Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ by Viktor E. Frankl, a holocaust survivor, is part memoir and part philosophical essay about how finding meaning to life is a primary motivational force for humans to live on. He attempts to decode how some prisoners managed to keep their fighting spirit alive despite debilitating, dehumanizing conditions.
This isn’t the kind of title I would pick for myself. It was a surprise gift. A nice, thoughtful one from someone who doesn’t read books. But here’s my first thought on ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’: maybe this isn’t the kind of book you should gift someone, unless you know it’s on their ‘to read’ or ‘wish’ list.
Why?
Well, for starters, ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ is a grim, chilling, depressing book about what it was like to be a male prisoner at Nazi concentration camps. Not exactly ‘gift’ material. Also, the last few chapters of ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ steer completely away from Frankl’s memories of the camps and instead dwell on his theories about ‘Logotherapy’. And what bugged me was how he tries to pass off his observations as hard science, while they are more philosophical musings than scientific theories.
For instance, Frankl classifies Jewish prisoners into two classes, those who had something to look forward to, so those who had lost the will to live. Now that’s a sweeping generalization, surely, it’s not so easy to compartmentalize people. While Frankl’s survival story is awe-inspiring, the way he boxes people sounds rather unfair – oversimplifying an incredibly complex psychological and emotional spectrum.
Well, that said, Frankl’s recollections of an average day at a Nazi concentration camp is chilling and worth reading. He spent three years in four different concentration camps during World War II and lost many of his loved ones to the camps. His father, mother, wife, brother. He writes of how the thought of re-uniting with his wife kept him motivated through the hard days and that of-course, he wasn’t aware of her tragic fate.
While Frankl borrows the wise words of several famous philosophers throughout Man’s Search for Meaning, one familiar saying stood out most: “Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker.” Frankl quotes German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche… I’ll admit, I didn’t even know it was originally a German saying, let alone a Nietzsche quote. It translates to: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Frankl reflects on how each time someone narrowly escaped death in the camp, it seemed to strengthen their will to live.
Frankl vividly recalls the harsh, horrifying, dehumanizing conditions in the camps. Prisoners were kept in near starving conditions, forced to do hard labor, and lived without heating, beds, or bathing facilities. Disease was common, and so was death. Since Frankl was a doctor and neurologist, his expertise helped bring some relief to other prisoners, and at times he was assigned to look after ailing patients.
The chapters in ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ that focus on Frankl’s theories of logotherapy aren’t engaging. In essence, logotherapy is about helping people find meaning in their lives as a way to cope with suffering and move forward. Frankl himself drew strength from this idea, he had been writing a book before his imprisonment, and the determination to finish it, along with the hope of reuniting with his family, became his greatest sources of motivation in the camp.
For those who haven’t read any nonfiction by Holocaust survivors but would like to, Man’s Search for Meaning is a good place to start, especially since it’s a short, accessible read.
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