Jewish Doctors and the Holocaust : : The Anatomy of Survival in Auschwitz / / Ross W. Halpin.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DG Plus eBook-Package 2019
• VerfasserIn: Halpin, Ross W.,
• Place / Publishing House: München ;, Wien : : De Gruyter Oldenbourg, , [2019]; ©2019
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (XVI, 233 p.)

This is the first attempt to explain how Jewish doctors survived extreme adversity in Auschwitz where death could occur at any moment. The ordinary Jewish slave labourer survived an average of fifteen weeks. Ross Halpin discovers that Jewish doctors survived an average of twenty months, many under the same horrendous conditions as ordinary prisoners. Despite their status as privileged prisoners Jewish doctors starved, froze, were beaten to death and executed. Many Holocaust survivors attest that luck, God and miracles were their saviors. The author suggests that surviving Auschwitz was far more complex. Interweaving the stories of Jewish doctors before and during the Holocaust Halpin develops a model that explains the anatomy of survival. According to his model the genesis of survival of extreme adversity is the will to live which must be accompanied by the necessities of life, specific personal traits and defence mechanisms. For survival all four must co-exist.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Introduction -- Part I: The Road to Auschwitz -- Part II: Parallel Lives: Drs Sima Vaisman, Gisella Perl and Louis Micheels -- Introduction -- 1. Dr Sima Vaisman -- 2. Louis Micheels -- 3. Dr Gisella Perl -- Part III: Jewish Physicians and the Hospital System -- Introduction -- 4. Hospitals and Infirmaries -- 5. Block 10 -- 6. Daily Life -- 7. Ethical Dilemmas. Choiceless Choices and the Human Condition -- Part IV: Survival -- Introduction -- 8. Status -- 9. Personal Traits -- 10. Defence Mechanisms -- Part V: Anatomy of Survival -- Part VI: Evaluation of Sources -- Conclusion -- Epilogue -- Bibliography -- Glossary -- Appendices -- Index