Culminating Project 2009

Surviving Life: Eugenics, Suffering, and Hope

Submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree
of Bachelor of Arts at Vermont College

Faculty Advisor: Joanna Meyer


Amy Jo Deutl
September 2009

Abstract



This study considers the psychology of manipulating and surviving interventions of human life, such as eugenics and the racial hygiene program utilized by Hitler in World War II. It includes an explanation of eugenics, how eugenics manifested itself into the atrocities of the Holocaust, and the subsequent effects on people who survived such trauma.

Chapter One focuses on the concept of eugenics by Francis Galton and the development of eugenics in the United States followed by Germany’s use of eugenics through its attempt to create a master race. Chapter Two delves into the personal lives and experiences of people who survived the Holocaust. Chapter Three looks at the results of survivor trauma and treatment associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The fourth and final chapter gives an overview of the spiritual connections associated with eugenics, the Holocaust, and the healing process.

A Preface is provided describing my previous studies, the progress made toward arriving at this study, and a review of my culminating study. Also included are a Reference, an Annotated Bibliography, and my complete Study Bibliography.




TABLE OF CONTENTS



Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5




Chapter One

Eugenics and Its Role in Sterilization
and Controlling Population . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Chapter Two

Holocaust Survivors . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 26

Chapter Three

Surviving Trauma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Chapter Four

Spiritual Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54



References … . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Annotated Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Study Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64





Preface



This culminating study marks my fourth of five semesters at Union Institute & University and Vermont College. My final semester will consist of Student Teaching in a 3rd/4th grade classroom along with the completion of my Qualifying Portfolio and a Licensure Portfolio to qualify as an elementary education teacher. I began this long journey at the age of forty-eight by having the courage to walk through the doors of Community College of Vermont to inquire about beginning a degree program. To my surprise after one intense semester, my life’s work experience gained me more than fifty credits toward an Associates Degree. After pursuing a degree in Prevention and Social Services at Woodbury College on a part-time schedule I transferred to Vermont College’s ADP to work full-time on a Liberal Arts Bachelor’s Degree. I found my home here at Vermont College where I discovered that I could continue working, raising a family, and still complete my degree in less than five years. It has been a most rewarding experience and I am grateful for the system, the advisors, and the administrators that have encouraged and guided me through this entire process.
I enrolled in the weekend program for my first study with Ann Stanton and chose to look at child behavior and the study of Abnormal Psychology focusing on ADHD, ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), and Bipolar Disorder. My eyes were opened to some highly regarded psychologists and educators in the field of child behavior. Many of the books that I used for this study have become a part of my accumulating library for use in my teaching career. I especially appreciated and gained much knowledge from Green’s The Explosive Child, Greenspan’s The Challenging Child, and Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and coping with ADD from Childhood Through Adulthood by Hallowell and Ratey.
During this first semester I met a history degree criterion by studying the history of mental illness and its treatment. I reviewed the theories of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Alfred Adler and how mental illness is diagnosed and treated. Of particular interest was the history of how mental illness was treated in the 1800’s by placing patients in insane asylums and how that system began to deteriorate after 1960, due to war, economy, and social changes that occurred. We are dealing with the outcome of those changes today in schools and society because a large portion of our population which has been integrated into our communities struggle every day with mental illness. This new system of treating the mentally ill has not been as successful as it could be. As a result, the children in our schools have many more special needs today because of psychological problems within families that have not received proper treatment and care.
Included in this first semester was a seminar with Sarah Mitchell entitled “Women Reading Women” that felt like a summer vacation. Several classic books that I had always wanted to read, but never took the opportunity until this seminar, became alive to me through the teaching strategies used by Sarah. I had never heard of the terms text to text, text to self, and text to the world until I sat in a classroom with Sarah Mitchell. Since that time, I have witnessed elementary teachers using this technique with K-6th graders and I am continually amazed at the improvement of reading comprehension gained through this process. It is a technique that I continue to use with my own reading and also when I have the opportunity to teach whether it be children or adults.
With pressure from my daughter (an elementary teacher) and the ADP faculty I jumped off the cliff and decided to pursue teacher licensure beginning in my second semester. This involved a study on Foundations of Education which proved to be an eye opener on what I perceived education to be. My advisor, Eileen Sears, was a fairly new middle school teacher with enough energy to run a small nuclear plant! She inspired me out of sheer fear to put my all into this semester. It truly was a foundational semester for me as I was able to answer questions that I had never even thought about before. I am grateful for her gently nudging me out of my comfort zone of what I thought education was.
My thoughts changed drastically from the beginning to the conclusion of this semester because I was sold on the traditional form of education that I experienced and excelled at as a student back in the sixties and seventies. The progressive movement within education appeared to move too far in the other direction leaving children without any idea of authority, order, and knowledge of the basics that we were all brought up with. My own theory of what education should be is a happy balance between the two approaches to education. The old saying goes, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water,” so I’m holding onto the basics but moving forward with more progressive ways to teach. I researched the history and philosophy of education learning about Dewey, Vygotsky, Piaget, and Montessori and came to the understanding that it is necessary to choose the very best ideas from these pioneers to successfully engage students and provide them with a learning experience that will last throughout a lifetime. My study on multiculturalism and diversity in the classroom made me realize how this field has had to develop over the years in order to include children from all backgrounds and ethnicity in the classroom learning experience. The PBS film, A Class Divided, captures a teacher’s experiment with her 4th grade classroom and highlights the essence of what it means to be accepting of everyone no matter what their color, religion, or handicap might be. It’s always a good lesson when the shoe is placed on the other foot to really understand what people experience when they are being discriminated against.
The natural progression for a teacher licensure student is to follow this semester with a study on Curriculum and Classroom Instruction. My third semester was exhilarating as I began to understand the nuts and bolts of what teaching actually involves with hands-on observations and practical experience in the classroom. My advisor this semester was Eileen Sear’s mother-in-law, Martha VanderWolk. I left one over-achiever for another! Seriously, I am extremely thankful for the expertise and caring guidance provided by both of these women.
By now I had completed and passed the Praxis I test for elementary education teachers. I spent several days and weeks in several different classrooms between Barre City and Warren with kindergarteners and every grade up through middle school grades. I began to realize the importance of understanding how teachers teach and how children learn and wished that I had taken this route before having my own children. It would have been so much easier for them to have had a parent with a background in teaching to get them through the difficult times they both experienced. Thankfully, both of my children graduated from high school, but my son did not fit the mold of the teaching strategies that were in place at the time so he suffered through several years without any alternatives offered to him until his senior year. Though he tested extremely high in math and science, he is very much a tactile learner and learns best with a hands-on approach. We had to push our intentions on the guidance counselor in order to allow him to attend a vocational center for computer sciences. He excelled in this program the last year of high school and without it he may well have walked away from a high school diploma.
My study of curriculum covered the theory of backward design which basically teaches beginning with the end in mind. Understanding by Design by Wiggins & McTigue covers this curriculum plan in detail and their book is a part of my growing library. I discovered that a constructivist classroom is children-centered rather than teacher-centered learning. Oftentimes, the teacher is learning right along with the children which may seem a little backwards at first, but when a child loses the fear that he needs to know everything it allows him to venture further into the learning experience by taking risks and learning from his mistakes. The Foxfire Experience by Wigginton was an exceptional book that I was first introduced to here at Vermont College. This teacher used a project to engage students in learning and by doing so he covered math, reading, writing, history, science, and sociology. It should be required reading by every teacher going into the field. This doesn’t mean that we all have to copy his idea of publishing a student newspaper, but the concept of using projects to engage students and provide them with a learning experience that they will remember and use in future years is invaluable.
This semester’s greatest accomplishment was when I received a passing score on the Praxis II Elementary Education test which took me by surprise. As a student over the age of fifty, I had to deal with some unknown fears—like taking a test with hundreds of students so much younger and smarter than myself. I guess I didn’t realize how much older I was than those twenty-something’s until I stepped into the crowd and felt completely out of my league. This might be what a child experiences when she first enters a new classroom from a different town or maybe even from a different country. It’s scary! All of this has prepared me for my culminating semester. It hasn’t been easy, but it has all been worth it!
My culminating semester study of eugenics and survival became a personal journey of understanding the concepts of posttraumatic stress disorder through the lens of the Holocaust. I understand now why my advisor, Joanna Meyer, cautioned me that this study might be too broad to accomplish in one semester. The atrocities of the Holocaust would have been more than enough to cover in one semester, but I’m thankful to have included the history of eugenics and how it played a part in the progressive social programs of Vermont and other states in the early 1900’s and then transformed into Nazi Germany’s racial cleansing and Hitler’s ideology of a master race.
A study on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder could have also been more than enough to fill an entire semester. Instead, the plan of combining these three subjects created a well-rounded picture to provide answers to my questions of why, how, and what. I was reminded of my conversations with my first advisor at Vermont College, Ann Stanton, when exploring subjects for my first study. She gently guided me away from a study on grief and trauma at that time, but I had no idea that I would eventually come back around to include it in my culminating study years later!
I initially struggled to understand how this study might relate to education, curriculum, and teaching in general, but I can now clearly see the correlation between these subjects. This entire study can be wrapped up in a message about what prejudice may lead to and how tolerance is imperative. The classroom is a microcosm of the world these children will experience in life. As educators, we must teach children the value of each individual life including the similarities and differences and the importance of how to get along with our neighbors. Whether I become a classroom teacher or a school counselor, I will use what I have learned in this last semester to be aware of how students may be affected from trauma they have experienced first-hand or through generational trauma.
At this time, I am looking forward to accomplishing the daunting responsibility and challenge of student teaching next semester. Not only will everything I have learned through ADP at Vermont College be a part of who I am as an educator, but it will also influence my life as a parent, friend, American citizen, and missionary. I extend my deepest gratitude to every advisor, faculty member, administration, and fellow student at Vermont College.








