What We Can Learn from a Man Who Survived 2 Years in a Concentration Camp
Meet Victor Frankl
Since childhood I have always feel interested in people who overcome adversity. The people who despite the circumstances, manage to get ahead.
Since I was little, I read those kinds of books.
I read Napoleon: “the story of a man who was born on a small island in France and became the most powerful man in Europe.”
I read Mandela: “30 years in prison, he fought against apartheid and was the first black president of South Africa.”
I read Malcolm x: “Pretty controversial leader whose childhood was full of crimes, violence and spend a lifetime in prison, and even so, he had the opportunity to reform thanks to the intense reading of all kinds of books.”
I read 50 cent: “Born in the boroughs of Queens, he started his life selling drugs, he was imprisoned, he received 11 bullets in the body, and even then, he was able to build his own record empire.”
Again and again, I read biographies of personal improvement.
I read people who suffered some type of disability like cancer and managed to get ahead. People who came out with motor problems and managed to complete the New York marathon. People who were born without parents.
I read every personal improvement book.
And of all the books, my favorite is “Man’s Search for Meaning of Victor Frankl”.
Knowing that a man survived a concentration camp leaves me perplexed. I still tremble when I read fragments of its pages.
Fragments such as:
The first night I spent in the country I made a promise to myself that I would not “throw myself against the barbed wire.” This was the phrase used in the field to describe the most popular method of suicide: touching the electrified wire fence.
However, I leave a list of the 5 things taught me that book
Man is always free to choose his destiny
“In a final analysis, it becomes clear that the type of person in which a prisoner was converted was the result of an intimate decision and not solely a product of the influence of the countryside.” Fundamentally, then, any man could, even under such circumstances, decide what would become of him — mentally and spiritually — because even in a concentration camp he can preserve his human dignity.”
-Victor Frankl
When Victor Frankl arrived at the concentration camp, he promised himself that he would never throw himself against the fence. Whatever happens, I would go on.
Throwing yourself against the fence was the way people who could not stand the torture of a concentration camp killed themselves. What they did was throw themselves against the fence and say goodbye to life.
In moments like that, you discover that you are free to decide your actions. While many people committed suicide against the fence … Victor Frankl no. He resisted because he wanted a different destiny.
Other than that,
Victor Frankl imposed himself, as a rule, to answer with truth the questions that the guards asked him. Sometimes he came to regret his rule. But he never broke it. Even though he was detained, he said he would live according to his convictions.
Adversity is Necessary to know our limits
“Instead of accepting the difficulties of the countryside as a way to prove their inner strength, they do not take their life seriously and disdain it as something inconsequential.They prefer to close their eyes and live in the past.For these people life does not make any sense Of course, only a few are able to reach high spiritual heights, but those few had an opportunity to reach human greatness even if it was through their apparent failure and death, a feat that in ordinary circumstances they would never have reached.”
-Victor Frankl
There is no feeling more beautiful than when a man comes to his house, knowing that he was put to the test. These were the words of Victor Frankl when he arrived at his house.
When he arrived after having suffered the greatest atrocities that man can go through.
For when Victor Frankl returned home, he was already a new man. He was a man who had found the meaning of his life. That he knew the meaning of pain, that he knew that even in the worst circumstances, he could be happy.
Be an example for others.
“Whenever the opportunity presented itself, it was necessary to inculcate a — because — a goal — of their living, in order to harden them to endure the terrible one as of their existence.” Woe to him who did not see any meaning in his life, no goal, no intentionality and, therefore, no purpose in living it, that was lost.”
-Victor Frankl
According to Victor Frank, the people who managed to survive the concentration camp were the people who had a purpose in life. They were the people who had a reason to live.
Those were the people who, however little they ate, no matter how hard they were beaten, or how much they did forced labor; they were the people who lived to count the tortures in the concentration camps.
Those were the people who got a reason to live. A reason so great that allowed them to build a shell to test all the tortures of the Germans.
The reason for Victor Frankl was that one day he could serve as an example for others. That one day I could comment on each of the atrocities committed by the Germans. That someday it would serve as an example of personal improvement.
Humor is the Best Weapon Against Adversity
“I suggested that we should make the solemn promise that each day we would invent a funny story about an incident that might happen the day after our release.”
-Victor Frankl
The attempts to develop a sense of humor and see things in a humorous light are a kind of trick we learned while mastering the art of living, because even in a concentration camp it is possible to practice the art of living, although suffering is omnipresent .
According to Victor Frankl,
Humor is the most powerful weapon of all. Humor can provide the necessary distance to overcome any situation, even if it is only for a few seconds.
Humor served as a protective shield. It maintained the morale of the prisoners. They reminded them that they were alive. And above all, he reminded them that even in the worst circumstances, they could laugh.
There is always someone who suffers more than you
“During the last part of our incarceration, the daily diet consisted of a single serving of watery soup and a very small piece of bread, and we were also given an” extra delivery “consisting of 20 gr of margarine or a slice of sausage. low quality or a small piece of cheese or a pinch of something that was meant to be honey or a spoonful of watery jelly, every day one thing, a diet absolutely inappropriate in terms of calories, especially considering our heavy manual labor and our continuous exposure to the weather with inadequate clothes. “
-Victor Frankl
After reading the book, I discovered that I have had everything in my life and I have not suffered anything.
From that moment, I would use Victor Frankl as an example of anything.
Every time something bad happened, I always remembered that there are others who are going through it worse than me.
I have to thank you that I’m not in a concentration camp. I’m not being tortured by Germans, and I’m not missing any kind of food.
from now on, I would stop complaining about the atrocities that happen in my life.
After reading the book my life changed. I learned many things.
I learned that I could serve as an example for others.
I learned that despite suffering there is always someone who suffers more than me.
I learned that humor is the best weapon against adversity.
And above all, I learned that adversity is necessary to know our limits
