ON ART AND HAPPINESS IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS
ON ART AND HAPPINESS IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS

Summary/Abstract: This article aims at presenting the fact that happiness can be found everywhere, even in the worst place that one can imagine, such as a concentration camp. This is proven by a doctor, who was at the same time a prisoner in Dachau and Auschwitz camps. Being a specialist in psychiatry, the author analysed the behaviour of his colleagues and discovered that only by cultivating forms of art and by developing one’s sense of humour, one could cope with the injustice and cruel treatments from the camp. Therefore, these tools of psychical detachment proved to be the only ways in which the prisoner could hope of survival. Therefore, there are many examples in which one can learn from the prisoners in the camp that by laughing or by trying to see the best in every circumstance, even in the worst ones, one can overcome any hardships.

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