Jewish Doctors and the Holocaust: The Anatomy of Survival in Auschwitz

by Ross W. Halpin

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783110593754
Publisher:	De Gruyter
Publication date:	01/14/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	249
File size:	43 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ross W. Halpin, University of Sydney, Australia

Table of Contents

Foreword xi

Preface xiii

Acknowledgements xvii

Introduction 1

Part I The Road to Auschwitz 9

Part II Parallel Lives: Drs Sima Vaisman, Gisella Perl and Louis Micheels 21

1 Dr Sima Vaisman 24

2 Louis Micheels 40

3 Dr Gisella Perl 55

Part III Jewish Physicians and the Hospital System 73

4 Hospitals and Infirmaries 76

5 Block 10 86

Jewish Doctors and Human Experimentation 86

Dr Alina Brewda 91

Maximilian Samuel 97

6 Daily Life 103

Muselmänner 109

Lucie Adelsberger 111

7 Ethical Dilemmas, Choiceless Choices and the Human Condition 115

Selections 120

Relationship with SS and Non-Jewish prisoner doctors 123

Part IV Survival 127

8 Status 135

9 Personal Traits 149

10 Defence Mechanisms 161

Part V Anatomy of Survival 175

Louis Micheels 178

Gisella Perl 179

Sima Vaisman 180

Alina Brewda 181

Lucie Adelsberger 181

Maximilian Samuel 182

Non-medical survivors 183

Kalman Bar On 184

Tichauer Helen 'Zippi' 186

Part VI Evaluation of Sources 189

Conclusion 203

Epilogue 208

Bibliography 210

Glossary 223

Appendices 225

Index 231

Editorial Reviews

This is a ‘must read’ book in medical and allied health professional schools.”

Avi Ohry, MD Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel

“After meticulous research, Ross Halpin presents a pioneering study that intertwines fragments of testimonial accounts, documentary archival evidence and conceptual frameworks. What emerges is a compelling model of description and interpretation of the limited chances of survival of Jewish doctors in Auschwitz, one of the epicentres of the Holocaust.”

Konrad Kwiet, Emeritus Professor, Resident Historian, Sydney Jewish Museum, Sydney, Australia

“The author’s description of Auschwitz’s medical world is an illuminating and brilliant synthesis and his final chapter, ‘Anatomy of Survival’, a masterpiece where one can see his own contribution to research at its best.”

Etienne Lepicard, Bet Hagat and the Israeli National Council for Bioethics, Jerusalem, Israel

“This is a powerful, compelling and important work.”

Garry Walter, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Sydney Medical School and Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, University, Sydney, Australia

From the Publisher