Chapter 1

Eugenics: Its History and Role of Manipulating Population


One of the most horrific tragedies of the 20th century was the annihilation of nearly 6 million Jews, gypsies, and homosexuals, in addition to 250 thousand physically and mentally handicapped individuals, during the time of World War II. Most people are well aware of that tragedy, but few know about or are reluctant to discuss America’s eugenic campaign. In one decade eugenics was responsible for approximately 60,000 U.S. citizens being forcibly sterilized in an effort to promote a white, Nordic master race. Vermont’s eugenic survey records remain hidden in confidential cases files so one can only guess how many people lost their identity and humanity due to Vermont’s 1931 voluntary sterilization law. This dark piece of U.S. history that included Vermont and involved scientists and medical professionals remained concealed for many years. Ultimately, arrogance and racism played a role in altering the course of eugenics as a study of human heredity by using forced sterilization and death as a means of manipulating the population.
The act of wiping out entire races exists today in places like Africa where racial cleansing recently changed the face of the entire country of Rwanda in a matter of weeks. Racial cleansing even dates back thousands of years to the time of Pharaoh when he ordered the Egyptian midwives to kill the Hebrew women’s babies at birth because he feared their numbers were growing too fast causing a threat to his country’s security. But, it is Francis Galton, referred to as the grandfather of eugenics, who can be credited for setting the eugenics stage of the slippery slope that spurred on the ideological foundations of forming a master race and culminated in the Holocaust. Perhaps it’s unfair to place all the blame on Galton, but he certainly was a significant contributor to a complex chain of events.
The discussion of and enthusiasm for eugenics were silenced for many years after the atrocities of World War II. Enough time has passed now to begin the discussions because most of the perpetrators have passed away. Today we still place biological value on individuals’ lives through genetic counselors, government committees, and life-insurance companies. The difference with eugenics today is that the term has been replaced with genetics and the hardness of the Victorian age of which Galton existed has been replaced with the “smooth veneer of medical respectability” (Brookes, 2004, p. xviii). The language of one of today’s most influential and controversial philosophers, Peter Singer, sounds eerily similar to the scientists and medical professionals of the 1920’s and 1930’s. In the video featuring Princeton University’s Bioethics professor, Peter Singer: A Dangerous Mind, Singer proclaims that “an infant is not a person” and a “newborn baby doesn’t have a right to life until it’s capable of understanding that he has a future.” In a segment of the same video, Karl Brandt, Hitler’s personal physician who was executed as a Nazi war criminal, had a similar mindset when he spoke at his trial at Nuremberg on July 19, 1947: “I am deeply conscious that when I said "Yes" to euthanasia I did so with the deepest conviction, just as it is my conviction today, that it was right.” If history repeats itself, then it would be wise to study the origins of eugenics, the players, and the circumstances that resulted in sterilization, euthanasia, and murder in the United States and in Europe.
Francis Galton led an extravagant life as an English country gentleman in the late 1800’s after a failed attempt at medical school and an inheritance from his father’s death that allowed him to pursue a life of travel as an African explorer. His travels proved successful as he soon was honored with several prestigious awards from the Royal Geographical Society for map-making throughout the continent. His successes in the area of geography, statistics, and weather maps placed him in the same category as scientists, so when his study of heredity and eugenics became known it naturally had scientific influence.
He was a product of the age of Enlightenment and was greatly influenced by his cousin, Charles Darwin, to disregard his Christian beliefs and to grab hold of the tenets of evolution. It was a time when anything seemed possible and God was optional. Brookes reminds us that Galton’s entire scientific career is infused with the spirit of these optimistic times. Racist attitudes were not new to the nineteenth century, but it became a broader term referring not only to ethnicity, but also to class and social status. Galton desired to improve the human race believing this is what nature and evolution intended. Instead of letting nature take its course, ideas of marriage restrictions based on class and social status began to steer Galton’s notions of eugenics as a religion, because “any custom established by a powerful authority soon becomes looked upon as a duty…which is rarely questioned” (Brookes, 2004, p. 278).
Hereditary Genius was probably Galton’s most telling record of his ideas of racism and social stereotyping. One of the chapters is entitled “The comparative worth of different races” where he rates the various races based on his scale of human intelligence. Through the so-called science of eugenics, social progress was now seen as a matter of biological process. Though his writings were met with some skepticism, he did succeed in creating a stir in the newspapers with endless reviews and comments. It may have been at this time that Galton’s theory caught the attention of an aspiring zoologist in America by the name of Charles Davenport. It was Davenport (the real father of eugenics) “who twisted Galton’s stillborn Victorian vision into self-righteous social-biological action” (Black, 2003, p. 385).
According to the website sponsored by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (2002), Davenport was a prominent biologist of his time and the director of the Biology Laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor, New York. He established the Eugenics Records Office where men and women were trained in the science of eugenics and data collection. Davenport built upon Galton’s program of eugenics by focusing on the goal of improving the human race by inducing young people to make a more reasonable selection of marriage mates. Davenport determined that “young people should fall in love intelligently” and should not rely on their emotions when choosing a marriage partner. His plan went a step further to include “control by the state of the propagation of the mentally incompetent” (DNA from the Beginning, chap 14, Bio).
Davenport’s interest in eugenics expanded with his fascination and association with Francis Galton. He used Galton’s theories and methods of statistics to add scientific merit to his eugenic surveys. Galton also inspired Davenport’s most precious revelation which was “the study of superiority and ancestry, the principle Galton called eugenics” (Black, 2003, p. 35). At the same time, the work of an Austrian monk by the name of Gregory Mendel was rediscovered by botanists in Holland, Germany, and Austria. He had proven the laws of inheritance of certain traits in pea plants. Davenport’s interest in the science of experimental evolution naturally drew him into the area of the rediscovered Mendelian theory of heredity. He combined this study with the work of Francis Galton who had coined the term eugenics in 1883, and was determined to find the scientific basis for the inheritance of physical, mental, and moral characteristics in humans (Black, p. 35). The great flaw of Davenport’s theories of inheritance was that he was applying Mendel’s simplistic theory of heredity based on plants and animals to a very complex set of human characteristics. Perhaps if he had studied Mendel’s spirituality and had come to understand his recognition of the sacredness of human life in God’s eyes the eugenics story may have taken a turn for the better.
There is a natural tendency for humans to want control and to have power over their lives. That is exactly what happened with the study of eugenics over the past century. Certain individuals used the extremely powerful, scientific knowledge of heredity and shaped it into their own vehicle which drastically changed the lives of millions and still affects ideologies, politics, and the scientific study of genetics to this very day. It’s sad to think that the study of genetics, and the reality that it contains the possibility of cures for life-threatening diseases such as cancer, was postponed for so many years due to selfish ideals and motivations of certain individuals. There is a very fine line between good intentions and malice as we have witnessed in the history of eugenics. It’s important to know and understand this history so that we don’t find ourselves walking down the same slippery slope in the not so distant future. As biologist Ernst Mayr put it so well in his 1984 essay, The Origin of Human Ethics:
Indeed, eugenics was conceived by its founders as a way of
lifting humans toward a greater perfection. It is sadly ironic
that this noble original objective eventually led to some of the
most heinous crimes mankind has ever seen.

