Auschwitz

I might consider what the title of the book alludes to: Survival of the Human Spirit. The author does not necessarily believe in the capacity of the human spirit to find a way to survive in the long term, but asserts that each person finds a way to survive in the short term and repeats the process over and over again. One of the main themes of the book is the varying ways in which this was done by some of the survivors. Some of the more successful at surviving were able to turn their imprisonment into a kind of contest between themselves and the Germans, making a focus each day of beating them, of outwitting the system. Others who were more physically strong and therefore more physically able to survive used this factor to overcome the physical punishment that was being put upon them and survived out of a physical will rather than a spiritual one. The author contends throughout the book that humans are predisposed never to realize that they are suffering ultimate misery, or experiencing ultimate happiness, therefore allowing themselves to rationalize how they are feeling each day and continue to survive despite the odds. The theme shows that there is no one way to survive but that survival was a combination of personality, health and random circumstances.