The Survivor: How I Survived Six Concentration Camps and Became a Nazi Hunter - The Sunday Times Bestseller

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This begins the second stage, in which there is a danger of deformation. As the intense pressure on the mind is released, mental health can be endangered. Frankl uses the analogy of a diver suddenly released from his pressure chamber. He recounts the story of a friend who became immediately obsessed with dispensing the same violence in judgment of his abusers that they had inflicted on him.

In post-war Europe, Lewkowicz lived almost from hand to mouth – the family property in Poland had been appropriated by neighbours – then he travelled to South America to join a great-uncle anxious to find any relation who had survived. Resourceful and adaptable, he worked his way up from factory work and street-trading to become a successful diamond dealer, making a happy marriage and finally settling in Israel, where he lives today. How did Lewkowicz survive when so many of his family, friends and fellow Jews died? “In my mind,” he writes, “there was always hope, though I could see none.” The central idea behind Man's Search to Meaning, as described throughout Part I of the book and extending to an academic discussion in Part II, titled "Logotherapy" is the idea of "Man's Will to Meaning" being the central and overarching goal of each person's life.From salt mines to forced marches, summary executions to Amstetten, where prisoners were used as human shields in Allied bombing, Josef lived under the spectre of death for many years. When he was liberated from Ebensee at the end of the war, conditions were amongst the worst witnessed by allied forces. The body is the first element to break out of this stage, responding by big appetites of eating and wanting more sleeping. Only after the partial replenishing of the body is the mind finally able to respond, as "feeling suddenly broke through the strange fetters which had restrained it" (p. 111). A truly harrowing account, humanely told in fast-paced, affecting prose. You won’t be able to put it down — even in those moments where the truth feels too hard to read." — Sophy Roberts, author of The Lost Pianos of Siberia -

Beginning in September 1941, every person designated as a Jew in German-held territory was marked with a yellow, six-pointed star, making them open targets. Tens of thousands were soon being deported to the Polish ghettoes and German-occupied cities in the USSR. Lawrence Langer, Versions of Survival: The Holocaust and the Human Spirit (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1982), p. 24. On January 30, 1933, he was named chancellor of Germany. After the death of President Paul von Hindenburg in 1934, Hitler anointed himself Fuhrer, becoming Germany’s supreme ruler. Concentration CampsThe above book makes brief mention of the important topic that Jarmila raised: PTSD affecting Holocaust survivors. The author mentions it when he describes the day of his liberation at the end of a 12-day Hunger March. Here is the quote: It’s easy enough to think that the Holocaust is simply a relic of the past; that it belongs only in history textbooks or in museum displays. Yet, the devastation and destruction it caused lives on today, which is why remembering it is so important. Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager ("A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp").

One of the last great untold stories of the Holocaust, The Survivor is an astonishing account of one man's unbreakable spirit, unshakeable faith, and extraordinary courage in the face of evil. Michael Calvin heeft een mooie carrière als journalist opgebouwd en schreef onder andere voor The Daily Telegraph, The Times en de Sunday Mirror. Hij schreef vooral over sport en won meerdere prijzen als sportjournalist waaronder de Sports Journalists’ Association- Sports writer of the Year Prize 1992. Hij is coauteur van De overlever, die hij samen schreef met Josef Lewkowicz. Voor Josef is het een autobiografisch werk, over hoe hij de concentratiekampen overleefde en de gebeurtenissen erna. Het grootste deel dicteerde hij aan Michael, die er dan een afgewerkt boek van maakte.The book intends to answer the question "How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?" Part One constitutes Frankl's analysis of his experiences in the concentration camps, while Part Two introduces his ideas of meaning and his theory called logotherapy.