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1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 152 (from laksa128)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa152.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning","crawl_time":1775389549,"first_indexed_time":1375979443,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"org,wikipedia!en,\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning s443","src_root_hash":"17790707453426894952","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Man's Search for Meaning - Wikipedia","meta_descriptions":[],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia\nMan's Search for Meaning\nSecond edition (1947)\nAuthor\nViktor E. Frankl\nOriginal title\nEin Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager\nTranslator\nIlse Lasch (Part One)\nLanguage\nGerman\nGenre\nAutobiography\n,\npsychotherapy\nPublisher\nVerlag für Jugend und Volk (Austria)\nBeacon Press\n(English)\nPublication date\n1946 (Vienna, Austria)\n1959 (United States)\nPublication place\nAustria\nPages\n200\nISBN\n080701429X\nOCLC\n233687922\nFollowed by\nThe Doctor and the Soul\n: From Psychotherapy in Logotherapy \nMan's Search for Meaning\n(\nGerman\n:\n... trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen. Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager\n,\nlit.\n \n'\n... Say Yes to Life nonetheless: A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp\n'\n) is a 1946 book by\nViktor Frankl\nchronicling his experiences as a prisoner in\nNazi concentration camps\nduring World War II, and describing his\npsychotherapeutic\nmethod, which involved identifying a purpose to each person's life through one of three ways: the completion of tasks, caring for another person, or finding meaning by facing suffering with dignity.\nFrankl observed that among the fellow inmates in the concentration camp, those who survived were able to connect with a purpose in life to feel positive about and who then immersed themselves in imagining that purpose in their own way, such as conversing with an (imagined) loved one. According to Frankl, the way a prisoner imagined the future affected their longevity.\nThe book intends to answer the question \"How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?\" Part One constitutes Frankl's analysis of his experiences in the concentration camps, while Part Two introduces his ideas of\nmeaning\nand his theory for the link between people's health and their sense of meaning in life. He called this theory\nlogotherapy\n, and there are now multiple\nlogotherapy institutes\naround the world.\nAccording to a survey conducted by the\nBook-of-the-Month Club\nand the\nLibrary of Congress\n,\nMan's Search for Meaning\nbelongs to a list of \"the ten most influential books in the United States.\"\n[\n1\n]\nAt the time of the author's death in 1997, the book had sold over 10 million copies and had been translated into 24 languages.\n[\n2\n]\n[\n3\n]\nThe book's original title is\nEin Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager\n(\"A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp\").\nLater\nGerman\neditions prefixed the title with\nTrotzdem Ja zum Leben Sagen\n(\"Nevertheless Saying Yes to Life\"), taken from a line in\nDas Buchenwaldlied,\na song written by\nFriedrich Löhner-Beda\nwhile an inmate at\nBuchenwald\n.\n[\n4\n]\nThe title of the first English-language translation was\nFrom Death-Camp to Existentialism\n. The book's common full English title is\nMan's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy\n, although this subtitle is often not printed on the cover of modern editions.\n[\n5\n]\nExperiences in a concentration camp\n[\nedit\n]\nFrankl identifies three psychological reactions experienced by all inmates to one degree or another:\nShock during the initial admission phase to the camp,\nApathy after becoming accustomed to camp existence, in which the inmate values only that which helps himself and his friends survive, and\nReactions of\ndepersonalization\n, moral deformity, bitterness, and disillusionment if he survives and is liberated.\n[\n6\n]\nFrankl concludes that the\nmeaning of life\nis found in every moment of living; life never ceases to have meaning, even in suffering and death. In a\ngroup therapy\nsession during a mass fast inflicted on the camp's inmates trying to protect an anonymous fellow inmate from fatal retribution by authorities, Frankl offered the thought that for everyone in a dire condition there is someone looking down, a friend, family member, or even God, who would expect not to be disappointed. Frankl concludes from his experience that a prisoner's psychological reactions are not solely the result of the conditions of his life, but also from the\nfreedom of choice\nhe always has even in severe suffering. The inner hold a prisoner has on his spiritual self relies on having a hope in the future, and that once a prisoner loses that hope, he is doomed.