Unfortunately due to my poor work ethic and lack of concentration it looks like I'm going to finish the assignment after break. I'd actually rather not blog about this; however due to the requirements of the class I must include something relevant to the marvelously dull novel, The Sunflower. By the way that picture to the left is Simon Wiesenthal in deeeeep thought, thinking about his past trauma.
Alright so if you already don't know, I'm having a hard time deciding what I would have done in Simon Wiesenthal's place. I can't relate to his story because I'm not Jewish, but I can imagine the psychological battle he must have fought. After searching on Google for the psychological effects of the holocaust amongst holocaust survivors I came across this article. It seems that almost all of the holocaust survivors have had a negative psychological impact on their lives, much like how Simon Wiesenthal went had emotional trauma. One of the conclusions for the research conducted on Holocaust survivors is stated in this quote,
"Not surprisingly, the overall effect of the Holocaust on survivors was physically and mentally damaging, not only leaving every survivor with scars (e.g., Brink, 1994) but transmitting posttraumatic effects even to many second- (e.g., Bar-On, 1994; Robinson & Winnik, 1981) and third-generation individuals (e.g., Rosenthal, 1998)."
No one I know personally has gone through such physical and mental damage. The article mentions that there are so many factors that impede researchers from successfully understanding a survivor's mental damage (Lomranz). It's hard to imagine what Wiesenthal went through after he had kept silent during the SS officer's confession. He probably visualized the moment hundreds of times in his head for a long time, questioning if his actions were the right thing to do; eventually he wrote his book to ask a broader audience. I believe what motivated him to write the Sunflower was his constant battle against his conscience. A portion of the article is title "Holocaust Survivors and Cultural Dimensions," and mentions how research has been influenced by culture. Although the article mentions the research aspect of Holocaust survivors and not individual experiences, the title of the segment can be related to Wiesenthal's experience. Culture forgave the Germans for their crimes but Wiesenthal is confounded if he made the right decision. Overall the psychology of Wiesenthal as a Holocaust survivor is extremely complex and difficult to understand even if you have the highest degree in Psychology. Mad confusing.
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