The Holocaust : The Five Psychological Effects Of The Holocaust

The destruction of the Jewish people during WWII occurred in both the mental and physical realms. Although 6 million Jewish people were killed during the Holocaust, millions more also were affected by the aftermath of such a massive tragedy. While many people were forced to suffer mentally during the war, the emotional pain of the Holocaust lingered long after the end of the Nazi Party and spanned generations. The physiological issues faced by the victims of the Holocaust were a direct result of the horrible conditions faced by those who were persecuted.

In the first 11 months, four and a half million people were killed or died. By the end of World War II, approximately six million Jews, including a little more than a million children, were murdered by Nazis. To persuade the prisoners to go into the gas chambers, signs such as ‘baths and disinfecting rooms’ and ‘cleanliness brings freedom’ were hung above the entrance. Gas from the chambers took about 20 minutes to kill everyone in the chamber; 6,000 people died everyday due to this sorcery. During the death marches, intolerable work, approximately 100,000 people died. Sixty percent of the Jews lived in Europe in 1933, which means that about forty percent of the Jewish population died during the holocaust in Europe. Only nine percent of Poland's Jews survived; however, 99% of the Jewish Denmark population survived. Unfortunately, only 2,500 Jewish people survived out of 4,500 in Estonia. Although, there were only 800,000 people in Hungary, 204,000 survived, which is a little more than one fourth of the initial Jewish population. Overall there are 195,000 survivors and counting. Five million of the 11 million people that were killed were non-Jewish. Most survivors are located in the United States or Canada, although many families have registered survivors from 59 other countries. However, most countries were largely unaware of the Holocaust and its scope until they were able to see the evidence themselves. Some felt guilty for surviving when six million suffered and died. One particular, Jeannine Burk, thought and said, "Why am I alive? Why is my father dead? Why did 6,000,000 die and I am alive?" Statistics show that Holocaust survivors are three times more likely to commit suicide. It is hard for some parents to tell their children what happened because they went through so

Oppressors have changed our world in a huge way from bullying to millions of deaths. 6 million Jewish people were victims of the holocaust during World War II. One person changed our whole world. Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi party and dictator of Germany. During this time Hitler removed the civil rights of the jews, and his goal in mind was for the expulsion of all Jews from Germany. Hitler caused millions of deaths because he decided to blame the jews for all of Germany’s problems, Hitler also thought of Jews as another inferior race, so inferior to the point that they really were not considered human. In result of this Hitler is the vital oppressor of the victims of the holocaust.

The Holocaust was a terrible time for many people, but the part that is often over looked is the psychological and physical effects after liberation. This research essay will work to answer the question; How did the Holocaust from 1933 to 1945 affect the Jewish population in the years following? This will be answered by examining many different types of sources. Most of the sources used are secondary with primary sources embedded within. For example, in many of the books used, there were some quotes from survivors and related persons included as well. There are also some, not many, online sources used which give a modern point of view. All the sources were written in America including both the physical sources and the online sources.

The Holocaust which was one of many of the controversial events that have happened in the history of our world demonstrated a significant amount of cruelty and dehumanization. Because of such a controversial event, many have suffered through physical and unfortunately psychological upheaval and distress. With previous knowledge and novels’ read on the Holocaust, it came to be known that the event was triggered through obedience and conformity due to the not specifically the Germans’ beliefs of anti-Semitic and propaganda, but more of leader Adolf Hitler. The time of the Holocaust was used to dehumanize which enhanced the understanding of mental health and human psychology. During the Holocaust, many psychological principles affected individuals forever. The principles include groupthink and of course knowing the outcome of the event. Such principles sooner explain the reality of life because it stresses how individuals react due to their past experiences like the Holocaust and most importantly how traumatic events build them as who they are today.  Innocent Jews went through starvation, terrible working conditions, and the elimination of race through torture such as gas chambers. Furthermore, the history of this controversial event is now being used to be alert of the health and wellness of those who have gone through such events that sooner change their behavior and mentality for the better or even worse.

When many think of the Holocaust as a solely negative experience, and while it may seem easy to write the event off as a dark time in history that seems remote and unlikely to affect us today, there are some positive results, including the lessons that it brings for current and future humanity. The lessons that the Holocaust brings are applicable to every person in the world. While many of these lessons do focus on the negative aspects of the Holocaust, like what circumstances permit such a vast genocide and how many people can die because of widespread racial hatred, there are also those that focus on how some people, in all parts of Europe and throughout the world, retained their good human nature during the Holocaust. For example, what made some gentiles in Europe during that time willing and able to help Jews. Currently, Yad Vashem has recognized 26,513 rescuers throughout the world (Names), and the actual number of rescuers could likely be close to twice that amount (Baron,1). It is important that we analyze the reasons behind these rescuers’ choices to be upstanders instead of bystanders because we can learn about our own motivations when we face decisions between helping others and protecting ourselves, and possibly those we love, from harm. Fulfilling one’s self-interest was a potential motivation for helping Jews that will only be briefly addressed. This type of rescue potentially benefitted both the Jews and the Gentile rescuers; these Gentiles only helped Jews survive because they found personal gain, likely social or economic, in the action (Baron). However, in the situation that existed while rescuing the Jews, most efforts included the high possibility that both the rescuer and the rescued would end up worse off than they had begun with no potential for personal gain on either side. So those rescuers’ motivations are less easily explainable.