\nFrankl also concludes that there are only two races of men, decent men and indecent. No society is free of either of them, and thus there were decent\nNazi\nguards and indecent prisoners, most notably the\nkapo\nwho would torture and abuse their fellow prisoners for personal gain.\nHis concluding passage in Part One describes the psychological reaction of the inmates to their liberation, which he separates into three stages. The first is depersonalization—a period of readjustment in which a prisoner gradually returns to the world. Initially, the liberated prisoners are so numb that they are unable to understand what freedom means or to emotionally respond to it. Part of them believes that it is an illusion or a dream that will be taken away from them. In their first foray outside their former prison, the prisoners realized that they\ncould not comprehend pleasure\n. Flowers and the reality of the freedom they had dreamed about for years were all surreal, unable to be grasped in their depersonalization.\nThe body is the first element to break out of this stage, responding by big appetites of eating and wanting more sleeping. Only after the partial replenishing of the body is the mind finally able to respond, as \"feeling suddenly broke through the strange fetters which had restrained it\" (p. 111).\nThis begins the second stage, in which there is a danger of deformation. As the intense pressure on the mind is released, mental health can be endangered. Frankl uses the analogy of a diver\nsuddenly released from his pressure chamber\n. He recounts the story of a friend who became immediately obsessed with dispensing the same violence in judgment of his abusers that they had inflicted on him.\nUpon returning home, the prisoners had to struggle with two fundamental experiences that could damage their mental health: bitterness and disillusionment. The last stage is bitterness at the lack of responsiveness of the world outside—a \"superficiality and lack of feeling... so disgusting that one finally felt like creeping into a hole and neither hearing nor seeing human beings any more\" (p. 113). Worse was disillusionment, the discovery that suffering does not end, that the longed-for happiness will not come. This was the experience of those who—like Frankl—returned home to discover that no one awaited them. The hope that had sustained them throughout their time in the concentration camp was now gone. Frankl cites this experience as the most difficult to overcome.\nAs time passed, however, the prisoner's experience in a concentration camp became nothing but a remembered nightmare. What is more, he comes to believe that he has nothing left to fear \"except his God\" (p. 115).\nIn a 1991 survey conducted for the\nLibrary of Congress\nand the\nBook of the Month Club\n,\nMan's Search for Meaning\nwas named one of the 10 most influential books in the US.\n[\n7\n]\nAt the time of Frankl's death in 1997, the book had sold over 10 million copies and had been translated into 24 languages. As of 2022 the book has sold 16 million copies and been printed in 52 languages.\n[\n8\n]\nGordon Allport\n, who wrote a preface to the book, described it as a \"gem of dramatic narrative\" which \"provides a compelling introduction to the most significant psychological movement of our day\".\n[\n9\n]\nSarah Bakewell\ndescribes it as \"an incredibly powerful and moving example of what\nexistentialist\nthought can actually be for in real life\"\n[\n10\n]\nwhile\nMary Fulbrook\npraises \"the way [Frankl] explores the importance of meaning in life as the key to survival.\"\n[\n11\n]\nHowever, aspects of the book have garnered criticism.  One of Frankl's main ideas in the book is that a\npositive attitude\nmade one better equipped for surviving the camps. Richard Middleton-Kaplan has said that this implies, whether intentionally or unintentionally, that those who died had given up and that this paved the way for the idea of the Jews going\nlike sheep to the slaughter\n.\n[\n12\n]\nHolocaust analyst\nLawrence L. Langer\ncriticises Frankl's promotion of logotherapy and says the book has a  problematic subtext. He also accuses Frankl of having a tone of self-aggrandizement and a general inhumane sense of studying-detachment towards victims of the Holocaust.\n[\n13\n]\n[\n14\n]\nIn his book\nFaith in Freedom\n, psychiatrist\nThomas Szasz\nstates that Frankl's survivor testimony was written to misdirect, and betrays instead an intent of a transparent effort to conceal Frankl's actions and his collaboration with the Nazis, and that, in the assessment of\nRaul Hilberg\n, the founder of\nHolocaust Studies\n, Frankl's historical account contains distortions akin to\nBinjamin Wilkomirski\n's memoirs, which were translated into nine languages before being exposed as deeply problematic (and according to the most radical interpretation false) in Hilberg's 1996\nPolitics of Memory\n.