What are the 5 survivor syndrome symptoms of Holocaust survivors?

Answer 1

There are five main categories of Survivor syndrome.

1. The first is the Death imprint, which is the idea of not only death itself, but of all forms of torture and gruesome images of death. For many survivors they can recall the smell of smoke and the voices of the tortured. Some survivors are trapped in time; mentally they are unable to escape the torture that they had witnessed. In other words, they are unable to move beyond the imagery and are stuck in time. The survivors are mentally scarred with images they can never escape or share. The inability to sleep or work is a direct consequence of what they endured in the death camps.

2. The second category is where the guilt of death is found. Here is where the survivors feels remorse for the loved ones they had lost and ask "why them and not me". The survivor remembers feeling helpless at times of need, "why didn't I resist" or "how could I have saved someone." The survivor can not escape the feeling of debt to the lost and feels guilty. Some survivors have been known to feel guiltier about the Holocaust then the actual Perpetrators . Guilt is the most common feeling among survivors and is passed to children each generation. To cope with this guilt there are many support groups that are opening doors wide for the Jewish people to come and be set free from the needless guilt. Yet many survivors have shut themselves out from the rest of the world and have lived lives of solitude because the guilt is too much for any one person to carry . This guilt is a direct cause of the Holocaust and because of it, the Jewish people will never be the same.

3. The third category is psychological numbing. This has been determined by psychologists as a "necessary psychological defense against overwhelming images." This defense is only good for a short time because after long term numbing the survivor can feel withdrawal and depression. Many survivors numbed themselves to all emotions and became insensitive to death.

4. The fourth category is suspicion and paranoia. The survivor is always on guard watching out for another Holocaust to flare up and take hold. Consequently if in need of help, a survivor may not take the hand of someone there to help, in fear it may be a Nazi trick and a sign of personal weakness . The ridicule the survivors suffered made them paranoid and unable to place trust in any one. Accordingly, survivors feel that when they accept your help, they show their personal weaknesses and are opening themselves up to be persecuted. They also feel as if tainted by the Holocaust they no longer belong. Likewise, they feel feared and hated by others, hence, they feel distrust in all human relationships and feel everything around them is fraudulent.

5. The fifth and final category is the search for meaning. They are on a mission to find meaning in their lives and punish those who persecuted them. This search for meaning is what created the state of Israel after the war. Hundreds of thousands of people that were lost and had no place to go, no money, no identity, and no one to trust but each other formed a nation where they could be accepted. After being turned away from every other nation time and time again they formed the state of Israel. This was no easy task. The Jewish people had to fight for their "promised" land and sacrifice a lot to get it.