Psychologist Viktor E. Frankl

[PearlJamNoCode]

My personal hero to come out of the holocaust was Viktor Frankl. He spent from late 1942 until April 27, 1945 in five different concentration camps, including the infamous Auschwitz complex. While going through the initial “selection” process Frankl was stripped of a manuscript that contained “all of his life’s work”. He credits the loss of this book and his desire to complete it after liberation with his ability to survive the camp. His book, Man’s Search for Meaning, tells the story of his experiences in the concentration camps from the perspective of both a normal inmate, and of a psychologist. It was in the camp that he observed that those inmates who had given up hope and thought they had nothing to live for were the first to die, while other inmates who believed they still had something to give or to get out of life, such as he, survived longest. It is from this observation and these experiences that Frankl developed his theory of logotherapy.


I recommend his book Man's Search for Meaning to anyone who likes to read, and it is a must-read for anyone with any interest in psychology. I have read 5 or 6 of his books now (I'm a psychology major in college) and I am continually amazed by his profound observations.

Here are a few of his best quotes...
Victor Frankl Quotes from Man's Search for Meaning

[Marina]

He does sound an interesting man.
Marina