Survivor's Guilt In The Holocaust
Imagine surviving the Holocaust while millions of other people have perished. Dying people from left to right. You honestly wanted to help them, however you could not.Would you feel the guilt that you were alive while the person next to you did not? Even if you had the chance, would you even have saved them? Tons of the survivors wanted to forget this historical event, although they could not. While many consider the Holocaust in the past, for the survivors, the horror will never be completely over.
Background
Countless of the survivors did not think that they were going to form it through the Holocaust. Survivors thought that the process was going to be expedited and wanted it to done with. The ones that did make it through wondered why did they have made it but not the person next to them. Was this forming guilt?
What is guilt? “Guilt is a common response following loss and/or traumatic experiences with significant victimization,” (Nader).“Guilt can serve to keep an individual focused on a particular time period,” (Nader). What is survivor's guilt? Survivor's guilt is when the survivors feel like they did something wrong to be alive while the others did not live. “Survivor's guilt is connected primarily to the intense feeling of powerlessness experienced by the individual in the concentration camp,” …show more content…
“41% have feelings of guilt even though they were not involved in any of the crimes themselves,” (Douillard). “50% feel somehow paralyzed,” (Douillard). “68% feel threatened, are afraid of punishment, or are afraid of the future, while thinking of the Holocaust,” (Douillard). This shows us the feelings of guilt are not one-sided from the Jews and other victims, the events of the Holocaust were real enough to affect even the ancestors of the Nazi
Background
Countless of the survivors did not think that they were going to form it through the Holocaust. Survivors thought that the process was going to be expedited and wanted it to done with. The ones that did make it through wondered why did they have made it but not the person next to them. Was this forming guilt?
What is guilt? “Guilt is a common response following loss and/or traumatic experiences with significant victimization,” (Nader).“Guilt can serve to keep an individual focused on a particular time period,” (Nader). What is survivor's guilt? Survivor's guilt is when the survivors feel like they did something wrong to be alive while the others did not live. “Survivor's guilt is connected primarily to the intense feeling of powerlessness experienced by the individual in the concentration camp,” …show more content…
“41% have feelings of guilt even though they were not involved in any of the crimes themselves,” (Douillard). “50% feel somehow paralyzed,” (Douillard). “68% feel threatened, are afraid of punishment, or are afraid of the future, while thinking of the Holocaust,” (Douillard). This shows us the feelings of guilt are not one-sided from the Jews and other victims, the events of the Holocaust were real enough to affect even the ancestors of the Nazi