Concentration Camp Survivors in Norway and Israel

Concentration Camp Survivors in Norway and Israel

Concen1:ra1:ion COIllp Survivors In N or",ay aud Israel by L. Ei1:inger, M.D. Photomechanical Reprint 1972 Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V.

Photomechanical reprint of the original edition published by Universitetsforlaget, Oslo and Allen & Unwin, London. Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 1972 Originally published by Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands 1972 All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form. ISBN 978-94-015-7201-9 DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-7199-9 ISBN 978-94-015-7199-9 (ebook)

CONTENTS ACK NOWLEDGEMENTS 7 I. INTRODUCTION. THE GENERAL BACKGROUND OF THE GROUPS INVESTIGATED... 9 1. The period prior to the arrest... 9 2. The period from the arrest to the delivery into the concentration camps... 13 3. The time spent in the camps................ 15 4. The period after liberation... 19 II. PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS... 23 III. THE COLLECTION OF THE MATERIAL AND ITS ARRANGEMENT A. The Norwegian groups.... B. The Israeli groups.... 34 34 38 IV. THE BACKGROUND OF THE INVESTIGATED PERSONS AND THEIR PERSONALITY BEFORE ARREST................ 47 1. Home and childhood... 48 2. School education and age distribution... 50 3. Civil status, occupation, 'personality'... 52 V. CONDITIONS DURING PERSECUTION AND CAPTIVITY.... 57 1. Somatic aspects 2. Psychic aspects VI. CONDITIONS AFTER RELEASE FROM CAPTIVITY........ 63 A. The Israeli groups............................ 63 B. The Norwegian groups... 66 57 61

VII. THE GENERAL INFLUENCE OF THE STAY IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS... 69 1. Changes in personality... 69 2. Why did they survive?... 76 3. Feelings of guilt.......................... 82 VIII. Pll.ESENT CONDITIONS... 89 1. Occupational status... 89 2. Somatic and psychiatric symptoms... 90 3. The concentration camp syndrome... 90 IX. THE PSYCHIA TRIC PICTURE OF THE DISORDER... 104 A. The Norwegian groups... 104 1. The Norwegian clinical group... 104 2. The Norwegian team group... 116 3. The Norwegian work group... 122 B. The Israeli groups.... 122 1. The Israeli psychotic group................ 122 2. The Israeli neurotic group.................. 151 3. The I sraeli work group... 172 X. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES 180 193

Acknowledgements This study was undertaken both in Norway, where I live, and in Israel, where I worked for a year as the guest of the Government, at the Health department. I am therefore deeply grateful to the late Director General of the Israeli Health Department, S. SYMAN. Deputy Director LOUIS MILLER, Chief of the Mental Health Department, was instrumental in arranging for my invitation to Israel, and I offer him my very best thanks for this. Deputy Director H. HALEVY, Chief of the Statistical Department, has kindly helped me to obtain the necessary information from all the hospitals in the country, and has also in other respects constantly and in every way helped me to carry out my work. I thank him heartily for this and for all his extraordinary kindness and friendliness. I am also greatly indebted to Kfar Shaul, the pioneer hospital and work village in the Judaean Hills, and to its inspiring chief and Medical Superintendent, Dr. J. SCHOSSBERGER, who founded the pl<lce, and who by his many ideas has been instrumental in giving the hospital its present impressive position. My thoughts go also to every member of the Kfar Shaul's staff, especially Dr. JULIE EHRENFELDT, to the nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, to the administration, and not least, to the patients. Not only was I allowed to live at the hospital, but I was also welcomed into the community in the heartiest way during the first part of my stay in Israel, a period devoted to a study of Israeli psychiatry. (The only disadvantage connected with my work at the hospital was that I found it too interesting, and my interest was so captured by the unique and rewarding environment, that the actual purpose of my research almost slipped into the background.) I am very grateful to Dr. SCHOSSBERGER for his friendly attitude from the very first day at his hospital, a friendship which has marked our time together both personally and professionally. I wish furthermore to express my thanks to him for placing a private secretary at my disposal. Social worker RACHEL HIRSCH's knowledge of lan- 7

guages, and interest and good humour were of invaluable help and support, both in the technical side of the investigation and in collecting the necessary information. The medical superintendents and staff at all the hospitals and outpatient departments which I visited and where I examined the patients, received me in the kindest way and placed all the information, case-histories, and so on at my disposal. My sincere thanks go to all these, without whose help it would have been impossible to carry out this investigation. I feel a specially deep gratitude to the members of the two investigated kibbutzim, who have given me so much of their time and confidence. Only one who has oneself been in a concentration camp can value highly enough the sacrifice involved in going through in detail the horrible experiences and memories after a long and exacting working day. I am also much indebted to my chief, Professor G. LANGFELDT M.D., for his never-failing interest in my work, for allowing me to make use of the Clinic's material, and for giving me the opportunity to take the necessary sabbatical year's leave. I likewise wish to express my thanks to the Medical Faculty of the University of Oslo, to the Health Department of the Ministry of Social Affairs, and to the Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities, all of whom facilitated my sojourn of study in Israel. The same applies to my colleagues at the University Psychiatric Clinic, with Dr. NILS RETTERSTOL at their head. My work on the 'Medical Board of 1957' was the actual starting point for the present investigation, and I will therefore thank the members of the Board, through their chairman, Professor AXEL STROM, M.D., and their First Secretary, Medical Superintendent BJORN ROGAN, for the fruitful discussions, and the stimulating and rewarding co-operation, and not least for the permission to make use of the Board's material. My heartiest thanks, too, to the numerous Norwegian friends, fellow-prisoners and others who were willing to be interviewed, to Professor O. ODEGARD and other colleagues who have read my manuscript and helped me with their advice, to Mrs PEGGY HOUGE, who translated the manuscript into English, and last, but in no way least, my deepest gratitude to my wife, LISL, who, as ever before, has been tireless in helping me with this paper.