One can’t help but think about some of the state and federal programs that exist today for the betterment of individuals and families. This isn’t to say that programs such as Headstart, Reach-Up, and our mental health services are about eugenics and racial hygiene, but then again, what are the motivations and expected end results of such programs? The government has collected plenty of personal information from these clients in order to improve their circumstances. If there isn’t a system in place with good checks and balances, this information could be used for malicious purposes, just as it was in the 1920’s with Vermont’s Eugenic Survey, especially given the grim economic crisis we face today.
Henry Perkins of Burlington, VT was born in 1877, to educated and wealthy parents. His father, George, was a professor at UVM and is remembered as the father of the college’s modern science curriculum. Gallagher (1999) wrote that his mother, “exemplified the feminine complement of Yankee Protestant achievement” (p. 13) and influenced Henry in his acceptance and respect for women as intellectual equals, competent scholars, and social leaders. The large, majestic home his father built and which still stands on South Prospect Street, is an indication of his privileged upbringing. It may also explain his attitude of entitlement to the respect and deference of others around him. Harry was a privileged only child and was driven to fulfill the ideals of his parents.
Without knowing someone personally, it is, of course, difficult to make a judgment of character, so one can only surmise what motivated Harry’s mother to be as dedicated to the church and foreign missions as she supposedly was. There is nothing to indicate that her motives were anything but purely innocent in her work with destitute children, for example, but too often I have heard and seen the works of self-righteous, hypocritical Christians proclaiming to be doing God’s work while passing judgment simultaneously. This kind of attitude is easily adapted by the children who happen to be within earshot.
It’s likely that Harry was raised in the midst of such religious hypocrisy and self-righteousness which influenced his drive to become the intellectual that he was. He began his career in eugenics as a successful professor of Zoology at UVM. He also devoted much of his time to raising a family, activities on campus and in the community, and generally making a name for himself. This was not difficult to accomplish riding on the coattails of his father who had been honored and recognized often for his service to the university and to the state of Vermont.
A course on heredity offered by Henry Perkins was inspired by Mendel’s laws of heredity, Charles Davenport’s Heredity in Relation to Eugenics (1911), and Sir J. Walter Thomson’s Heredity (1908). Thomson’s writing about eugenics came from a more cautious point of view. He warned that “a program of eugenics must be conservative, gentle, and enlightened” (Gallagher, 1999, p. 29). Perkins’ interest was further piqued after receiving a letter from a fellow eugenicist, Charles Davenport, calling attention to the disturbing facts concerning Vermont’s drafted men. He went on to explain that Vermont was nearly at the top of the list as having the highest rate of defective men examined for draft purposes. Perkins would use this information to promote the need for eugenics research and eugenics solutions in the state of Vermont.
Toward the end of the 19th century, Vermont leaders and writers had become concerned with the 3 D’s (dependency, delinquency, and mental defect) in relation to the prominent character of Vermont individuals. When teaching his course on heredity, it was a perfect opportunity to apply a eugenics program to address this problem that seemed to be worsening when more and more middle-class families were having fewer children. The responsibility for the care of mentally and physically handicapped children was gradually transferred from local communities to state agencies. The need was so great that places such as Brattleboro Retreat, the State Hospital for the Insane in Waterbury, and the State School for the Feeble-minded in Brandon quickly became filled to capacity. The State School for the Feeble-minded in Brandon which eventually became known as the Brandon Training School opened its doors in 1912. Interestingly enough, Gallagher (1999) reported that this was the same year the Vermont legislature passed a bill entitled, “An Act to Authorize and Provide for the Sterilization of Imbeciles, Feeble-minded and Insane Persons, Rapists, Confirmed Criminals, and Other Defectives” (p. 53). The bill was vetoed by Governor Allen Fletcher, but passed a few years later allowing sterilization by consent making the law appear less unconstitutional.
Harriett E. Abbott and L. Josephine Webster were the first social workers hired by the Vermont Children’s Aid Society to expand the organization’s work of foster care and adoption of needy children. These women were extremely concerned with the welfare of young girls and women and their infants who were living in “unwholesome home environments” (Gallagher, 1999, p. 61) and the issues associated with absent fathers. Without some kind of intervention, women and their children would surely continue to experience an endless cycle of poverty and immorality. Many of these girls were referred to the School for the Feebleminded in Brandon where they consented to sterilization when they came to “understand their condition was heredity and that ‘the treatment’ would enable them to once again live freely in society” (Gallagher, 1999, p. 64). This kind of intervention is based on the perception that social dysfunction spreads solely through reproduction. This is only taking into consideration the nature aspect of human development while completely ignoring the environment or nurture side of development. Well-meaning, educated people too often think they know what is best for individuals without having complete knowledge of a situation.
Another sad story of Vermont’s eugenic program was the plight of the Abnaki Indians. They had been Vermont’s first inhabitants, but because they didn’t own homes and were considered gypsies many of them were incarcerated in institutions and eventually sterilized. They are an example of another group of people who didn’t conform to society’s standards and were faced with the realities of racism and social status. Many of the Abnakis were forced to leave their homeland, conceal their identity, their language, and customs to escape imprisonment and sterilization. According to Charles Delaney at a symposium at the Robert Fleming Museum in Burlington, “For Vermont Abnakis, eugenics was neither science nor a program of human betterment; it was an agent of their annihilation” (Gallagher, 1999, p. 7).
Vermont’s eugenics program gained strength when Harriett Abbott obtained training for developing and implementing a eugenics survey at Davenport’s Eugenics Record Office in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. The VT Children’s Aid Society, which funded her training, was then well-equipped to amass data on a large number of what they referred to as unwholesome families in need of social services. Relating my own experience as a peer counselor at a pregnancy resource center, I began to see patterns of behavior in most of our clients that Webster and Abbott would have referred to as “incompetent parents and a growing social cancer” (Gallagher, 1999, p. 67). It’s easy to become cynical about such a population that exists everywhere in our culture, but the viewpoint that must be retained is to look at each individual separately using the wisdom from past experiences and relying on the hope that there is a plan and purpose for each human being placed on this earth.
Perkins’s vision of a Vermont Eugenics Survey became a reality with the help of a $5,000 endowment from a well-connected native Vermonter, Mrs. Eggleston, who was also responsible for the incorporation of the Vermont Children’s Aid Society. Perkins hired Abbott to coordinate Vermont’s Eugenics Survey, a division of UVM’s zoology department giving it much needed scientific clout. The Advisory Committee, hand-picked by Perkins, included only highly educated individuals, Protestants, and affluent Vermont stock. Obviously, this supposedly non-sectarian and nonpolitical organization lacked representation from the Vermont working class, any ethnic minorities, or heaven forbid, Catholics. After a decade of eugenic abuse of thousands of individuals through what was called voluntary sterilization, people “ultimately lost their connection with family, community, and their history—in short, their humanity” (Gallagher, 1999, p. 125), ironically for the cause of preventing broken little lives. It would appear to the families and communities, who were the focus of this well-intentioned enterprise, that the eugenics survey was orchestrated by Vermont elitists to cleanse the state of unwanted peoples.
How similar this sounds to the Nazi’s extermination of Jews, gypsies, and mentally defective people in order to create a master race of Aryans. In Vermont, to our knowledge, there were no gas chambers or crematoriums where people were actually killed and disposed of, but it may have been only a matter of time before Vermont fell into the same trap of Hitler’s regime. America’s timely retreat from eugenics barely preceded Hitler’s ascent in Germany. The pseudoscience’s founding fathers of Cold Spring Harmanbor reluctantly and without apology stepped down from their positions and the Eugenics Record Survey office was closed.
One of those notable American eugenicists, Charles Davenport, continued his work as president of the International Federation of Eugenics Organizations (IFEO) whose membership included several well-known German eugenicists. Davenport wrote many influential articles regarding eugenics and racial hygiene which were published throughout Germany. He also served on the editorial boards of two influential German journals as late as 1939 (Kuhl, 1996, pg. 69). It is devastating to think that in the name of science and medicine, the work of eugenics in the United States by scientists such as Charles Davenport and Henry Perkins influenced those who were responsible for the horrors and tragedies of the Holocaust. According to Black (2003), “[The United States’ participation in] eugenics always risked veering completely out of control. It did in Nazi Germany” (p. 385). This history is a regrettable but necessary precursor to the study of the Holocaust.










































Chapter 2


Holocaust Survivors


One of Galton’s German supporters, Alfred Ploetz, used the German equivalent of Galton’s term eugenics which translates to racial hygiene, and established the German Society for Racial Hygiene in 1905. Now the connection between eugenics and Hitler’s dream of a superior race begins to be revealed.
The stage was set for Hitler to move forward with a campaign to create a master race because after the losses of World War I there was a need to rebuild the German population. Hitler inspired others, such as Heinrich Himmler who headed up the Nazi Police Force, to join together with the Nazi party to exterminate the entire Jewish population in a movement called The Final Solution. Following are the actual stories of personal trauma and tragedy associated with the horrors of the Holocaust between 1938—1945.


