Worse Than a Nightmare

I was extremely moved by Frankl's memoir about his experience. Although I have read first hand accounts about life in a concentration camp, I have never read a detailed description of how prisoners actually dealt with the suffering. The multi-step process that the prisoners slowly went through emotionally truly astounded me, and made me realize the level of strength a person needs to survive such a horrific place.

One of the most shocking things was the shift of focus from physical pain to emotional pain. In my life personally, the emotional pain tends to come second, as physical pain is more pronounced. Yet Frankl's description of edema and the reference to how common it was, was mortifying. The prisoners accepted that as part of normal life, and instead focused on preserving their mental state as best as possible. Additionally, Frankl describes a time when he witnessed a man having a nightmare, and decided not to wake him because his dream could not be worse than the hellhole that they were currently living in. For me, that was an incredible comparison because it showed me that nothing can compare to the horrors that they were experiencing.

Overall, I was thoroughly interested in this writing because it gave me a more in depth perspective of the atrocities that the prisoners of concentration camps endured. The animal-like conditions, the humiliation, and the strength needed to live through the horrors truly astound me. At this point, I am utterly embarrassed and saddened that in today's world we have Nazi sympathizers, and I believe that more of these memoirs should be published and shared in order to continue to educate people.