Ask someone to name the most tragic event in history, and there’s a decent change the Holocaust will come up. We’ve all heard the stories of mankind being pushed to the most extreme of circumstances, forced to fight for survival against all hope.
Browse our shelves and you’ll find countless books covering World War II, concentration camps, and other aspects of the 1940s. So much has been said, and hopefully we’ll never cease offering remembrance for this tragic event. But, sometimes, fiction just falls short.
Victor E. Frankl’s book Man’s Search for Meaning looks into life in Auschwitz–the camp we’ve heard so often about–but this account stands out. Frankl experienced it firsthand.
Man’s Search for Meaning is split in halves, the first focusing on his own story. The narrative’s unique feel goes even further, though, as Frankl was a psychologist before being taken to Auschwitz. It is with a scientific mind–though also an extremely human one–that he explains what went into the experiences of thousands of men and women. Viktor spends the second half explaining the psychological theory used in his assumptions.
This is one of the harder books I’ve had to read, yet I would recommend it to anyone. Looking at mankind–at his weakest, and his strongest–will never cease being important. This book is less than 200 pages long: a quick read, but the words will linger with you long after.
Thanks for reading.
The O'Fallon Public Library News 