Chalita Kaveevutisilp (Frongky)

Essay

English
5761015

The Shawl is a fictional portrayal of the horror in the concentration camp during the
holocaust. The Shawl shows the condition of people in the camp and most of people die and
suffer. Later on, in the story the baby die but the mother survive. For the survivors, there are a
number of long term effects of the holocaust upon actual concentration camp survivors.
Anti-Semitism happen for hundred of year and happen long before holocaust. AntiSemitism is a belief or behavior of person who opposed to Jews, just because they are born to be
Jewish nothing else. Holocaust was refer to the genocide committed against the Jews and refer to
the period from January 30, 1933- Nazi start to take away the Jews right - when Adolf Hitler
became chancellor of Germany and the leader of the anti-Semitic Nazi. 1
Holocaust was a traumatic event that scarred the history of the world. Not only Jews were
main target and sent to concentration camp, but also non jewish people such as mental or
physical disabilities, homosexuals, political opponents, Poles and Soviet prisoners of war. This
event begin with discrimination, and later the Jews were separate from their family and
community. Finally, they were treated like animal and murdered.2
Those Jew who live in Europe were the Nazis primary target. Holocaust was the mass
murder of six million European Jews by German Nazi, which made up roughly two third of the
population of Jews in Europe. Adolf Hitler had several negative ways of thinking about the
Jewish people. Hitler and the Nazi blame Jews, and they want the Jews to take all the responsible

Introduction to the Holocaust. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2016, from https://
www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143
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Chalita Kaveevutisilp (Frongky)

Essay

English
5761015

for all the problems that happen in Germany such as losing World War one and economic crisis.
Nazi called Jews as inferior or life unworthy of life 3
There were numerous victims of the Holocaust. Some of them survived from the
concentration camp. It can be said, the person who experience such a depressing event will leave
both physical and psychological to them. Holocaust survivors need to start their new life, home,
and family. They have to face a lot of terrible things in the concentration camp such as abused,
humiliated, and crude violence, but they need to force themselves to move on and keep all the
terrible things behind. However, those trauma still be in their deep down mind, those suffering
can cause them to have variety of symptoms.4
The impact on the survivors of the holocaust can be divided into physical and
psychological factors. The physical effects include multiple infection, malnutrition, frost bite,
injuries from atrocities, and etc.
Firstly, Those prisoner have to lived in terrible situation. For example, when the prisoners
were transport from their home to the concentration camps, they need to lived in the goods
wagons or livestock that use for transport animals. In those containers were full of prisoners, it
was lack of basic hygiene and they did not have food to eat. The prisoner need to defecate on the
train, and some of the prisoner that cannot endure to the situation were die on the train. This
crated multiple infection.5
What was the Holocaust? (2011). Retrieved November 17, 2016, from http://
www.theholocaustexplained.org/ks3/judaism-and-jewish-life/#.WEO_DVdBVPM
3

Psychological Trauma and the Holocaust. (n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2016, from https://
www.ushmm.org/research/research-in-collections/search-the-collections/bibliography/
psychological-trauma-and-the-holocaust
4

Psychological Effects of the Holocaust. (2016). Retrieved November 23, 2016, from http://
www.novelguide.com/reportessay/history/european-history/psychological-effects-holocaust
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Chalita Kaveevutisilp (Frongky)

