Never have I sat down to read an account of what happened during any of the world wars..

I mean I’ve seen documentaries, movies, watched a few people talk about it and just like surface level knowledge so my mind was blown while I was reading this Book. 

Summary of Man’s Search For Meaning. 

This book details the experience of the author whilst living as a worker in one of the concentration camps. 

And the stories are morbid. One of the reasons it’s written so week is because there’s no exaggeration, no fluff… you can feel that he’s just telling the story as it is.

The book divides the psychological experience a man living in such conditions could have gone through. 

The first stage is characterised by shock and a bit of hope on arrival to the concentration camp. Shock at the state of living which they will be subjected to and hope that there is a way out. 

On arrival, they were sorted into 2 lines. The lines were to indicate who was fit for work and who was not. 

The group that wasn’t fit to work were said to be taken to have a bath but in reality they were taken to a room, in which they were handed in a bar of soap on entering the room and then burnt alive. 

This was described in the first pages to the book so that really made me sit up. 

The second stage was the apathy amongst the men. After reality had set in, there was no sense of hope or even value in human life. 

The author explained the pure lack of regard for human life as they were times when he sat down behind piles of dead bodies eating a piece of bread with little regard to the bodies a few feet away. 

He also spoke of how the daily death rate was about half a dozen and people died so often that it wasn’t a big deal, that was the norm. 

The third stage was the of liberated man who was finally able to return back to society after the war. 

He told examples of how people who had kept down for so long where finally free to enter back into society although they were different men now. 

He explains that when in captivity the thought of loved ones kept one going and pushing through it all. As Nietzsche said, he who has a why can suffer through any how. 

What becomes of that man when he returns home and discovers that his family has been killed? Or there is no seeming surprise at your arrival with people who weren’t subjected to what you were informing you that they thought had suffered. 

Oftentimes these men went on rampage, they had gone from the oppressed to the oppressors and therefore exhibited violent tendencies at the slightest provocation. 

What’s the lesson to be learnt from this book? 

At its core, the book explains how a man’s spiritual wellbeing can be kept even in the most inhumane circumstances. 

Even if you try to picture what had happened during that period, you would be unable to do it any justice. 

Just the mere thought of gas Chambers and crematorium makes me shiver. Talk less of the ration of food and conditions they were forced to endure. 

But regardless there were men amongst them who were upright even in such situations albeit there were few. 

Most turned the other direction, as this life secretly fulfilled some desired they had to oppress and belittle others which can be seen in how some of the prisoners who could perform sadistic methods of torture were ranked differently and treated specially compared to the large vast of other prisoners. 

Despite all this, Man’s Search for Meaning explains that even life in the concentration camp wouldn’t be enough to break a man’s spirit. While it did break a vast majority of men’s spirit, it strengthened the resolve of some.

There was a rule in the camp that you will be punished if you attempt to rescue a man who was attempting suicide. 

And a lot of times, fellow inmates knew when one harboured such a plan. Particular was the author’s encounter with 2 men who were contemplating suicide. 

After a lot of persuasion,they were still hellbent on doing it and when no effort could be made to stop them, they had to remind each man of why they should live. 

People commit suicide not because they’re sad or trobuled but for one main reason, they have lost all reason to live. 

So they had to give these men a reason to keep living. For the first man it was his daughter and wife who were waiting for me in a forehin country and for the other man it was the manuscript of his book at home which if he didn’t publish would die with no one ever finding out the contents of the book.

This to me is the major takeaway from the book, despite the situations, your mind and spirit are still within your control.