's own spirit, which, like the body, need to be prepared to overcome obstacles.

Who is this book for?

The book "Say Yes to Life!" will amaze the reader with its informativeness and practicality. What Frankl is talking about has no temporal or spatial limitation, because his ubiquitous and effective advice will be applied in the life of every person.

Memory of the deceased mother

Unknown prisoner

"A psychologist in a concentration camp" is the subtitle of this book. This story is more about experiences than real events. The purpose of the book is to reveal, to show the experiences of millions of people. This is a concentration camp seen "from the inside", from the position of a person who personally experienced everything that will be discussed here. Moreover, we will not talk about those global horrors of concentration camps, which have already been talked about a lot (the horrors are so incredible that not everyone and not everywhere believed in them), but about those endless “small” torments that the prisoner experienced every day. About how this painful camp everyday life was reflected in the state of mind of an ordinary, average prisoner.

It should be said in advance that what will be discussed here took place mainly not in large, widely known camps, but in their branches, departments. However, it is known that these small camps were the extermination camps. Here it will be told not about the suffering and death of heroes and martyrs, but rather about the invisible, unknown victims of concentration camps, about the masses of quiet, invisible deaths.

We will not touch upon what some prisoner endured and talked about, who worked for years in the role of the so-called "kapo", that is, something like a camp policeman, overseer, or other privileged prisoner. No, we are talking about an ordinary, unknown inhabitant of the camp, whom the same capo looked down on with contempt. While this unknown man was severely starving and dying of exhaustion, the capo was doing well with food, sometimes even better than during his entire previous life. Psychologically, characterologically, such a kapo can rather be equated not with a prisoner, but with the SS, with the camp guard. This is the type of person who managed to assimilate, psychologically merge with the SS. Very often, the kapos were even tougher than the camp guards, inflicted more suffering on ordinary prisoners than the SS men themselves, beat them more often. However, only those prisoners who were suitable for this were appointed to the role of kapo; if by chance a more decent person came across, he was immediately discarded.

Active and passive selection

A stranger and uninitiated person, who himself was not in the camp, as a rule, is not at all able to imagine the true picture of camp life. She can be seen by him in some sentimental tones, in a veil of quiet sorrow. He does not suggest that this was a brutal struggle for existence - even between the prisoners themselves. A merciless struggle for a daily piece of bread, for self-preservation, for oneself or for the closest people.

For example: a train is being formed that is supposed to transport a certain number of prisoners to some other camp. But everyone fears, and not without reason, that this is another “selection”, that is, the destruction of those who are too weak and incapacitated, and, therefore, this composition will go straight to the gas chambers and crematoria arranged in the central camps. And then the struggle of all against all begins. Everyone is desperately fighting not to get into this echelon, to protect their loved ones from it, by any means trying to manage to disappear from the lists of those sent at least at the last moment. And it is absolutely clear to everyone that if he is saved this time, then someone else will have to be in his place in the echelon. After all, a certain number of doomed people are required, each of whom is only a number, just a number! Only numbers are on the shipping list.

After all, immediately upon arrival, for example, in Auschwitz In literature in Russian, the Polish name for this camp is more common - Auschwitz. - Approx. per. literally everything is taken away from the prisoner, and he, left not only without the slightest property, but even without a single document, can now call himself by any name, assign himself any specialty - an opportunity that, under certain conditions, he managed to use. The only thing that was invariable was the number, usually tattooed on the skin, and only the number was of interest to the camp authorities. No escort or overseer, who wished to take note of the “lazy” prisoner, would have thought to inquire about his name - he only looked at the number that everyone was obliged to sew also on a certain place of trousers, jacket, coat, and wrote down this number . (By the way, it was not safe to get on the note this way.)

But back to the next echelon. In such a situation, the prisoner has neither the time nor the desire to engage in abstract reflections on moral norms. He thinks only about those closest to him - about those who are waiting for him at home and for whose sake he must try to survive, or, perhaps, only about those few comrades in misfortune with whom he is somehow connected. In order to save himself and them, he, without hesitation, will try to push some other “number” into the echelon.

