Chances of surviving a German concentration camp: report
Extent and Medium
1 folder
Creator(s)
- Durlacher, Gerhard L.
Biographical History
Gerhard Durlacher (1928-1996), himself a Holocaust survivor became a sociologist at the University of Amsterdam and later wrote about his own experiences in factual books and fiction, managing to trace some of his former fellow inmates at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Acquisition
Donor: Gerhard Durlacher
Scope and Content
This copy report on Jewish resistance and survival in concentration camps poses a counter argument to Bruno Bettleheim's contention that camp experience created an infantile passive response, suggesting instead that inmates developed a variety of ways of resistance. This report was written in his capacity as an employee of the Dutch Sociologisch Instituut and is essentially a programme for research replete with rationale and methodology, also including a pro forma letter to authors of eyewitness testimonies seeking permission to use their accounts.
Several parts of this text subsequently appeared in one or both of two published works by GL Durlacher: "Het levensgebod (The Command to Live), a 12 page chapter in De zoektocht [The Search], Amsterdam, Meulenhoff, April 1991; and 'Herdenken is vooruitzien. Het kille welkom voor de thuiskomers uit de kampen' [Commemoration is foresight. The chilly welcome for those returning home from the camps.], in De Groene Amsterdammer, 1 May 1985; republished in Met haat valt niet te leven; krantenstukken door G.L. Durlacher & gespreken met G.L. Durlacher [One cannot live with hatred; newspaper articles by G.L. Durlacher and interviews with G.L. Durclacher], edited by Anneke Durlacher-Sasburg [GLD's widow] and Tilly Hermans [GLD's editor at Meulenhoff], Amsterdam, Meulenhoff, 1998, pp. 9-17.
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Conditions Governing Access
Open
People
- Bettelheim, Bruno
Subjects
- Survivors
- Concentration camps