Elie Wiesel
(1928 - )
Sighet, Romania



Elie Wiesel was fifteen-years-old when the horrors of the Holocaust began for him, his family, and friends. This is brought home to me by knowing my neighbors, Nathaniel and Jeffrey, who turned fifteen last fall. Like Wiesel, they studied for several months to prepare for their Bar Mitzvah, a special Jewish ceremony that every young boy celebrates around this age. But unlike Wiesel’s childhood, they are healthy, young teens, enjoying a game of basketball under the protective care of their parents and their community. They are looking forward to college plans and whatever good fortune the future may have in store for them. They have no need to fear persecution because of their Jewish heritage, as millions did only six decades ago because of Hitler’s Final Solution. It’s doubtful that Nathaniel and Jeffrey even have to endure bullying in their rural high school. Thankfully, some societies have made progress towards minimizing discrimination between race and religion. It was a much different situation only sixty years ago for Elie Wiesel.
Elie was brought up in the small, mostly Jewish community in Romania. As a teenager, he watched while his grandfather, several uncles, and cousins were transported by train to death camps in Poland. The following year, Elie and his entire family also ended up in a death camp in Auschwitz, Poland. While the most crippling trauma took place during his time in the death camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, the events leading up to the day they were ordered and crowded into cattle cars were also filled with stress and anxiety. One year earlier on Sunday, March 19, 1944, Elie remembers the temple services being interrupted by a vagabond who cried out that the Germans had crossed the border into Romania. “You sit here praying while the Angel of Death stands at the city gates!” (Wiesel, 1995, p. 53) Some took the vagabond seriously and others disregarded his warnings as someone crying wolf. Elie was more curious than afraid at this point. Soon he would no longer be only a spectator in this ordeal, but he and his family would all be actors, as well.
At home where his family owned and operated a bakery, business went on as usual, except for the hush while listening to the latest radio reports. Even though the Germans had crossed over the border, the community remained mostly optimistic that the war would soon be over. After all, the Red Army was so near, just over the mountains. Whether they were in denial, or just too scared to cope with the situation at hand, one can only wonder. The conversations between Elie and his friends were not the typical conversations of fifteen-year-old boys thinking about girls, cars, sports, and what snack they will eat next. No, they spoke of war and how they might be able to cross borders and escape to Palestine. Elie, being less optimistic than his friends, viewed this situation as the beginning of the climactic battle between Gog and Magog, where the Savior would triumph and He would lead them into the Holy Land. “You and your mystical hallucinations,” [his] friends said (Wiesel, 1995, p. 55). Elie wasn’t so far off. Whether they knew it or not, the city of Sighet’s fate was already sealed. Adolf Eichmann, a young, high-ranking officer of the Nazi police, had already sent 35 SS men to deal with the Jews in this small city and to take them to a place called Birkenau—a death camp in Auschwitz.
Looking back at the timing for this horrific event, it was only weeks before the allies stormed the beaches at Normandy in June 1944. It must have been known all over the world that Hitler’s Third Reich was doomed. Washington knew it, London did, too, and Stockholm, Bern, and the Vatican—everyone except the people in Elie’s small city. I have to wonder, and so does Wiesel, why wasn’t something being done to stop this madness? But, Hitler was determined to carry out his promise to rid the earth of every last Jew, homosexual, and gypsy. Sadly, Wiesel’s father and most of the others refused to believe the rumors of how the Germans were reportedly persecuting children, humiliating women, pulling out the beards of elderly men, and throwing students from trains. Life just went on as usual; they prayed, but maybe just a little bit quieter. This reminds me of a story about a frog that was placed in a pot of milk. He was content and thought he was doing quite well. He didn’t notice when the heat under the milk was turned up slowly so that when it began to boil, he was trapped.
The synagogues were still open and families began to prepare as usual for the Passover as jeeps, tanks, and motorcycles rolled into Sighet on that day. Hitler’s plan was being played out to lull the Jews into a false sense of security. They were polite, bowing to the mistress of the house they had requisitioned. The maids of the requisitioned apartments reported to everyone that the soldiers even made their own beds. They offered candy to the children. Then the milk slowly began to boil. But Wiesel reveals that “no one warned us that we would pay dearly for the smiles and hand-kissing of the German officers, that their courtesy was part of the plan conceived by Eichmann and his specialists” (Wiesel, 1995, p. 59). Things changed drastically on the eve of Passover in 1944, when all synagogues in Sighet were ordered closed. Instead, they met in homes and recited the customary prayers and celebrated just the same, but with heavy hearts.
Seven days following Passover, a decree was issued that all stores and offices belonging to Jews must be closed. No longer would any Jews be allowed to go outside, except during the late afternoon for a limited time to purchase food. Then a total curfew followed. They were ordered to cut out and sew a yellow Star of David on their clothing which would be visible to everyone. Wiesel was not afraid of the yellow star, but wore his with great pride, that is, until the day he saw the posters. “The posters were signed by the German military governor…whoever opposed the new order would be shot” (Wiesel, 1995, p. 61).
I have to ask myself how would I react to such irrational treatment? Could I remain composed when watching my father and mother, or any human being for that matter, being treated so inhumanely? Jewish homes were being invaded and items of any value at all were being stolen from them. Eichmann ordered Hungarian police to carry out his orders and his deadly plan. The propaganda of the Third Reich and the intense discrimination against the race of Jewish people had infiltrated the minds of the Hungarians and they carried out these orders with a zeal and brutality that included beating women and children and trampling old people, including the sick. In Wiesel’s opinion, these acts committed will remain forever “the dishonor of the Hungarian army and nation” (Wiesel, 1995, p. 63). The order for the Jews to be moved into the ghetto almost came as a relief because now they would be among other Jews and their families. There was strength in numbers at least. To this day, Wiesel struggles with the fact that the Jews of Sighet were “sacrificed, abandoned, betrayed, delivered to the invader…ignored by everyone but the enemy” (Wiesel, 1995, p. 64) while the rest of the world—even free Jews—stood by and did nothing at all.
I am reminded of my own tragedy, insignificant in comparison to Wiesel, yet traumatic for me, that occurred in 1972. I was leaving a high school basketball game that had taken place at an “all-black” school in Rochester, New York. There had been no racial incidents throughout the game so no one suspected that things might get tense. Students, parents, teachers, and cheerleaders were all walking down the hall to begin boarding the buses that would take us home. Out of nowhere, I was pushed down and punched repeatedly by a small group of black students probably because I was small and easy prey. I watched helplessly as people I knew walked by me without even attempting to rescue me. I will never forget that moment, of course. I can see a face of one particular parent, but oddly enough, I was never able to remember who it was and I’m glad for that.
Elie had to watch as the first convoy of Jews was ordered out of the ghetto and into the waiting area to eventually board cattle cars that would transport them to the death camp in Poland. What a feeling of helplessness must have overcome young Wiesel and others as they helped prepare and pack provisions for their friends who would soon be gone forever. As they walked down the streets headed to the waiting area, all they could do was offer words of encouragement and exchange empty promises to meet them again soon.
All my teachers, my classmates—each of them took along a part
of me. I felt ill, I had never felt so ill. I wanted to shout, to scream like a madman. (Wiesel, 1995, p. 68)

This was a teenager, not a man. How is one to handle such devastas-tion, tragedy, and injustice? Wiesel shouted to his friends to hold on—hold onto what?
In the days that followed, a peasant woman, Maria, urged Wiesel’s family to escape and be hidden in the mountains with her, but they refused. Their reason was that it was important for them to stay together with their people, though at one point they considered sending the children or their mother with Maria. I would have considered a mass escape myself, but who knows what one would do or how the mind works when under such duress? Elie’s family did manage to stay together for a short time. They boarded the cattle car together for the journey to Auschwitz, but the men and women were separated immediately after their arrival at Auschwitz.
The experience of the cattle car alone was the end of Wiesel’s innocence. Hunger, thirst, and listening to a howls of a woman gone mad all contributed to his instant aging. Daily they said their morning and evening prayers to hold onto any bit of normality, but Wiesel now began to question whether God was truly traveling with them. What would it take for my own faith to be shaken? The reality of this tragic act against humanity has so gripped my heart, so that now my own faith has become much more important. This really happened and I know that it certainly could happen again. After all, our society places great value on intellectual minds, so that medicine and especially science truly rule the world these days. People of faith, whether Christian or Jew, are regarded as simpletons stuck in the past with an archaic way of thinking. I am reminded that I can never be silent now. When I hear the whistle of a train in the middle of the night, I envision the faces of the innocent victims in cattle cars slowly making their way toward a death camp. I hope the world never forgets this atrocity.
Upon their arrival in Auschwitz, Elie and his father were immediately separated from the women. He never saw his mother or his little sister again—another trauma that haunts him for life. He knows now the fate of the thousands of children who arrived in these death camps. They were devoured alive in the flames of a waiting furnace. The one positive outcome of the death camp that Elie relates is how he and his father became closer than ever during this time. Daily life in the work camp found Wiesel clinging to his father and enjoying the privilege of having his father all to himself. This only made it more difficult, though, when in January 1945, his father died of starvation and shame in Buchenwald, a concentration camp they had been transferred to in Germany, only nine days before the Russian army liberated the camp at Auschwitz.
The day his father died, he tried desperately to stay by his side, but he was driven outside with clubs. This experience alone is enough to traumatize an individual for a lifetime, but as we know it is just a small part of what Elie Wiesel endured during the months of Nazi terror. Buchenwald was liberated on April 11, 1945, but Wiesel and the others didn’t feel the victory—they mourned too many deaths to speak of victory. It was the American soldiers that Wiesel remembers and the horror that could be read in their faces. Many of them “wept tears of rage and shame for the human species when [they] saw us” (Wiesel, 1995, p. 97). Elie felt nothing, only grief for the loss of his father and possibly his entire family.
Wiesel studied in France after the war as part of a group of Jewish children orphaned by the Holocaust. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for his first memoir, Night, and became a United States citizen in 1956. He has dedicated his life to ensuring that the murder of six million Jews would never be forgotten, and that other human beings would never be subjected to genocidal homicide.




Michael Wieck
(1928 - )
Konigsberg, Prussia (presently Kaliningrad, Russia)