From what has been said above, it is already clear that the kapos were an example of a kind of negative selection: only the most cruel people were suitable for such positions, although, of course, it cannot be argued that here, as elsewhere, there were no happy exceptions. Along with this "active selection" carried out by the SS, there was also a "passive" one. Among the prisoners who spent many years behind barbed wire, who were sent from camp to camp, who changed almost a dozen camps, as a rule, those who, in the struggle for existence, completely discarded any concept of conscience, who did not stop at violence, or even before stealing the latter from his own comrade.

And someone managed to survive simply thanks to a thousand or thousands of happy accidents or simply by the grace of God - you can call it differently. But we who have returned know and can say with full confidence: the best did not return!

Prisoner Report #119104 (Psychological Experience)

Since “number 119104” here attempts to describe what he experienced and changed his mind in the camp precisely “as a psychologist”, it should be noted first of all that he was there, of course, not as a psychologist, and even - with the exception of the last weeks - not as doctor. It will be not so much about his own experiences, not about how he lived, but about the image, or rather, about the way of life of an ordinary prisoner. And I proudly declare that I was nothing more than an ordinary prisoner, number 119104.

I worked primarily in earthworks and railroad construction. While some of my colleagues (albeit a few) had the incredible fortune of working in somewhat heated makeshift infirmaries, tying bundles of unnecessary paper waste there, I somehow happened - alone - to dig a tunnel for water pipes under the street. And I was very happy about this, because by Christmas 1944, as a recognition of my labor successes, I received two so-called bonus coupons from a construction company, where we worked literally in the position of slaves (the company paid a certain amount for us to the camp authorities daily - depending on number of employees). This coupon cost the company 50 pfennigs, and returned to me a few weeks later in the form of 6 cigarettes. When I became the owner of 12 cigarettes, I felt like a rich man. After all, 12 cigarettes is 12 servings of soup, this is almost a salvation from starvation, postponing it for at least two weeks! Only a capo who had two guaranteed bonus coupons a week could afford the luxury of smoking cigarettes, or a prisoner who worked at some workshop or warehouse - where special zeal was sometimes rewarded with a cigarette. All the rest incredibly valued cigarettes, took care of them and literally strained with all their might to get a bonus coupon, because it promised food, and therefore extended life. When we saw that our comrade suddenly lit up a cigarette he had so carefully kept, we knew that he was already completely desperate, he did not believe that he would survive, and he had no chance of doing so. And that usually happened. People who felt the closeness of their death hour decided to finally get a drop of at least some joy ...

Why am I talking about all this? What is the point of this book anyway? After all, enough facts have already been published that paint a picture of a concentration camp. But here the facts will be used only to the extent that they affected the mental life of the prisoner; the psychological aspect of the book is devoted to experiences as such, the author's attention is directed to them. The book has a double meaning depending on who its reader will be. Anyone who himself was in the camp and experienced what is being discussed will find in it an attempt at a scientific explanation and interpretation of those experiences and reactions. Others, the majority, do not require explanation, but understanding; the book should help to understand what the prisoners experienced, what happened to them. Although the percentage of survivors in the camps is negligible, it is important that their psychology, their peculiar, often completely changed life attitudes, be understood by others. After all, such an understanding does not arise by itself. We often heard from former prisoners: “We are reluctant to talk about our experiences. There is no need to tell anyone who was in the camp himself. And those who have not been will still not be able to understand what all this was for us and what else is left.

Of course, such psychological experience encounters certain methodological difficulties. Psychological analysis requires a certain distance from the researcher. But did the psychologist-prisoner have the necessary distance, say, in relation to the experience that he was supposed to observe, does he have this distance at all? An external observer could have such a distance, but it would be too large to draw reliable conclusions. For those who are “inside”, the distance, on the contrary, is too small to judge objectively, but still he has the advantage that he is - and only he! - knows the severity of the experiences in question. It is quite possible, even probable, and in any case it is not excluded that the scale may be somewhat distorted in his view. Well, let's try wherever possible to renounce everything personal, but where necessary, let's have the courage to present personal experiences. After all, the main danger for such psychological research it is, after all, not his personal coloring, but the tendentiousness of this coloring.

