Surviving the Unthinkable: Holocaust Survivors and Mental Health

“Even in this place one can survive,” wrote Primo Levi of Auschwitz, “and to survive we must force ourselves…to tell the story, to bear witness; and we still possess one power – the power to refuse our consent.” Levi’s words come from that black hole of history, where he saw men stripped of clothes and names, yet clinging to a sliver of dignity. In the barracks’ pre‑dawn chill, Levi and others held onto choice and meaning, refusing to let their captors own their souls.

Today, with half of all people facing mental illness some time in their life and anxiety soaring, those survivors’ lessons are urgently needed. Their masterclass in resilience isn’t just history; it’s a living guide to mental health. Long before “post-traumatic growth” became a research buzzword, Holocaust survivors lived it. They showed that even amid horror, we can find purpose and choose hope, a truth modern therapy is only now calling growth.

Meaning Isn’t Optimism It's What You Do

Survivors taught us that meaning is different from simple optimism. Viktor Frankl, who lost his family but kept his spirit, urged that life asks questions of us. As he wrote in Man’s Search for Meaning, “It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us… Our answer must consist not in talk but in right action and conduct.” In other words, purpose often comes through action, even tiny acts.

It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us…

Many survivors found new purpose after liberation. Some volunteered to testify, some built families, and many dedicated themselves to helping others – living out tikkun olam, the Jewish ideal of “repairing the world.” For example, a survivor named Joseph Feingold donated his treasured violin from a DP camp to a young student, who said, “You never gave up. You always had hope.” By rebuilding communities, they honored that ideal.

You can apply this to your own life by choosing one meaningful goal or cause, however modest. Write a letter to someone in need, join a local “acts of kindness” drive, or volunteer. Frankl’s point was that even in chaos our choices make us human.

Choice Was Their Quiet Rebellion

Central to survival was the obligation to choose. Even when families were torn apart, survivors exercised the one freedom no tyrant could take: how they would respond. As Viktor Frankl reminded us, “Everything can be taken from a man but the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”

“Freedom means choosing, every moment, whether we reach for our inner Nazi or our inner Gandhi.”

Dr. Edith Eger echoes this vividly: “Freedom means choosing, every moment, whether we reach for our inner Nazi or our inner Gandhi.” In Auschwitz she chose compassion instead of hatred.

Jewish tradition speaks of free will as our divine spark. Making a choice for kindness became an act of resistance. A survivor kept his sack of potatoes in Auschwitz then chose to give it up when another prisoner warned him to survive another day. Each tiny decision to find strength became defiance against evil.

Today, when anxiety feels overwhelming, remember Frankl’s and Eger’s lesson: you always have choice, even if only to breathe deeply or to sit with a friend for a few minutes. Choosing to respond with love or gratitude, however hard, is a way of surviving the unthinkable.

Community Was a Weapon Against Despair

Holocaust prisoners survived not just by strength of will, but by leaning on each other. In one Auschwitz story, on a woman’s 20th birthday in 1944, Fania Fainer found an eight-page heart-shaped booklet as a gift from 18 fellow inmates. They tore thin sheets from a bread-and-water mixture and filled them with birthday wishes in Polish, Hebrew, German and French. If guards had caught them, they would have been beaten or killed yet the women gave up their meager food rations to write a message of hope.

After liberation, survivors formed mutual aid societies and communities. One report notes they created “surrogate families” that “accelerated their recovery by helping each other adjust to their trauma”.

Modern research confirms: people need others to heal from trauma. Social support is one of the strongest buffers against PTSD, depression and anxiety. Studies show survivors do far worse when isolated. We also see the “helper therapy principle” at work: helping others actually heals the helper. In trauma studies, experts note that “not only is receiving support beneficial, but also the act of supporting and helping…may lead to [an] enhanced sense of self”. Holocaust survivors understood this instinctively. Many told researchers that “because they survived, they have a responsibility to give back” – and that being of service and helping others has health benefits and enhances self-esteem.

Today, when loneliness and stress are common, survivors’ example points the way: get connected. Build a support network maybe a friend group, neighborhood circle, or online community. Offer help where you can. Check in on someone grieving or anxious; listen without offering quick fixes. Small kindnesses keep people alive.

When you help another, science shows you feel more capable and hopeful yourself. Whether it’s a phone call, a shared meal, or helping with groceries, these acts of community echo the strength survivors found together. They remind us that community is not just nice, but a psychological lifeline.

Hope Survived Even When Certainty Didn’t

Faith came in many forms. Some survivors kept their traditional beliefs; others lost religious faith but found something new. Dr. Edith Eger, who survived Auschwitz as a teen, says she “drew on [her] inner world” to cope. As she later wrote, “I found hope and faith in my inner life, even when surrounded by starvation, torture and death”. By “inner life,” she meant both psychological resilience and spiritual strength. She visualized dancing ballet in her mind while forced to perform for Mengele, holding fast to a sense of self. In other words, she wrestled with despair but chose to cherish even tiny lights of hope.

Others struggled with theology itself. Elie Wiesel asked why a God of mercy would allow the Holocaust, and admitted doubt. Yet even Wiesel could say decades later, “We still have faith in humanity,” insisting “there was kindness and tenderness and love inside the camps among the victims”. Faith can mean trust in people, or belief in a future world. In Judaism, this wrestling with the divine is itself holy – like Jacob, who wrestled through the night and was blessed. Doubt needn’t destroy us.

Edith Eger and others show us that you can be honest about anger or doubt, and still choose to hold hope.

Psychologists note that having some form of spirituality or purpose helps people cope in crises. Practices like meditation, gratitude, or appreciating beauty function like rituals for the soul.

Importantly, survivors teach that questioning can deepen faith rather than destroy it. Edith Eger and others show us that you can be honest about anger or doubt, and still choose to hold hope.

Bearing Witness

“We must bear witness for the dead and the living,” Elie Wiesel engraved at the Holocaust Museum entrance. That duty – zachor, remember is another gift survivors passed to us. They rebuilt families from ashes and taught subsequent generations resilience. As one social worker observed, many survivors said they had “a responsibility to give back” and have thus devoted their lives to helping others Even now, we carry their legacy when we tell these stories or quietly show compassion.

Survivors teach us to hope. Today we honor that by living resiliently, by creating supportive communities, and by finding meaning in our struggles – however small. By choosing love, kindness, and purpose even amid darkness, we too refuse despair and carry the flame of hope forward.