Michael Wieck marks his life as changed on Kristallnacht, called the Night of Broken Glass on November 9, 1938. He was only nine-years-old when he began to sense his parents’ worry and the looming danger that would affect Jews. He was considered an unbaptized Jew or of mixed race brought up as a Jew, but he had already begun learning the prayers in preparation for his Bar mitzvah. This is the Jewish ceremony of consecration that every thirteen-year-old Jewish boy participates in to be considered eligible to read from the sacred text, the Torah. His sister, Miriam, was spared death, torture, and rape when her parents managed to send her to an American boarding school.
Shortly after the beginning of WW II in September of 1939, many restrictions for Jews were put in place. Food rations were cut, their ration cards were stamped with a “J”, food could only be purchased at certain times, and they were not allowed to participate in air raid drills. Jewish youth that were fourteen-years-old were drafted to work in chemical factories and other dangerous jobs. In 1941, the order came to wear the Star of David and this was a turning point. Now there was no question that the Final Solution was a reality, Jewish emigration was prohibited, and it was absolutely clear they intended to totally eliminate the Jews. (Wieck, 2003, p. 59). Wieck was ordered to wear the Star of David, which he refers to as the “badge of shame” on his breast. “My childhood was over once and for all [and the] struggle to survive began” (Wieck, 2003, p. 68).
The transport of Jews from Konigsberg had begun when Michael was thirteen-years-old. On one of the first transports, his Aunt Fanny, who had lived with his family as a nanny, sat on a curb unable to stand up from the weight of her luggage after walking quite some distance. When she saw Michael, she beckoned for his help, but he had already been ordered to carry bags for his teacher. He was frightened for her, but the sea of bayonets and guards pushing and ordering the lines to move forward made it impossible for him to jump out of line to help her. The look in her eyes is a memory he will never forget. “Very quickly I turned around once more and once more our eyes met, her look pleading with me, then—for the last time—her look reproaching me, and I never saw her again” (Wieck, 2003, p. 20). He was only thirteen-years-old attempting to manage adult decisions and this is where his memoir begins. Many of his dear friends and classmates were crammed into freight cars that day to be eradicated and no reasonable explanation could be given. The trauma that would haunt him throughout his entire life had begun. It still puzzles Michael today as he wonders why these people had to die and why he, of all people, survived.
In August 1944, two air raids totally destroyed all of Konigsberg. For a boy at the age of thirteen, it was difficult to grasp the nature of justice when what was happening all around him was making absolutely no sense at all. Men were being hanged for taking food rations to soldiers, two young people calling for resistance were beheaded, and then began the transport, arrests, and suicides of Jewish relatives, friends, and acquaintances (Wieck, 2003, p. 96). The fear of death or even suddenly dying was no longer a concern for Michael Wieck. During this time, when he comes to the realization that he couldn’t determine when or how he would die, he made peace with the fact that dying is in God’s hands. Therefore, the fear of dying no longer existed (Wieck, 2003, p. 99).
During the months that followed, Michael was forced to work at a factory as was his mother. His father avoided this because he wasn’t Jewish and was an accomplished violinist. So was Michael’s mother, but her Jewish status did not permit her to remain with her husband. They dodged bombs and used their father’s food ration card to purchase a small amount of food. What kind of strange and intense abandonment must have been felt by Michael and his mother when their father was unwilling or unable to defend and protect his family? As the Russian army advanced, dodging dropping bombs on the way to and from work became a natural occurrence. There was a prevalent thought throughout Konisberg that when the Russian Army finally arrived, there would be relief from the German Nazis. But the opposite was true. The Russians were worse than the Germans.
For a time, Michael and his mother found shelter in a cellar while being bombed by Russians and finally on April 8th, a quietness descended upon Konigsberg. It appeared that their liberators had arrived. Little did they know that they had just survived the second round of Hell and the third round awaited them. The Russian army mass-murdered Germans and raped women between the ages of 13-65. Michael remembers that a girl, barely a sixteen-year-old, was raped eighteen times in one night (Wieck, 2003, p. 117). His Jewish upbringing and teachings about sexuality was embedded in an aura of it being something extremely special. Michael recounts his confusion, “how is it possible…that an act of love can also be an act of hate?” (Wieck, 2003, p. 131).
Wieck’s physical health deteriorated and the feeling of weakness, physically and emotionally, increased. He had never heard anyone in agony crying out for help and it haunted him continuously. Under the Russian occupation he became a thief and robber, much to the dismay of his father. His thievery was the one thing that kept his mother and father alive. They managed to avoid being killed by Russian soldiers, but sanitation and water became a major issue. Wieck and his family would go days without eating or drinking anything. “Thirst made itself painfully felt” recalls Wieck, just as their small group was marched off to a neighboring town. On the way, they passed dozens of dead bodies, men, women, and young girls frozen by the side of the road. Sadly his thoughts seemed to be that “at least they were relieved from this suffering” (Wieck, 2003, p. 141).
Michael and several others were chosen to return to Konisberg for work detail which meant burying the dead left in the streets and buildings. These were people that he may have known at one time, or gone to school with, or met at the grocery story. The cemetery was a large open pit where bodies were laid side by side. A powder of some sort was laid upon the corpses and then a layer of dirt covered them. Another layer of bodies was placed over those already buried and the procedure was repeated yet again. The memories that haunt Michael are still vivid today. The young women, their innocent lips dripping with blood, were dragged by the ankles or by nooses over rocks and stumps to be laid in the graves.
All the hardships and misery that reduced the population
[of Konisberg] by more than 80 percent are beyond the
power of words to describe. (Wieck, 2003, p. 161)

Wieck’s memoir of what happened in the small country of Konisberg is not a well-known story. These people were not forced to travel distances to concentration camps. Instead, they were terrorized at home and left to survive without any provisions whatsoever. They learned to eat dandelions and nettles, but had no knowledge or resources as to what else might be edible in such dire circumstances. “Had I the authority to write the school curriculum, I would have every child learn which plants and fungi are edible,” writes Wieck (Wieck, 2003, p. 166). He goes on to explain that offering simple courses in the science of nutrition, survival techniques and first aid could prove vital in desperate times. (With all the talk in our own country about disaster planning, I wonder if information such as this is being taught to our children and is it even necessary for today’s circumstances?)
Michael Wieck survived the Nazis as a Jew and he survived the Russians as a German. “But that I was allowed to survive both is incomprehensible to me” (Wieck, 2003, p. 188). At the age of nineteen, Wieck finally obtained an exit visa and was reunited with his sister, Miriam, in Berlin. He struggled for years dealing with people due to a shyness that prevailed. His sister helped to cultivate him back into society.
But as had so often happened in my life, the right thing
happened for me at the right moment. A school friend
named Hildegard came to visit. I fell in love and found in
Hildegard a sympathetic person who gently began to take
me, a somewhat eccentric stranger, in hand and slowly,
with clever psychology, she turned me little by little into
a “useful person.” We were married in 1950. (Wieck, 2003, p. 222)

This sounds like a beautiful ending to a horrible tragedy, but Wieck makes incredibly clear the importance of making these tragedies known throughout the world so that they cannot be forgotten. When he hears comments that pose the possibility that the Jews are responsible for their own demise, he is horrified and unable to speak. His memoir is extremely graphic which makes it hard to accept. He was forced to put down into words the inhumane experiences that he endured and for some reason survived so that we would know the truth. Of course, nobody wants to be blamed for such atrocities and the emphasis is not even being placed on blame. The reason for these memoirs is that we will not forget what human beings are capable of.
I came to learn that the capacity of the self-righteous
and the conceited to blind themselves to the truth knows
no limit. (Wieck, 2003, p. 224).




Miriam Katin
(1928 - )
Budapest, Hungary


Miriam Katin was just a toddler when this story begins in Budapest, Hungary. Her father was serving in the Hungarian Army so her mother was left to care for Miriam on her own in very uncertain times. The first serious change in their lives occurred when all Jews were ordered to hand over their pets. Esther, Miriam’s mother, explained to her daughter that her beloved dog, Rex, has died rather than trying to explain such an irrational situation to an innocent four-year-old.
Miriam’s family was not poor, but appears to have lived quite above middle class standards in the beautiful and sophisticated city of Budapest in 1944. The impending doom that would affect every Jewish person in this city began with trivial orders, but soon developed into more serious situations. Miriam’s mother, by order of Hitler’s Third Reich, was directed by her landlord to move all of her household belongings out of the apartment. She was allowed to take only a suitcase with minimal personal items when they were forced to move into the ghetto area of Budapest.
Before that could happen, Esther made a decision that most likely saved her and her daughter’s life, but at what cost. She contracted with a black marketer for a new identity and left the city as a servant girl with an illegitimate child. Before she left, however, she made sure to leave adequate information and proof of a faked suicide with her housekeeper whom she swore to secrecy. What would I be feeling if tomorrow I was ordered to destroy all my personal belongings including pictures, letters, and books? How would I cope with losing my own identity and forced to play the part of someone else? I suppose in order to save my own life and my child’s life I would also do what Esther did. Most of the stories of Holocaust survivors talk about the choices they made when faced with staying with family and friends or escaping with the help of a non-Jewish friend. Most chose to stay with family and sadly their choice meant eventual death. Miriam’s mother’s choice to escape was probably because her parents had previously passed away so she was already on her own.
Throughout the pending escape and weeks of hiding, it was obvious that Miriam’s mother had raised her with a religious knowledge of God as their Creator and Provider, but as time passed their faith dwindled because of the dire circumstances they faced on a daily basis. Having escaped the city without being noticed as Jews, they boarded a train and headed into wine country for refuge. Esther and Miriam were hesitantly welcomed into the home of an older couple who owned a winery where they both worked for their room and board. But soon their peace would be disrupted when a German Commandante discovers Esther and finds her beauty too much to resist. Realizing that she is in hiding he visits her regularly bringing chocolates to her daughter to keep her occupied while raping her mother repeatedly. Esther has no recourse but to submit rather than being found out.
War eventually erupted in the midst of this peaceful wine country between the Germans and the Russians. All the women and children that remain huddle into the wine cellars for safety only to be found by Russians who proceed to drink and gang rape anyone in sight. Esther and her daughter narrowly escape one morning into the woods in the middle of a wintery storm. A kind, old farmer picks them up and hides them in his wagon and takes them to his home where the reception from his wife is less than cordial. Esther barters her gold wedding ring for food and shelter and is allowed to stay. The war continues on more brutal as the days progress and Esther finds herself sewing bloody military garments taken from the bodies of dead soldiers to earn her keep.
Little Miriam was aware of all the horrors of war, hiding, rapes and murders, cold and hunger, and survival. As a young child, her coping mechanisms to deal with such atrocities were much different than for an adult. She occupied herself with whatever toy she imagined, or a doll or small dog to keep herself busy. When a child is faced with such turmoil and confusion it is sometimes safer to hide by finding some kind of distraction. It’s also likely that Miriam sensed her mother’s fears and problems and was determined not to be one more bother for her mother to have to deal with.
It becomes evident to Esther that she has become pregnant and not knowing whether this child was fathered by the German officer or one of the Hungarian soldiers, she flees once again determined to find someone who can end the pregnancy that she cannot bear to carry. Just when she feels that life isn’t worth living and she has come to a point in her life where she is ready to give up—God shows up. Esther doesn’t actually see it that way, but one would hope that eventually her daughter, Miriam, would come to this conclusion. They are met by a kind and gentle man at the train station who provides them with a ticket to a city of refuge where they can find food and shelter and a service for finding lost relatives. Their horror story ends when her husband who has returned from the war, traces her escape route and miraculously finds both his wife and his daughter safe and sound in France where they have been living and waiting to hear from him.
Only when they are again reunited as a family is Esther able to speak her heart to her husband about some of the horrors they endured. “It was so hard and hopeless,” recounts Esther, but “thank God we are alive and together again” (Katin, 2006, p. 117). Karoly, her husband, has lost all faith in God and makes it very clear that God has abandoned them and the only way any of them were saved is because they did it on their own. “We are on our own, Esther. That’s all there is to it” (Katin, 2006, p. 118).