However, I will calmly give someone else the opportunity to once again filter the proposed text until it is completely impersonal and crystallize objective theoretical conclusions from this extract of experiences. They will be an addition to the psychology and, accordingly, the pathopsychology of the prisoner, which took shape in the previous decades. Huge material for it has already been created by the First World War, introducing us to the "barbed wire disease" - an acute psychological reaction that was observed in prisoners in prisoner of war camps. The Second World War expanded our understanding of the "psychopathology of the masses" (if I may say so, playing on the title of Le Bon's book This refers to the book of the French sociologist of the late XIX - early XX century Gustave Lebon "Psychology of the Masses" or "Psychology of Crowds" (1895).), because it not only drew huge masses of people into the "war of nerves", but also provided psychologists with that terrible human material that can be briefly described as "experiences of concentration camp prisoners."

I must say that initially I wanted to release this book not under own name, but only under their camp number. The reason for this was my reluctance to expose my experiences. And so it was done; but they began to convince me that anonymity devalues ​​the publication, and open authorship, on the contrary, increases its cognitive value. And I, overcoming the fear of self-disclosure, plucked up the courage to sign my own name for the cause.

23.11.2015 11:58

Live with even superiority over life - do not be afraid of trouble and do not yearn for happiness. It is enough for you if you do not freeze and if thirst and hunger do not tear your insides with claws ... If your spine is not broken, both legs walk, both arms bend, both eyes see and both ears hear - who else do you envy?

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

After reading the very first pages of the great, without exaggeration, book “To Say Yes to Life” by the great scientist, psychologist, philosopher Viktor Frankl, I realized that my alleged problems are not problems at all. I suddenly realized how far from an objective perception of my life. I didn't see before how much I have. Now I clearly realized that I am a happy person!

Want to know what the book is about?

But it would not be logical to start disclosing the contents of the book without first mentioning its author. Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) is an outstanding Austrian scientist of world renown. He has been awarded a huge number of degrees by various universities around the world. He is the author of over 30 books on disclosure psychological theory the meaning of life, the philosophy of man. He showed millions of people - including myself - the opportunity to understand what the meaning of their lives is.

He spent 1942-1945 years of his life in Nazi concentration camps. Moreover, shortly before his arrest, he, as a high-class professional, had the opportunity to travel to the United States. However, he decided to stay, because. could not leave his elderly parents. Perhaps this feat, like many of his other feats accomplished in concentration camps, mysteriously saved his life. The fact that he survived is a combination of chance and regularity. It can also be called an accident that he never got into the teams that were formed for destruction every day. It can be called a regularity that he survived in the hell of hunger, torture, cold, humiliation, while retaining his principles of humanity.

Even before the war, he wrote a book - the doctrine of the meaning of life. The manuscript of the book was with him when he was sent to the concentration camp. He tried to save her, but was certainly unsuccessful. To pass such trials and preserve his personality and human face, he was helped by the hope of seeing his wife among the living.

Having experienced the effectiveness of his theory in the death camps, the scientist realized that the most big chance to survive in such inhuman conditions were strong in spirit, and not physically strong people.

The main goal of the author was to write as much as possible full story about the experiences of people concentration camps and not about events. However, for the completeness of the transfer of experiences, it was impossible to do without a detailed description of events in some places in the book. In the book, the author tried to convey both his own reactions and experiences, and the experiences of millions of people who have passed this ordeal.

• He calls the first phase the shock phase.
• The 2nd phase is the phase of apathy, when after a few days the person's reactions begin to change, when something seems to die in the person's soul, the body's defenses turn on.
• And phase 3 is release. There are paradoxical reactions of lack of joy in it. The prisoner needs serious psychological support.

The body's defenses

The author was struck by the perfection of the human body, in which unimaginable reserves and possibilities are hidden. They manifested immediately upon arrival at the death camp. For six months they wore a single shirt and did not bathe. Always dirty from constant excavation, where wounds are indispensable. But they did not have infections or inflammations. They worked in the cold, half-bare, in decrepit clothes. But for some reason no one even caught a cold. How is it possible, at what point does the body turn on such defenses? When there is such a tragedy of the situation, a constant threat to life?

Hunger

The book is not about the global horrors of the death camps, but about the daily "small" torments of prisoners that people in the camps experienced daily. For example, I was struck by a detailed narrative about how the author struggled with hunger every day, what he experienced at the same time. For a moment, I thought I felt the same state.