After the deathly and Holocaust how did Jews ever recover? It was hard. When the Nazis were in control of Germany they took the citizenship of Jews in Germany. When the Nazis took Jews from other parts of Europe they took their nationality. So when Jews were released from Nazi rules they had no place to go, no passport, no nothing. After many camps were liberated victims went to displaced persons (DP)

The Holocaust was a very traumatic event in history. Every year in school from about middle school onward students learn specifically about Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party’s cruel treatment of the Jewish culture and people during World War II. The same general knowledge is given to us from middle school up until the ending our high school history careers. We are taught to believe that Adolf Hitler was a corrupt man, who sought control of Germany in the 1930’s. Even though we are given background information on this event, and there are things being told to us, no one knows what actually occurred during this time, except those who lived through it. In the book Night published by Elie Wiesel, he explains the things that happened to his family and the people in his community named Sighet before, during, and after the Holocaust. There is more than what meets the eye to this occurrence. No one sees the bigger picture when it comes to this event because of the fact that such a tragedy occurred in the first place. Although the Holocaust was a very unfortunate event, the Holocaust did benefit the United States in a plethora of different ways. Without the Holocaust, World War II would have never happened, and World War II brought countless positives attributes to America. A myriad of things came out of World War II. For example, women earned the right to attain jobs because of the war. Also, America became a global power due to the fact that the Allies (United States, Britain,

Psychological Effects of the Holocaust on Its Survivors After the liberation of the World War II European death camps, many survivors suffered from psychological traumas, such as post traumatic stress disorder, which had various mental effects. PTSD is a reaction to a traumatic event where a person can see he is in danger, his life is being threatened, or other people die or are injured in circumstances that are out of that person’s control. The Holocaust was a very traumatic experience for millions of people. The memories of death and horror of those who lived in the death camps cause this experience to haunt survivors long after being freed from imprisonment.

Jewish Holocaust survivors enduring horrendous treatment of the Holocaust, and it impacted the aftermath of the event as well. Because of the emotional and physical trauma after liberation, Jewish Holocaust survivors struggled with rebuilding their lives and adapting to live a “normal life”.

The Holocaust was one of, if not the worst mass murder in history. The Nazis did one of the most horrifying things you could think of, killing so many innocent people. Many different groups of people other than jews were also victims of this tragic event. Some of those other groups were: LGBTQ individuals, the physically and mentally disabled, slavs, and members of opposing political groups. These groups of people were ripped from their homes and put into concentration camps. The Nazis would either separate them from their family or they would keep them together and they would have to watch the Nazis torture their family and friends. During this very tragic point in history, more than six million Jewish lives were taken, in total there were over 12 million victims of the Holocaust. Not only did this affect the survivors it also affected families of the victims, survivors and anybody else that was connected through this tragedy. The Nazis, came to “power” in January 1933, which was during a time Germany was going through an economic hardship. They believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, were "inferior.” Adolf Hitler played a very big factor in everything that went down. Adolf Hitler was a German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party and was also known as the dictator of the Holocaust. The Nazis did have others that were Hitler’s “army” and they took orders from Hitler to do awful things to the victims and they were commonly known as

Psychological effects are associated with the mental health of the suvivors. Imagine a situation where you are housed with a lion in one room, what will you feel? Would you be comfortable? That feeling is the exact feeling that the victims of the holocaust were experiencing during the periods they lived in the camps (Levine 350-360). The mental health of the Holocaust survivors was indeed complex and varied. Literature about the Holocaust reveals there was shock upon the arrival in the death camps for the Jews. Their experience is next to the unexplainable. The only sure thing for them at that particular time was death. The Jews lived in fear, heightened because they lived like hunted animals. They were,

One has to wonder what psychological effect the Holocaust had on the children who survived such horrific events in their lives. Surviving traumatic events, such as those occurring during the Holocaust, would surely cause some negative effects in the development of children, not only psychological, but physical development as well. Whereas some positive effects that could occur after experiencing such trauma as a child could be adaptability, perseverance, resilience and ambition. The children of the Holocaust endured many things, from starvation, extreme loss of family and basic human needs as well as having a front row seat to war and the murderous acts of others.

The Holocaust is widely considered one of the darkest hours in world history. People of Jewish descent were imprisoned and confined to brutal conditions in concentration camps. Author Elie Wisel captures many of the atrocities of these detainments in his literary work, Night. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs describes the needs and motivation of people (Boeree). In Night, Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs has a direct impact on the lives of the Jews and their relationships with each other.

Known as one of the most horrific events in history, World War II (WW2) caused tremendous adversity and suffering amongst the lives of people across the globe. However, what is most concerning about the war, was what happened behind closed doors, specifically within Germany. The Holocaust is still considered one the worst ethnic cleansing attacks in the world. Although there is an endless amount of research and hard evidence of the Holocaust occurring, certain groups of individuals strongly reject it. Known as “Holocaust Denial”, this conspiracy theory has always been personally intriguing due to several reasons and will be analyzed more thoroughly.