A heuristic study of the meaning of suffering among holocaust survivors

Abstract

Is there meaning in suffering or ts suffering only a soul-destroying experience from which nothing positive can emerge? In seeking to answer this question, a heuristic study was made of the experiences and views of the famous Auschwitz survivor, Viktor Frankl, supplemented by an exploration of the life-worlds of other Nazi concentration camp survivors. The underlying premise was that if meaning can be found in the worst sufferings imaginable, then meaning can be found in every other situation of suffering. Seeking to illuminate the views of Frankl and to gain a deeper grasp of the phenomenon of suffering, the theoretical and personal views of mainstream psychologists regarding the nature of man and the meaning of hi.~ sufferings were studied. Since the focus of this research was on the suffering of the Holocaust survivor, the Holocaust as the context of the present study, was studied as a crisis of meaning and as psychological adversity. In trying to establish the best way to gain entry into the life-world of the Holocaust survivor, the research methods employed in Holocaust survivor studies were reviewed and, for the purposes of this study, found wanting. The choice and employment of a heuristic method yielded rich data which illuminated the fact that, through a series of heroic choices Frankl, and the survivors who became research participants, could attain spiritual triumph in the midst of suffering caused by an evil and inhumane regime. Hitherto unexplored areas of psychological maturity were revealed by these heroes of suffering from which the following conclusions could be drawn: Man attains the peaks of moral excellence through suffering. Suffering can have meaning. Suffering can call us out of the moral apathy and mindlesness of mere existence. The Holocaust, one of the most tragic events in human history, contains, paradoxically, a challenge to humankind. Resisting the pressure to sink to the level of a brute fight for mere survival, Frankl and the research participants continued to exercise those human values important to them and triumphantly maintained their human dignity and self-respect. Evidence was provided that man has the power to overcome evil with good.