Together with everyone, he suffered from hunger and exhaustion. The food the prisoners received consisted of a bowl of empty, watery soup and a tiny piece of bread. There was also a so-called additive: either a small piece of terrible sausage, or a spoonful of jam, or a small piece of cheese. Given that the prisoners worked hard physically and were constantly in the cold with little or no clothing, this food was completely insufficient.

How can a person who has never starved himself understand this state?

How to imagine that you are standing in the mud, in the cold. In this case, you need to hollow out the stubborn earth with a pickaxe. And you listen every minute when the siren will call for the only half-hour lunch break in this and every day. Do you constantly think about whether they will give you bread? Do you constantly ask yourself what time it is? With fingers stiff and swollen from the cold, you feel a piece of bread in your pocket, break off a crumb, bring it to your mouth, convulsively put it back.

A very serious topic of debate among the prisoners was the question of how to properly use the meager ration of bread. Even two parties were created. In one, it was believed that the daily portion should be eaten immediately. They put forward two arguments. First: at least once a day, you can briefly muffle unbearable hunger; second: with this approach, bread will not be stolen. In the second, they believed that it was not necessary to eat all the bread at once. They also had convincing arguments in favor of this opinion. The author himself eventually joined group 2. But he had his own motives. He says that the most unbearable of all 24 hours of the day was the moment of awakening. Shrill whistles at night pulled everyone out of sleep. There came a moment of struggle with dampness, when it was necessary to get swollen feet into wet boots. At the same time, to see the crying of men with wounded legs ... That's when he clutched at such, albeit weak, but consolation - a piece of bread kept from the evening!

Suicide

You ask, how is it possible to fight for life in such conditions, who can do it at all? Death, compared with such a life, may seem like a reward. The author says that indeed almost every prisoner, even if only briefly, had the idea of ​​committing suicide. But he himself, being a deeply religious person, immediately upon arrival at the camp, vowed "not to throw himself on the wire." Although knowing the numbers, he knew that he would hardly be able to elude the multiple selections of destruction.

Apathy

The author tells about the state of apathy that appeared in all the prisoners after the state of shock. At the very beginning, the prisoners could not bear the sadistic pictures. They could not watch their comrades being forced to squat in the cold, in the mud, under the blows of the whip. But days passed, and then weeks, and they already began to react differently to the cry of pain heard nearby. Indifferent and detached. For several months in the camp, they had already seen so many sick, suffering, dying and dead that such pictures no longer touched them.

The author, as a doctor and scientist, was then struck by his own insensitivity. In fact, apathy is a special mechanism for protecting the body. The whole reality seems to shrink. All feelings and thoughts are concentrated on only one task: how to survive!

When it really hurt

Everyone got used to the kicks and blows that everyone received in the camp all the time. But the bodily pain inflicted on the prisoners was not the most unbearable pain. It was harder to endure mental pain and restrain indignation at injustice. This, despite the apathy, tormented me very much.

The question of the meaning of life

Initially, we are asking this question incorrectly. It is necessary to first understand for ourselves, and then explain to everyone: it's not about our expectations from life, it's about what life expects from us. To put it philosophically, a Copernican revolution is needed: every minute and every day life poses questions to us, but we must answer. And not by reasoning, but by correct actions and behavior. It is on how we acted in this particular case that it will depend on how the circumstances will develop further and what next question life (or God) will ask us.

Love

In conclusion, I would like to quote the author's testament, which he gave to his friend on the day, which, as he thought, was the last day of his life: “Listen, Otto! If I do not return home to my wife, and if you see her, you will tell her then - listen carefully! First, we talked about her every day, remember? Second: I loved no one more than her. Third: the short time that we were together with her remained for me such happiness that outweighs all the bad, even what is to be experienced now.

Hello dear readers!

What is the meaning of human life? Explains Victor Frankl, psychologist, past Holocaust in his book Saying Yes to Life. After reading this great, without exaggeration, book by a philosopher, psychologist, scientist, I saw that my alleged problems are not at all like that. And I felt ashamed of myself, for the fact that I do not enjoy life with all the forces of my soul, I do not thank life. After all, I'm a happy person! I suddenly realized it completely! Curious to know what the book is about?

1. About the author of the book “To say yes to life. Psychologist in a concentration camp.

Before proceeding to the review of the book, it is important to say a few words about the author. Viktor Frankl (life: 1905-1997) is a famous Austrian scientist, psychologist and philosopher. He has received numerous academic degrees. He has written more than 30 books on psychology, devoted to the theory of the meaning of human life. He made millions of people (including myself) understand what the meaning of their lives is.