Summation

These are only three personal accounts of young people who survived the horrors of the Holocaust nearly seventy years ago. Many of the survivors have passed away by now, so it is a privilege to be able to hear from those who are still alive to share their testimonies. While Wiesel, Wieck, and Katin all shared the same religion and culture growing up, they were all individuals with personal strengths and weaknesses that became a part of how they faced the trauma of being held captive, of pointless persecution and dehumanizing treatment to survive the unending months of turmoil.
All of these survivors still wonder how and why they survived the Holocaust, while so many others did not. This is a question that haunts most survivors of a traumatic event such as war, natural catastrophes, or auto accidents. These survivors are also candidates for a condition we are now familiar with since the war in Iraq called Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome.




































Chapter 3

Surviving Trauma



The promise of healing is not that all your scars will be erased or that you will never hurt again. Rather, its promise is that the energy you now spend suppressing the past, running from it, or hiding it from yourself and others, can be yours to invest in the present—in your goals, relation-ships, spiritual growth, and creativity. (Matsakis, 1996, pg. 9)


The pathological understanding of trauma according to Webster’s definition is “an emotional shock that creates substantial and lasting damage to the psychological development of the individual, generally leading to neurosis.” Furthermore, trauma also includes anything that severely disturbs the mind or emotions. Many psychologists today favor using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), primarily developed through a merging of behavior therapy and cognitive therapy, to treat trauma victims. Such an approach influences dysfunctional emotions, behaviors, and thinking through goal-oriented, systematic counseling and therapy. Psychologists have been successful in helping patients cope at a higher level of functionality, but whether or not one can be healed from trauma has yet to be determined. On the other hand, certain individuals who survived the trauma of the Holocaust appear to have achieved further healing by sharing their stories through memoirs, forgiving their perpetrators, and helping others escape the pain and suffering of survivor trauma.
Certain traumas, such as war and sexual crimes, are considered the most severe forms of trauma, but any kind of trauma can have minor to severe effects on a person depending on his or her genetic and emotional structure. Traumatic events of this nature also include being kidnapped, being taken hostage, terrorist attacks, natural or manmade disasters, severe automobile accidents, or being diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is the DSM-IV term used to identify someone who is suffering from a severe traumatic event. The concept of “post-traumatic stress suggests that symptoms may manifest themselves years after the stressful event” (Marcus & Rosenberg, 1989, p.15). Depending on the severity of the trauma, individuals may struggle with acceptance of the diagnosis and treatment even after symptoms have been confirmed according to DSM-IV guidelines. It’s important to understand that healing from trauma and PTSD takes time and is often a lifelong process.
The authors of The Unbroken Soul: Tragedy, Trauma, and Human Resilience assert that psychological trauma manifests in five commonly seen pathways.
(1) Withdrawal from specific situations or from life in general
(2) Masochistic brooding and ‘injustice collecting”
(3) Chronic anger and revenge seeking
(4) Flashbacks, nightmares, startle reactions
(5) Making narcissistic capital out of misfortune and regarding oneself as an exception to ordinary rules and regulations of society. (Parens, 2008, p. 3)

It’s worth venturing a little deeper into some of these symptoms to understand how people are affected by PTSD. It’s a common trait for trauma victims to withdraw from situations that remind them of the event that caused the trauma. This aids the mind in using denial to block out the fact that the event actually occurred. According to the APA DSM-IV (2000), “The person commonly makes deliberate efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations about the traumatic event and avoids activities, situations, or people who arouse recollections of it” (p. 468). I believe that denial is built into our beings because some trauma is so severe that it could destroy a person if she came face to face with facts before she was emotionally and physically ready to begin confronting the issue. According to Matsaki’s (1999) handbook for trauma survivors, “some Nazi concentration camp survivors have fared much better by keeping their memories in repression and denial than others have by remembering the horrors” (p. 145). This symptom is referred to as psychic or emotional numbing. It is similar to the phenomenon that occurs when an individual is physically wounded, but then is able to walk miles to safety. When someone has been wounded emotionally, the mind can numb itself against unbearable emotional pain by putting aside any emotions he or she might feel. In the instance of the Holocaust, victims who showed their emotions in the midst of the trauma placed themselves in a life threatening situation.
In my limited experience with counseling posttraumatic stress as a peer-counselor, I have often wondered why one patient has the capacity and emotional strength to successfully complete therapy with a visible change in behavior and thought processes while another individual seems to remain trapped in his or her dysfunctional state. The fact that 60% of the world’s population (50% in the U.S.) has suffered a traumatizing event gives cause to understand why and what is the secret to helping trauma victims find help and hope (Parens, 2008). The study of resiliency re-surfaced mainly because of the large number of Holocaust victims and also due to empirical studies of children raised by grossly disturbed parents. One of the main factors in resiliency is being able to make sense out of chaos which is not an easy task. I would agree with Parens, that it is in loving a person unconditionally that underlies the phenomenon of resiliency. Obviously, there is much more we need to understand about resiliency before making any scientific claims.
Another symptom common to trauma victims involves re-experiencing the trauma by means of memories, dreams, nightmares, and/or flashbacks. An individual may feel uncomfortable in situations that remind him/her of the original trauma. Sonia in The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich would actually hide in her own house years after the Holocaust. She would spy throughout the neighborhood convinced that someone was after her. I recently met a woman in her forties whose mother was a Holocaust survivor. She related incidents during her childhood when her mother would lock both her and her brother up in a closet under the basement stairs while she went out on a mission to find provisions for them. These children experienced abnormal and cruel treatment due to their mother’s untreated trauma but eventually sought and received therapy to help them cope with what has been termed second generation trauma.
A third symptom is often referred to as the “fight or flight” reaction and involves physiological changes to occur in the body. An individual may have outbursts or rage, agitation, and irritability, along with insomnia. Having grown up in a family with a father who was a veteran of World War II and in my personal opinion suffered from untreated PTSD, I often experienced his rage and abuse targeted at my mother. My reaction was to run and hide or in other words, I took flight. On another occasion, I remember fleeing a situation at a high school basketball game when two spectators began fighting in the bleachers. It triggered a traumatic memory of being personally assaulted at a basketball game a year earlier. My reaction was beyond my control as I screamed, ran out of the gym, and cowered in a corner of the hallway. I have never received a professional diagnosis or treatment for trauma, but through self-diagnosis and understanding these symptoms I have been able to realize the basis of some of my fears, my need to control situations, the value of forgiveness, and the importance of helping others resolve issues related to posttraumatic stress disorder.
In order for posttraumatic stress to be successfully treated, all of these major symptoms must be taken seriously. Professional interest in the area of traumatology had been relatively sparse compared to research and study of other problems (Matsakis, 1996, p. 9) until the recent return of soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis. The Veterans Administration Hospital in Vermont uses the Cognitive Processing Therapy: Veteran/Military Version developed by Patricia A. Resick, Ph.D. and Candice M. Monson, Ph.D. of the National Center for PTSD to help treat veterans returning to their families and jobs from the horrors of war. There are several versions of therapy to help one recover from survivor trauma and inevitably successful treatment will involve caring friends, other survivors, and qualified professionals. A handbook for trauma survivors entitled I Can’t Get Over It (Matsakis, 1996, p. 144) stresses the importance of establishing and maintaining contact with a social support system throughout treatment.
In the case of most trauma survivors, the issue of grief also needs to be dealt with because usually the traumatic event includes personal loss or in extreme cases the loss of life. Especially in the case of Holocaust victims many families witnessed their children, siblings, mother, and father being beaten, humiliated, and often dying. The grief they experienced had to be set aside in order to survive the ensuing weeks and months of torture. Elie Wiesel (1995) describes watching his father die from starvation and the emptiness he experienced afterward due to the extreme circumstances in which they all suffered (p. 94). It was years later on December 10, 1986, at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony when his emotions finally began to break through. Egil Aarvik, president of the Nobel Prize Committee began:
“You were with your father when he passed away; it was
the darkest hour of your life. And this is the most glorious.
It is therefore fitting that your own son be with you as you receive the highest distinction humanity can bestow upon one of its own.” I was shaken by the linking of my father and my son. I saw them standing together. My lips moved, but no sound came out. Tears filled my eyes, the tears I couldn’t shed so long ago. (p. 95)

