Man's Search For Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl

EXPERIENCES IN A CONCENTRATION CAMPhopelessness of the situation, the constant danger ofdeath looming over us daily and hourly, and the closenessof the deaths suffered by many of the others.From personal convictions which will be mentionedlater, I made myself a firm promise, on my first eveningin camp, that I would not "run into the wire."This was a phrase used in camp to describe the mostpopular method of suicide - touching the electricallycharged barbed-wire fence. It was not entirely difficultfor me to make this decision. There was little point incommitting suicide, since, for the average inmate, lifeexpectation, calculating objectively and counting alllikely chances, was very poor. He could not with anyassurance expect to be among the small percentage ofmen who survived all the selections. The prisoner ofAuschwitz, in the first phase of shock, did not feardeath. Even the gas chambers lost their horrors forhim after the first few days - after all, they spared himthe act of committing suicide.Friends whom I have met later have told me that Iwas not one of those whom the shock of admissiongreatly depressed. I only smiled, and quite sincerely,when the following episode occurred the morning afterour first night in Auschwitz. In spite of strict ordersnot to leave our "blocks," a colleague of mine, whohad arrived in Auschwitz several weeks previously,smuggled himself into our hut. He wanted to calm andcomfort us and tell us a few things. He had become sothin that at first we did not recognize him. With a showof good humor and a Devil-may-care attitude he gaveus a few hurried tips: "Don't be afraid! Don't fear theselections! Dr. M---- (the SS medical chief) has a softspot for doctors." (This was wrong; my friend's kindly37