Psychological Effects of the Holocaust - 3873 Words

Mind Over Matter The Holocaust was one of the most horrendous events ever to take place in our world’s history. It involved people all over the world and affected millions both directly and indirectly. It led to the death of over 11 million people, mostly Jews, and was started and controlled by the infamous German Nazis. Adolf Hitler, the mastermind behind the whole plan, was the chief organizer and began slowly starting to make those he thought were inferior suffer when he became Fuhrer in 1933. The circumstances during the time period leading up to and during World War II manipulated certain people to be controlled by various psychological tendencies. Perpetrators had a mindset that the people they were murdering weren’t actually†¦show more content†¦The four concepts of obedience, normative influence, communal reinforcement, and self-serving bias all contributed to the mass murders committed by the perpetrators of the Holocaust. While they are all interconnected and one can lead to the other, they all have strong and individual consequences. As shown by Eichmann and Himmler, it is dangerous when people are so obedient towards others that they cant stop to think about their morals or beliefs. When people don’t stand up for their values and what they think is right, they can transform into a perpetrator instead of an upstander. The men and women that followed the beliefs of the Nazi leaders during Holocaust and conformed to Hitler’s ideas were a huge contributor in the deaths of millions of innocent people. Unfortunately, being manipulated by these psychological tendencies led to one of most atrocious mass killings in the history of the world. Still, these concepts occur every day in a variety of ways. When students go along with what teachers, parents, or other authority figures suggest, they are giving up their rights to a certain extent by going along with what they tell them. In a classroom environment, kids can become â€Å"teacherâ⠂¬â„¢s pets† if they want to be accepted or acknowledged by their teachers in a very positive way. This is an example of a lesser degree of normative influence. Although it doesn’tShow MoreRelatedThe Psychological Effects Of The Holocaust1190 Words   |  5 PagesPsychological Effects Psychological effects are associated with the mental health of the suvivors. Imagine a situation where you are housed with a lion in one room, what will you feel? Would you be comfortable? That feeling is the exact feeling that the victims of the holocaust were experiencing during the periods they lived in the camps (Levine 350-360). The mental health of the Holocaust survivors was indeed complex and varied. Literature about the Holocaust reveals there was shockRead MoreMaus and the Psychological Effects of the Holocaust1704 Words   |  7 PagesMaus and the Psychological Effects of the Holocaust The Maus books are award-winning comics written by Art Spiegelman. They are the non-fictional stories of Art and his father, Vladek. In the book, Art Spiegelman is a writer, planning to portray Vladek’s life as a Jewish man during WWII Europe in comic book form. While Art gathers information for his story through visits to his father’s house, much is learned about their relationship and individual personalities. Through this analysis, Maus becomesRead MoreThe Holocaust : A Major Effect On Judaism1409 Words   |  6 PagesThe holocaust had a major effect on Judaism as a whole. This conflict between tragedy and faith is not new. Jewish history shows us that the jewish people have undergone the most terrible persecutions and genocide at the hands of many oppressors. 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This genocide resulted in the death of six million Jews -not counting the death of soldiers from World War II. Although many Jews died during the Holocaust, some survived and spoke about their struggles and experiences. Art Spiegelman, an American cartoonist, interviewed his father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Holocaust survivor. After collecting information from the interviews with his father, Spiegelman, created Maus, a comic book novelRead MoreThe World Of The Holocaust1449 Words   |  6 Pagesdescribe the Holocaust. The Holocaust affected the lives of millions because of the hate inside of the Nazi’s. Why would the Nazi’s do this? This is a question almost nobody can answer. What we do know are the effects of the Holocaust; specifically, on the child survivors of the Holocaust. The Holocaust created a struggle with interpersonal relationships, psychological difficulties, and caused child survivors and their families have a drive for resilience. Most people could say the Holocaust bring feelingsRead MoreMental Health in Holocaust Survivors1554 Words   |  6 Pagesamong second generation holocaust survivors Sarah Getz Suffolk University â€Æ' Rationale†¨ Many American immigrants have been affected in both their mental health and family history by Nazi concentration camp experiences. This group of Americans has a unique cultural and psychological history. Many researchers have focused on this cultural group. The term survivor syndrome (Krystal, 1968; Krystal Niederland, 1971) was coined to describe some of the negative symptoms holocaust survivors experiencedRead MoreThe On Coping With The Holocaust Experience1401 Words   |  6 Pagesthrown into chaos because of the Holocaust. Families were ripped apart and values were washed away as citizens were forcefully placed in concentration camps to either be immediately killed or to work until they died. Every person within the camps faced unthinkable trauma. Once everyone was released, the prisoners began to search for lost loved ones and a sense of normality. However, the anguish did not end with the end of the Holocaust. Following the Holocaust, first generation survivors developedRead MoreThe Holocaust And Its Effects On Survivors1442 Words   |  6 PagesThe Holocaust was a really tragic event that took place in the period from January 30, 1933 to May 8, 1945, during the Holocaust about 11 million Jews were killed (Wikipedia) by a german group that saw the Jewish people as an inferior race, the Nazis, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, mercilessly killed all of those unfortunate to be caught. To this day, there are still survivors that witnessed this horrifying event, there are also journals and articles that explain in great detail how the HolocaustRead MoreEssay on The Holocaust: The Concentration Camps1484 Words   |  6 PagesHolocaust is the most terrible human action in the history. It absolutely marks the ending of the previous mentality of human-beings. Therefore, a new round of discovery of evilness of human nature has been established. Best uncovering the truth of Holocaust will help prevent the furthur destuction of humanism, which is the most important mission of the society after World War II. There are many sources of Holocaust trying to best uncover the truth, such as the inhabitant’s experience of the immediate