Ronald Zawacki
April 27, 2001
English
THE EFFECTS OF THE HOLOCAUST ON CHILDREN SURVIVORS
The effects of the Holocaust can still be felt today, not only by those who learn and read about it, but by those who were children or teenagers during the massacre who were forced to watch their family and friends being tortured and killed. Their stories are the ones from which we can learn. The Holocaust shows something amazing: the strength of the human spirit. Those who were prisoners survived because of their sheer will to live, unwilling to be broken by the oppression of the Nazis. It is incomprehensible how life truly was for those in the camps. The fact that there were survivors shows that there is something in us that cannot be taken away no matter what, human spirit. While the Holocaust did strengthen the spirits of many, it also weakened some cognitive reactions, leaving many with psychological distresses and posttraumatic stress. Accounts given by actual survivors, psychological studies, and information found in course texts will provide information on how man!
y children survivors have been affected.
Survivor's Accounts
In speaking to some survivors, it was apparent that they were forced to endure awful misfortunes during the years of the Holocaust. What was also apparent was their happiness to be alive and their ability to enjoy the life that was afforded them when the Holocaust came to an end. The survivors of the Holocaust experienced ordeals that an ordinary person cannot begin to fathom. For many, losing a family member is enough to put them over the edge mentally; these survivors not only had to deal with issues of loss and grief over family members, but they had to deal with persecution and maltreatment solely because of their ethnicity.
"The Holocaust has been thought to be highly potent in creating both posttraumatic stress disorder as well as other ego-changes" (Amir, Wiesel 445). This fact brings out man...