Strength of Holocaust Survivors

Abstract

An important problem in trauma research concerns the resources enabling survival after traumatic events and subsequent adaptation. The aim of this study was to describe psychological factors allowing Holocaust survivors to stay alive during the war and to adapt in the postwar period. Participants in the study were 89 Jews who had survived the Holocaust in Poland and Romania. The method used in the study was a qualitative analysis of interviews. The survivors emphasized the role of life optimism, social support, an ability to establish interpersonal contacts, and a sense that there their situation was comprehensible and manageable even under extremely adverse conditions.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant from the Polish Ministry of Science.

Notes

All names in this article are pseudonyms unless the survivor made a special request that their real name be used.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Katarzyna Prot

Katarzyna Prot is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist investigating the psychological consequences of trauma. She conducts individual and group psychotherapy of Holocaust survivors and is the author of many publications on this subject based on her clinical experience and scientific research. She is an associate professor at the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Warsaw, where she heads the Mental Health Center.