Viktor Frankl spent 3 long years in Nazi camps from 1942 to 1945. Moreover, before his arrest, he had the opportunity to go with his wife to America, but his parents did not have a visa. He understood that in the concentration camp his parents would not survive without him. Not knowing what to do, he went to the Church of St. Stephen in Vienna for an answer. He wanted to receive an "answer from heaven."

And I got it when I got home. His father gave him a piece of marble. It was a stone from one of the destroyed synagogues. On a piece of marble was a fragment of one of the Commandments. It was a commandment to honor parents. He decided to stay and serve the family. He couldn't leave his parents.

I'm sure it's thereby heroic deed, he was mysteriously able to survive in inhuman conditions concentration camps.

The fact that Viktor Frankl survived the concentration camps is unimaginable combination of regularity and chance:

• by chance you can call the fact that not a single time he did not get into any of the teams that were formed daily for destruction.
• And by regularity- the fact that he remained alive in conditions of cold, hunger, torture, but most importantly: retaining all the principles of humanity to the end.

Have you noticed that it is often possible to draw a parallel between our previous actions and subsequent events? We often blame fate for our troubles and problems, not realizing that our life tomorrow depends on ourselves and our actions today. Even a kind thought can save us in a difficult situation, and just one wrong deed can “spoil” our whole life.

Even before the war, Frankl had written a book on psychology. It was a theory about the meaning of life. He tried to save the manuscript in the camp, but to no avail. In the death camp, he had to test the correctness of his theory on himself. He saw that in such inhuman conditions there is a greater chance of survival for people who are strong in spirit, and not for physically strong people.

To go through such terrible trials and save his human face, he was helped by the hope of seeing his wife among the living. That was his purpose, his purpose, to survive in order to meet his wife. But when he realized that she, being a fragile creature and being far away from him, in another concentration camp, would not be able to physically survive in these conditions, he promised himself to survive and preserve all human principles, not to turn into a beast, so that she accepted a quick, not painful death.

2. The question of the meaning of life. Psychologist Viktor Frankl explains.

And now the most interesting. Viktor Frankl's approach was discouragingly unexpected for me. Initially, we incorrectly raise the question of the meaning of life. The case, it turns out, not in WHAT WE EXPECT FROM LIFE, but in WHAT LIFE EXPECTS FROM US. Every day and every minute we are faced with a choice of what to do, life puts questions before us. We must respond with the right deeds and actions. And it depends on how we acted in each specific case, how circumstances will develop in the future. What will be the next question that life (= God) will ask us.

This postulate was derived by Frankl, based on the many circumstances and events in the death camp, where the connections of cause and effect are especially obvious and bare.

Another valuable idea of ​​the author: every person has something more than "I": responsibility, caring for others, the desire to create something meaningful for people. And then only a person feels truly happy, this is the main meaning of his existence. Moreover, each person has his own meaning of life. Each person seeks to determine his own meaning of existence, this is the engine of everyone's life.

The latest research has shown that 4 out of 10 Americans do not see any specific and important goal in their lives. 4 out of 10 is 40%.

Simultaneously, studies show that people who have purpose, meaning in life, are more satisfied with life and have better well-being, better physical and mental health, greater flexibility, higher self-esteem, and minimal risk of depression.

3. Review of the book “To tell life - yes. Psychologist in a concentration camp.

As a scientist, Frankl described his experiences in the camp in various phases. shock phase he called the 1st phase. 2nd phase - phase of apathy. At this time, something dies in the soul of people and a defensive reaction turns on - apathy. Phase 3 is release phase when there is a reaction of complete lack of joy. The person needs psychological support.

The body's defenses

Frankl was struck perfection of the human body. What possibilities and reserves are hidden in it! For six months the prisoners wore one shirt without washing. Constantly dirty after excavation, during which it is impossible to do without wounds. At the same time, no one had inflammation or infection. Work in the cold half-bare without warm clothes. But no one even had a runny nose. How is this possible? At what point does the human body launch such defenses? At a time when there is a constant threat to life?