\n[\n15\n]\nSzasz's criticism of Frankl is not universally embraced.\n[\n16\n]\n[\nirrelevant citation\n]\nSimilarly, Hilberg's allegations have been rebutted by several reviewers.\n[\n17\n]\nComparison between Frankl's memoirs and Wilkomirski's memoirs leveled by Szasz, however, could legitimately be dismissed altogether as an inapt and misleading analogy insofar as questions arose (and remained) as to whether or not Wilkomirski had ever been an inmate at a concentration camp, whereas this was never a question in Frankl's case: there is no doubt that he is a survivor.\nBriefly: Conflicting views about the nature of memory under extreme conditions, as well as the sort of instinctual opportunism (for the sake of survival) or\npositive thinking mentality\nthat often (one might even say 'usually' or 'almost always') correlated with long-term survival in the Nazi death camps, makes the memoir an important document of witness during the holocaust but also highlight the way in which it displays the cognitive and psychological limits of representing a situation like the Nazi extermination from an 'impartial' first person perspective.\nBased on a suggestion in Man's Search for Meaning, a proposed\nStatue of Responsibility\nhas been designed by Utah sculptor\nGary Lee Price\nand endorsed for construction by the Utah governor. In the book, Frankl makes the following statement about the sculpture:\nFreedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.\n[\n18\n]\nExistential anxiety\nJonathan Livingston Seagull\nMaslow's hierarchy of needs\nStatue of Responsibility\n– proposed in the book to complement the\nStatue of Liberty\nLife Is Beautiful\n(1997), a film on how a positive attitude can be maintained in the worst of circumstances, including a concentration camp\n^\nFein, Esther (1991).\n\"Book Notes\"\n.\nNew York Times\n. Retrieved\n22 May\n2012\n.\n^\nNoble, Holcomb B. (September 4, 1997).\n\"Dr. Viktor E. Frankl of Vienna, Psychiatrist of the Search for Meaning, Dies at 92\"\n.\nThe New York Times\n. p. B-7\n. Retrieved\n22 May\n2012\n.\n^\n\"Viktor Frankl Life and Work\"\n. Viktor Frankl Institute Vienna. 2011\n. Retrieved\n22 May\n2012\n.\n^\nForeword to\nTrotzdem Ja zum Leben Sagen: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager,\nHans Weigel\n, Penguin, München, 2009,\nISBN\n \n978-3328102779\n(reprinted from 1977)\n^\nMan's Search for Meaning\n, Viktor Frankl. Beacon Press, 2006,\nISBN\n \n978-0807014264\n^\nFrankl, Viktor (1959).\nMan's Search for Meaning\n.\nISBN\n \n978-0807014295\n.\n^\nFein, Esther B. (20 November 1991).\n\"New York Times, 11-20-1991\"\n.\nThe New York Times\n.\nArchived\nfrom the original on 28 April 2020\n. Retrieved\n21 April\n2020\n.\n^\n\"How Instagram turned a Holocaust memoir into a self-help manifesto\"\n. Vox.\n^\nMan's Search for Meaning\n, Viktor Frankl\n^\n\"The best books on Existentialism\"\n.\n^\n\"The best books on Auschwitz\"\n.\n^\nMiddleton-Kaplan, Richard (2014). \"The Myth of Jewish Passivity\". In Henry, Patrick (ed.).\nJewish Resistance Against the Nazis\n. Washington, D.C.:\nCatholic University of America Press\n. pp. \n9–\n10.\nISBN\n \n978-0813225890\n.\n^\nLawrence Langer,\nVersions of Survival: The Holocaust and the Human Spirit\n(Albany: State University of New York Press, 1982), p. 24.\n^\nPytell, Timothy (June 3, 2003).\n\"Redeeming the Unredeemable: Auschwitz and Man's Search for Meaning\"\n.\nHolocaust and Genocide Studies\n.\n17\n(1):\n89–\n113.\ndoi\n:\n10.1093\/hgs\/17.1.89\n– via Project MUSE.\n^\nFaith in Freedom\n, p. 181 Thomas Szasz\n^\n\"Thomas Szasz: An Evaluation | Psychology Today\"\n.\nwww.psychologytoday.com\n. Retrieved\n2024-03-18\n.\n^\n\"Review of the Wilkomirski Affair\"\n.\nSwiss American Historical Society Review\n.\n37\n(3):\n25–\n32.\n^\nFrankl, Viktor (2006).\nMan's Search for Meaning\n. Beacon Press.\nISBN\n \n978-0807014264\n.\nViktor Frankl: Why believe in others\nTED\ntalk\nCommentary on Man's Search For Meaning\nby personal development scholar\nTom Butler-Bowdon\n(\n50 Self-Help Classics\n, 2003.\nISBN\n \n978-1857883237\n)\nViktor Frankl at Ninety: An Interview\nArchived\n2018-07-31 at the\nWayback Machine\nMan's Search for Meaning book cover\nGilmore, Byron Ross (1997).\nThe search for meaning in grief: A comparison of Victor Frankl's 'Search for Meaning' with Douglas Hall's 'Theology of the Cross', and their implications for grief ministry\n(M.A. thesis).\nWilfrid Laurier University\n.\nThere's More To Life Than Being Happy\nin\nThe Atlantic\n, discussion of Man's Search For Meaning. 