Essay

English
5761015

Secondly, malnutrition is the most common effect people in the concentration camp.
Most of people in the concentration camp were lack of nutrition and their body can be describe
as musselmen- skeleton covered with skin. This condition happened before they arrived at
concentration camp. It was happened since they were transport to the camp, they were extreme
nutritional insufficiency. Malnutrition can lead to many other symptoms such as weakness of
muscles and fatigue, lack of energy, increase susceptibility to infections, suffer from persistent
diarrhea, depression, and etc. The prisoner were force to be heavy labors but they did not get
enough food.6
Thirdly, frost bite or cold burn can happen in every part of the body. Frostbite common
happen on the finger, toes, nose, ear, cheeks, and chin. The cold cause the skin and tissue to die.
In the camp, on the first day the prisoner enter the camp, their cloth were taken away. During
winter they were forced to work in cold and difficult circumstance. They need to try to protect
their skin from the cold and snow, if they get the frost bite, they will not get the medical. Because
generally Nazi did not give the medical to the Jews. 7
Fourthly, Hitler and Nazi want to eliminate all the jews from the society. In the camp, the
prisoner were treated like an animal. If they were lucky enough to not be pick up and sent to the
gas chambers, they need to work extremely hard physical labor. Because if they did not work
hard, the guards will selected them for punishment. So it is quite common that the prisoners to
get injuries from atrocities in the concentration camp.8
Cashin-Garbutt, A. (2012). Symptoms of malnutrition. Retrieved November 21, 2016, from
http://www.news-medical.net/health/Symptoms-of-malnutrition.aspx
6

Williams, S. S. (2005). Impact of the Holocaust. Retrieved November 14, 2016, from http://
www.sandrawilliams.org/HOLOCAUST/holocaust.html
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Chalita Kaveevutisilp (Frongky)

Essay

English
5761015

There are several phycological effects on the mental health of the Holocausts survivor.
The phycological effects include PTSD, Death Imprint, Survivors guilt, Survivors struggle for
meaning, and etc.
The main purpose of Nazi to create concentration camps was to massacre Jews. In
additional, concentration camps are the main factor cause Holocaust survivor to Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is not only affect survivors but also following generation as well.
PTSD is a mental health problem that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a
life-threatening event, like combat, a natural disaster, a car accident, or sexual assault. 9
Sonia Reich is a Jewish people, who can escape from the concentration camp. Most of
her family was executed in the camp. After the World War II ended, she moved to the United
States, married with another Holocaust survivor, and have one son named Howard. Howard said
that from the out side his mother seemed to have a normal life, but inside she still struggled with
PTSD. One night in 2001, she running out of her home and saying that someone try to kill her.
After that situation Sonia started to get the medication and have to lived in the nursing home near
Howards home.10
Death Imprint is late to person who concern about death, which they imagination of death
in abnormal and unacceptable pattern of death. Those memories will be in their deep down mind
and become one part of their real life. The imagination that survivors create can come from any

PTSD: National Center for PTSD. (2016, October 4). Retrieved November 21, 2016, from
http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/PTSD-overview/basics/what-is-ptsd.asp
9

Aging Holocaust Survivors Suffer From PTSD. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2016, from
https://www.anxiety.org/holocaust-survivors-trauma-ptsd-yom-hashoah
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Chalita Kaveevutisilp (Frongky)

Essay

English
5761015

memories of their experience such as the smell or smoke of the gas chamber, killing, and family
being separate. The survivor cannot move on, they still struggle in the past.11
Survivors guilt is usually be the question that survivors asking themselves Why I still
alive when others have perished? In the camp, they had to separate from their family and most
of them were die. This guilt is related to survivors emotional during their life in the camp. For
example anger and sad, when they were in the camp, they can not showed any felling toward the
guard and no one care about it. Also the first thing in their mind was try to survive in the camp. It
can be said that this is irony because the survivors are more concern and guilt than the guard in
the camp.12
Survivors struggle to the search for meaning, They try to find the reason why all of those
horrible things happen to them. They got all the responsible for all the blame. Those survivors
will always remember all the thing that happened in the camp and continued to think back to it
all the time.13
Holocaust show us how deadly people can be. All of the survival have to face loads of
effects after the camp, and they need to overcome those effects. Some people can but some
cannot. Most of the effect are including physical and psychological, both can cause the long term
effect to the survivor. Holocaust has many memories on the survivals, those memories cannot
just disappear from their life. It will be with them as long as they still alive and will remain as
their nightmare forever.
Douillard, A. (2005, December 5). PTSD and Holocaust Survivors, by Andy Douillard.
Retrieved November 11, 2016, from http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/33d/
projects/survivors/SurvivorPTSD_Andy05z.htm
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