Hunger

The author tells in the book not about global horrors, but about "small" debilitating daily torments of prisoners. For example, a detailed narrative about the author's daily struggle with hunger, about ways to stretch an unimaginably small portion of bread for a day. It was as if I felt this state myself, it is so realistically described.

Meals for the day consisted of a bowl of empty soup, a tiny piece of bread. Plus there was an additive - a terrible sausage (a tiny piece) or jam (a small spoon). For prisoners who worked hard and were constantly in the cold in shabby clothes, this was unimaginably small.

It is very difficult for a person who has never starved to imagine this state. Imagine that you are standing in the cold rain, in the mud. And you need to peck the ground with a pickaxe. You are constantly waiting for a siren that will call for a half-hour break, the only one in every day. Do you constantly think about whether there will be bread today? With swollen fingers, you feel the bread in your pocket, break off crumbs, stretching for the whole day.

The topic of how to use such a meager portion of bread was the most important topic among the prisoners. It even gave rise to 2 parties: a party in which they held the opinion that rations should be eaten immediately and a party with the opinion that a portion of bread should be stretched out for the whole day. The first put forward 2 arguments: bread will not be stolen and at least once a day you can drown out unbearable hunger. Frankl belonged to the 2nd party. He tells in the book about his motives to join her. The hour of awakening was one of the most unbearable hours of the day. First, the piercing whistle of a siren, then the fight against dampness, cold, when swollen feet had to get into wet shoes. And to see how men cry from the pain of wounded legs. It was then that Frankl clutched at a consolation, albeit weak, but still - a piece of bread in his pocket!

Suicide

You ask, who can fight for life in such conditions? After all, death, compared with life, looks like a reward. Frank says that indeed, almost all the prisoners had the idea of ​​suicide. He himself, as a believer, immediately vowed to himself under no circumstances "not to throw himself on the wire." He knew the statistics and knew that he was unlikely to be able to avoid falling into the daily selection of destruction.

Apathy

Frankl talks realistically about apathy. She appears in everyone after the shock. In the beginning, the prisoners could hardly bear the pictures of sadism. But over time, people began to get used to and no longer reacted to screams of pain. Every day they came across the sick, the suffering, the dying and the dead, so over time they began to react to them with detachment and indifference.

Frankl, being a doctor, was struck by his insensitivity. Apathy is actually a special protective mechanism of the body. The reality around narrows and a person concentrates only on the main task: how to survive today?

I strongly advise everyone to read this book in order to understand and realize that it is not right to complain about the blows of fate. Creating favorable circumstances and happy life largely depends on us, on how we act in each specific case, how much we disinterestedly give others our attention, warmth, care and work!

Another important conclusion to draw from the book is that Each person tends to seek to determine the meaning, purpose of his existence.. This is the engine, the stimulus of life and human development. But Everyone has their own meaning of life, everyone has their own.

I wish everyone to enjoy life, love and dream!

talks about how we can endure the most severe suffering. A world-famous scientist talks about how the prisoners of concentration camps survived - and how to find the answer to the question "What is the meaning of life."

Viktor Frankl, Austrian psychologist and physician, 1905-1997

There aren't many things these days that make us say, " I have no words…". These undoubtedly include photographs from concentration camps. What happened there is so inhuman and cruel that we can hardly understand it. Every day, the people who were there were subjected to incredible suffering. The life of prisoners was determined by fear, hunger, disease, forced labor, contempt and torture.

One of them was an Austrian psychologist Viktor Frankl. First he was placed in the Theresienstadt concentration camp, then in Auschwitz and Dachau. He spent two and a half years in Nazi concentration camps. His parents, his brother and his wife did not survive the horrors of "KZ" [as the Germans briefly call the concentration camp - approx. POLEZNER]. Since Frankl was a psychologist by training, he was able to look around his surroundings from the outside: the scientist watched how his comrades in misfortune reacted to incredible suffering, and how it changed their psyche.

As it turns out, even in extreme situations like this, we find ways to give meaning to our lives. Later, from his experience and observations, Frankl created his own therapy, recognized by modern scientific communication - logotherapy. With her help, he helped his patients overcome depression and panic attacks.

From this summary, you will also learn:

• Why do many people have "Sunday Neurosis";
• What did the prisoners of the concentration camps rejoice at?
• What is the meaning of life anyway?

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