Some forty years later, the healing process for Weisel continued as is the case for trauma victims.
The healing process for grief is similar to healing from trauma. The five stages of grief are denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. One of the differences is that the stages of grief often progress in the order described previously. The stages of healing from trauma often overlap and recur as the healing process begins.
Most therapy for survivor trauma begins with the patient recalling the incident. This may involve using photographs to remind him of the surroundings when the trauma occurred. During this time, he may remember things that happened but had been stored safely in the place to make functioning in everyday life possible. It may bring up memories of people that were involved in the situation triggering emotions that have been hidden for years. Sharing your story with someone you trust helps you to feel more comfortable talking about the trauma that occurred. Healing begins when you are able to cope with the emotions, symptoms, and memories surrounding the trauma.
During therapy you begin to identify what triggers symptoms, such as anger, guilt, fear, and rage. Triggers can be anniversary dates, sights, smells, actions, and people that remind you of the incident that happened to cause the trauma. As you become more aware of your thoughts and feelings, you can learn how to change your reactions to these emotions. Treatment for most survivor victims is a long and sometimes continuous journey. But with patience and a trusted therapist they will see an improvement in their quality of life through their daily relationships at work and at home. Self-confidence will be improved as the process continues to a point where the survivor is sometimes able to turn around and help others begin to heal from their trauma.
A natural tendency for survivors who have witnessed trauma as atrocious as the Holocaust is to write about their experience in the form of a memoir. Memoirs written by Viktor Frankl, Michael Wieck, and Elie Wiesel, to name just a few, provide a depth of insight into the experiences which so many thousands of Jews survived during this time. These writings have served to educate the world of the horrors committed against humankind and at the same time have provided hope and healing for the authors themselves and for those who read them.
In the world today, we hear of trauma and tragedy on a weekly basis. Whether it may be a plane crash, a tsunami, hurricane disaster, or genocide, there is trauma associated with the event and there will be victims left to cope—usually without someone by their side. Those with the resiliency to continue through life will be vital to those remaining without hope. Those with the experience and knowledge of the treatment necessary to help heal the wounds of trauma will be vital to victims of natural and man-made disasters throughout time.




Chapter 4
Spiritual Considerations


“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience,
but spiritual beings having a human experience.”
Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955)

This is the perspective from which I have personally come to view life. Francis Galton, Charles Davenport, Adolf Hitler, and Peter Singer are examples of the many people who chose to ignore this French Jesuit and philosopher, Teilhard de Chardin’s, knowledge and understanding of life. Throughout this study I have pondered the spiritual aspects of eugenics, the Holocaust (victims, perpetrators, bystanders), and the those who survived these traumatic events. So, I have chosen to include a personal glimpse into these thoughts which are extremely important in our understanding of humanity in its entirety.

Eugenics
The great majority of people would agree that there exist two worlds that affect our everyday being. There is a physical world that we can see, touch, smell, hear and experience in amazing ways. There is also a spiritual world that is not so easy to experience or understand. Since the Age of Enlightenment and Darwin’s theory of evolution, some people became disillusioned, confused, or enlightened about their spirituality and many discarded any form of Judeo-Christian beliefs. Francis Galton and Henry Perkins are two of those people who questioned the beliefs they had been brought up with while venturing into the world of science including eugenics. Their experiments and theories were adapted by other scientists, medical experts, and politicians and soon evolved into what we know as the Holocaust—the annihilation of millions of human beings because their lives were not worthy of life. That is the question. Who determines whose life is worthy to be lived? Man or God? Today popular spiritual belief allows us to put ourselves in the place of God through self-realization or whatever kind of medium used so that you now have the power to make decisions over life and death.
Eugenics, although an unpopular term today, remains a part of human genetics and needs to be applied with great caution unless we want to see results similar to those that occurred during World War II. A recipe for disaster, based on what took place during the first half of the 20th century, is science mixed with economics, sprinkled with politics, and tossed with God (an optional ingredient). Ben Stein’s recent movie, Expelled, disturbingly reveals how universities and scientists have removed any knowledge of God or some form of a higher power from their laboratories and lecture halls. It’s becoming clear that American Bioethics continues to move toward a utilitarian philosophy without regard for what is morally right or wrong.
I shuddered as I viewed A Dangerous Mind (2004) and listened to Peter Singer, a renowned professor at Yale University, speak about the life of an unborn child and even a newborn child under the age of six months not being considered worthy to live. His words were so very close to those of the German scientists of the Third Reich who were determining only sixty years ago who was worthy to live. Today, scientists have given us the added benefit of genetically determined babies, or “designer babies” as we often hear them called. Though the term eugenics is not used today, the practice is still very much alive.
Hitler believed in God and called himself a Christian, as many people call themselves Christians today. But the term Christian can be a cultural term, just as the term Jew is a cultural term. The forces of life and death, light and darkness, good and evil, right and wrong are constantly at work around us. In my own personal experience, I have come to know that I was created by a loving, compassionate, forgiving God who desires that I would come to know Him through a personal relationship with His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. It’s through this relationship that I view every decision I make. Without this personal knowledge of the love of God (whether as a Muslim, Jew, or Christian) it is easier for someone to make choices that end in death.
The science of genetics is invaluable to our society today to aid in the discovery of disease and cures for those diseases. Genetics placed in the hands of scientists and medical professionals who consider themselves more intelligent than the One who created them will sadly miss the point of saving lives.

The Holocaust
The Jews are God’s chosen people. How ironic that they would suffer through the most tragic, inhumane event of human history. If God exists then why did He allow such a travesty? My answer to this question is that God created us all with a free will. He created us with a mind to make decisions for ourselves. Sometimes, we become so smart and so powerful that we don’t need God or we make God what we want Him to be. In the Torah, God sets before His people the choice of blessings and curses, life and death and says, “Now choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19). Hitler, his scientists, medical professionals, and SS guards missed that chapter obviously. Their choices were made and God’s people suffered.
The Jewish people who survived the concentration camps and death camps were sustained by their faith in God. It was either their belief in God or their culture of religious duty that allowed them to trust God and worship Him in the midst of captivity and unimaginable torture. Today many Jewish people have abandoned their faith and are merely cultural Jews in much the same way many Christians are merely cultural Christians. By this I mean that the customs, feasts, and celebrations are observed but the heart of who God is and how God fits into the lives of people remains a mystery for the majority.

Healing & Hope

Therapy and psychology are critical in helping people heal from the wounds and trauma of war crimes and sexual abuse. Thankfully, many centers for Holocaust survivors have sprung up all over the world to provide healing and hope for those who suffered through the Holocaust. Veterans’ Hospitals all over the country are providing valuable counseling and therapy for our soldiers who may have survived the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but now suffer with PTSD. Victims of rape and abuse are able to find support and healing through organizations with counselors and advocates who are equipped to handle rape related posttraumatic stress syndrome. We are inundated with self-help books available to help victims cope and begin to heal from whatever kind of trauma they have suffered.
The greatest gift of healing doesn’t come from a book, or a therapist, or a drug. It comes directly from a loving, healing God who most definitely uses all of those ingredients to provide healing. When there is a deep understanding and knowledge of the fact that (1) God exists, (2) that He loves you, and (3) that He wants to see you made whole then there will be complete healing.
Sadly, for the strong and powerful people in our world, God may remain a mystery. One can only imagine what power would be available for them today if God were included in their equation, especially in the area of science, medicine, and technology. I believe as scientists come closer to discovering the mysteries of life, they will have to look at the possibility of a God who has always been there waiting to be discovered!
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God…and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33 (emphasis added)


References

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical
manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV-TR. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

Black, E. (2003). War against the weak: Eugenics and America’s
war to create a master race. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows.

Brookes, M. (2004). Extreme measures: The dark visions and bright
ideas of Francis Galton. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (2002). DNA from the beginning: Classical
genetics (chap 14, Bio). Retrieved Feb. 18, 2009, from http://www.dnaftb.org/14/concept/index.html.

Frankl, V. E. (1984). Man’s search for meaning. Boston: Beacon Press.

Gallagher, N. (1999). Breeding better Vermonters: The eugenics project in
the Green Mountain State. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.

Katin, M. (2006). We are on our own: A memoir. Montreal: Drawn &
Quarterly.

Kühl, S. (1994). The Nazi connection: Eugenics, American racism, and
German national socialism. New York: Oxford University Press.

Marcus, P. & Rosenberg, A. (1989). Healing their wounds: Psychotherapy
with Holocaust survivors and their families. New York: Praeger.

Matsakis, A. (1992). I can't get over it: A handbook for trauma survivors.
Oakland, Calif: New Harbinger Publications.

Parens, H., Blum, H.P., & Akhtar, S. (2008). The unbroken soul: Tragedy,
trauma, and human resilience. Margaret S. Mahler Series. Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson.

Peter Singer: A dangerous mind. Author Bryant, M. and Roach, D.
Films for the Humanities and Science, 2004.

Reich, H. (2006). The first and final nightmare of Sonia Reich: A son’s
memoir. New York: Public Affairs/PBG.

Resick, P.A., Monson, C.M. (2006). Cognitive Processing Therapy:
Veteran/Military Version. VA Boston Healthcare System:Boston,MA

Wiesel, E. (1995). All rivers run to the sea: Memoirs. New York: Alfred
A. Knopf, Inc.

