The Holocaust

10 Pages 2399 Words

The Holocaust during World War II was arguably one of the worst human induced disasters that have happened to the human race. The Holocaust orchestrated by the Nazi Empire destroyed millions of lives and created questions about humanity that may never be answered. Many psychological effects caused by the Holocaust forever changed the way the Jewish people view the world and themselves. The Jewish people have been scarred for generations and may never be able to once again associate with the rest of the free world. Further, these scars have now become the looking glass through which the survivors and their children view the world. Through narrow eyes, the survivors relate everything to the experiences they endured during the Holocaust. Likewise, these new views on the world shapes how the survivors live, interact, and raise a family both socially and spiritually. Some survivors are scarred so deeply they cannot escape the past feelings and images of terror; psychologists call this “Survivor Syndrome”. A survivor of the war is one who has encountered, been exposed to, or witnessed death, and has himself of herself remained alive. The symptoms affected not only survivors, but their families as well. These symptoms were also caused by some of the horrifying experiences that happened especially to the Jewish women. The symptoms included an inability to work, and even at times to talk. The Jewish people fear that it may happen again. Also a fear of uniformed police officers because of their position of power became very common. There were also many feelings of guilt for having survived when others had not. "Why am I alive?" “Why not my sister and brother...my whole family?" The Jewish holocaust survivors posed those and other questions. The survivors had thoughts of death, nightmares, panic attacks, and various other symptoms. Disinterest in life, people, and sometimes even in reality played a huge role in marital problems and suicid...