Wieck, M. (2003). A childhood under Hitler and Stalin: Memoirs of a
“certified” Jew. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.








































Annotated Bibliography



Bachner, J. (2007). My darkest years: Memoirs of a survivor of Auschwitz,
Warsaw and Dachau. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc. Publishers.
James Bachner grew up in Berlin, Germany as a happy young boy with his Jewish family of above average wealth. Bachner and his family and Jewish friends quickly faced discrimination, persecu-tion, and eventually imprisonment as the Nazis took over their country. His memoir describing his survival of Auschwitz, Warsaw, and Dachau prison camps puts a face and a personality to the atrocities that all Jewish people faced under Hitler’s regime. The uncomfortable reality that other countries, including the United States, knew what was taking place, but chose to remain powerless haunts the reader and reminds us all that the Holocaust must remain a part of history in all fields of education.

Bachrach, S. D. & Kuntz, D. (2004). Deadly medicine: Creating the master
race. Washington, D.C.: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
This book is based on an exhibit at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and makes truthful what many have referred to as myths. Several noted scholars share medical and scientific historical facts about how experts and trusted professionals became the driving force behind the persecution and death of millions of human beings. The extensive content includes the connection between the science of eugenics, Germany’s social program of racial hygiene, and the resulting use of euthanasia. This subject was not written about until long after most of the perpetrators were dead. It is left to the reader to decide if the same practices today regarding euthanasia and selective breeding of humans (designer babies and abortion) are relevant to what took place only forty-five years ago.

Black, E. (2003). War against the weak: Eugenics and America’s war to
create a master race. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows.
Edwin Black, who has won many awards as an investigative author, pulls together facts from the Nazis’ eugenic program and their connection to earlier eugenics programs in the United States. He uncovers the shocking truths about American corporations that supported these eugenics programs. War Against the Weak creates an unsettled feeling about our country’s involvement with eugenics that led to the atrocities in the death camps of World War II and a need to know more about the history leading up to the Holocaust. This is a very revealing book and sheds a much needed light on the connection between the pseudoscience of eugenics and the Holocaust.

Brookes, M. (2004). Extreme measures: The dark visions and bright ideas
of Francis Galton. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Brookes takes an extensive look at one of history’s forgotten scientists, Francis Galton, who was clearly influenced by the Victorian Age. His work with mapping, fingerprinting, and statistics was overshadowed by his work regarding eugenics and natural selection as influenced by his cousin, Charles Darwin. Francis Galton sadly is credited with moving eugenics forward more because of his social status rather than any scientific knowledge he acquired. Galton is a perfect example of how science can go awry when mixed with politics and economics.

Frankl, V. (1984). Man’s search for meaning. Boston: Beacon Press
This is possibly one of the best books to read for anyone who is looking for the answers to life. Frankl, a psychotherapist who survived the death camps of the Holocaust, shares his life story and secrets to surviving life. Not only does the reader gain insight into what life in the concentration camps was actually like, but we also gain an understanding of how to cope with suffering. Frankl explains that we cannot always control our circumstances, but we can choose to control our attitude which can make all the difference.

Gallagher, N. (1999). Breeding better Vermonters: The eugenics project in
the Green Mountain State. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.
The eugenics program in Vermont was a well-kept secret until Gallagher shared this informative past about the dark side of a highly regarded social system in the early 1900’s. She uncovers truths about so-called voluntary sterilization of those deemed unfit according to Vermont Children’s Aid Society and other social workers that makes one question our genetic knowledge regarding women’s choice or designer babies. This book explains the connection between the eugenics program of Vermont’s Henry Perkins of University of Vermont, scientist Charles Davenport at Cold Springs Harbor, NY and German scientists who influenced Hitler’s conception of a master human race.

Hassan, J. (2003). A house next door to trauma: Learning from Holocaust
survivors how to respond to atrocity. London: Jessica Kingsley
Judith Hassan has written numerous articles on war trauma. She was most recently awarded the National Care Awards Lifetime Achievement in Care Award in 2007. Her work for 38 years with Holocaust survivors and refugees at the London based Jewish Care Center allows her practical experience to speak for itself. She covers the issues of loss, grief, and mourning, in addition to the political and social context of the trauma. I would urge anyone that is interested in working with trauma victims to read Hassan’s comprehensive work.

Hoffman, E. (2004). After such knowledge. New York: Public Affairs/PBG
Hoffman has won several literary awards and has lectured inter-nationally. She writes from the perspective of a second-generation Holocaust survivor giving credence to the long-term effects of this horrific tragedy. Concerning the practices of sadism and humiliation associated with the Holocaust she writes, “The possibility of such behavior leaves a contaminating stain on all our perceptions, on our very idea of human nature” (p. 43) and this is what keeps me asking how and why an event such as the Holocaust could ever happen. She refers to the Holocaust as a task, which I take to mean there is something we need to do in response. This book will stretch you to think beyond what happened in the past to what can we do today to prevent future atrocities from happening in our world.

Matsakis, A. (1992). I can’t get over it: A handbook for trauma survivors.
Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.
Dr. Matsakis is an internationally known trauma psychologist and has written twelve books relating to the subject of trauma for rape survivors to war survivors. This is a very practical self-help book that can be used by an individual or by a therapist with his or her client to work through the steps of recovery. Matsakis also provides the necessary educational part of trauma therapy for readers to understand some of the complexities such as “secondary victimization” by friends and family and the fact that symptoms often occur months after the event. This is a book that will provide a guide to someone struggling with posttraumatic stress or for someone who is helping others through the healing process of PTSD.

Reich, H. (2006). The first and final nightmare of Sonia Reich: A son’s
memoir. New York: Public Affairs/PBG.
Howard Reich has done much to help other second and third generations of Holocaust survivors understand the long-term effects of posttraumatic stress disorder. His perspective as a child of two Holocaust survivors makes for a powerful memoir. His mother, Sonia, suffers from late-onset PTSD after the death of her husband late in life, leading Reich to delve deeper into his heritage by traveling to Dubno, Poland. There he discovers the horrors of what his parents and other Jews lived through. This is an important piece of history should be read by anyone who wants to understand the long-term, personal effects World War II had on Jews.






Study Bibliography

Aberbach, D. (1989). Surviving trauma: Loss, literature and
psychoanalysis. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical
manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV-TR. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

Bachner, J. (2007). My darkest years: Memoirs of a survivor of Auschwitz,
Warsaw and Dachau. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc. Publishers.

Bachrach, S. D. & Kuntz, D. (2004). Deadly medicine: Creating the
master race. Washington, D.C.: Sara J. Bloomfield

Black, E. (2003). War against the weak: Eugenics and America’s
war to create a master race. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows.

Brookes, M. (2004). Extreme measures: The dark visions and bright
ideas of Francis Galton. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (2002). DNA from the beginning: Classical
genetics (chap 14, Bio). Retrieved Feb. 18, 2009, from http://www.dnaftb.org/14/concept/index.html.

DeSalvo, L. A. (1999). Writing as a way of healing: How telling our stories
transforms our lives. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.

Frankl, V. E. (1984). Man’s search for meaning. Boston: Beacon Press.

Gallagher, N. (1999). Breeding better Vermonters: The eugenics project in
the Green Mountain State. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.

Hassan, J. (2003). A house next door to trauma: Learning from Holocaust
survivors how to respond to atrocity. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Hoffman, E. (2004). After such knowledge. New York: Public Affairs/PBG.

Katin, M. (2006). We are on our own: A memoir. Montreal: Drawn &
Quarterly.

Kühl, S. (1994). The Nazi connection: Eugenics, American racism, and
German national socialism. New York: Oxford University Press.
Levi, P. (1986). Moments of reprieve: A memoir of Auschwitz. New York:
Summit Books.

Leys, R. (2007). From guilt to shame: Auschwitz and after. Princeton:
Princeton University Press.

Marcus, P. & Rosenberg, A. (1989). Healing their wounds: Psychotherapy
with Holocaust survivors and their families. New York: Praeger.

Matsakis, A. (1992). I can't get over it: A handbook for trauma survivors.
Oakland, Calif: New Harbinger Publications.

Neeson, L., Kingsley, B., Fiennes, R., Goodall, C., Sagalle, J., Davidtz, E.,
et al. (2004). Schindler's list. Universal City, CA: Universal.

Parens, H., Blum, H.P., & Akhtar, S. (2008). The unbroken soul: Tragedy,
trauma, and human resilience. Margaret S. Mahler Series. Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson.

Peter Singer: A dangerous mind. Author Bryant, M. and Roach, D.
Films for the Humanities and Science, 2004.

Reich, H. (2006). The first and final nightmare of Sonia Reich: A son’s
memoir. New York: Public Affairs/PBG.

Resick, P.A., Monson, C.M. (2006). Cognitive Processing Therapy:
Veteran/Military Version. VA Boston Helathcare System: Boston, MA.

Sarat, A., Davidovitch, N., & Alberstein, M. (2007). Trauma and memory:
Reading, healing, and making law. Cultural sitings. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press.

Stone, E.M. (1997). Maximilian Kolbe: Saint of Auschwitz. Mahwah, NJ:
Paulist Press.

Wieck, M. (2003). A childhood under Hitler and Stalin: Memoirs of a
“certified” Jew. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.

Wiesel, E. (1995). All rivers run to the sea: Memoirs. New York: Alfred
A. Knopf, Inc.