2013.","attrs_markdown":"[Jump to content](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#bodyContent)\n\nMain menu\n\nMain menu\n\nmove to sidebar\n\nhide\n\nNavigation\n\n- [Main page](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Main_Page \"Visit the main page [z]\")\n- [Contents](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wikipedia:Contents \"Guides to browsing Wikipedia\")\n- [Current events](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Portal:Current_events \"Articles related to current events\")\n- [Random article](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:Random \"Visit a randomly selected article [x]\")\n- [About Wikipedia](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wikipedia:About \"Learn about Wikipedia and how it works\")\n- [Contact us](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wikipedia:Contact_us \"How to contact Wikipedia\")\n\nContribute\n\n- [Help](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Help:Contents \"Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia\")\n- [Learn to edit](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Help:Introduction \"Learn how to edit Wikipedia\")\n- [Community portal](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wikipedia:Community_portal \"The hub for editors\")\n- [Recent changes](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:RecentChanges \"A list of recent changes to Wikipedia [r]\")\n- [Upload file](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wikipedia:File_upload_wizard \"Add images or other media for use on Wikipedia\")\n- [Special pages](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:SpecialPages \"A list of all special pages [q]\")\n\n[![](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/static\/images\/icons\/enwiki-25.svg) ![Wikipedia](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/static\/images\/mobile\/copyright\/wikipedia-wordmark-en-25.svg) ![The Free Encyclopedia](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/static\/images\/mobile\/copyright\/wikipedia-tagline-en-25.svg)](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Main_Page)\n\n[Search](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:Search \"Search Wikipedia [f]\")\n\nAppearance\n\n- [Donate](https:\/\/donate.wikimedia.org\/?wmf_source=donate&wmf_medium=sidebar&wmf_campaign=en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en)\n- [Create account](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Man%27s+Search+for+Meaning \"You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory\")\n- [Log in](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Man%27s+Search+for+Meaning \"You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]\")\n\nPersonal tools\n\n- [Donate](https:\/\/donate.wikimedia.org\/?wmf_source=donate&wmf_medium=sidebar&wmf_campaign=en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en)\n- [Create account](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Man%27s+Search+for+Meaning \"You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory\")\n- [Log in](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Man%27s+Search+for+Meaning \"You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]\")\n\n## Contents\nmove to sidebar\n\nhide\n\n- [(Top)](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning)\n- [1 Editions](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#Editions)\n- [2 Experiences in a concentration camp](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#Experiences_in_a_concentration_camp)\n- [3 Reception](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#Reception)\n- [4 See also](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#See_also)\n- [5 References](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#References)\n- [6 External links](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#External_links)\n\nToggle the table of contents\n\n# *Man's Search for Meaning*\n26 languages\n\n- [العربية](https:\/\/ar.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%D8%A8%D8%AD%D8%AB_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%B9%D9%86_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B9%D9%86%D9%89 \"بحث الإنسان عن المعنى – Arabic\")\n- [Azərbaycanca](https:\/\/az.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%C4%B0nsan%C4%B1n_m%C9%99na_axtar%C4%B1%C5%9F%C4%B1 \"İnsanın məna axtarışı – Azerbaijani\")\n- [Български](https:\/\/bg.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%D0%A7%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%8A%D1%82_%D0%B2_%D1%82%D1%8A%D1%80%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B5_%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D1%81%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%8A%D0%BB \"Човекът в търсене на смисъл – Bulgarian\")\n- [Català](https:\/\/ca.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/L%27home_a_la_recerca_de_sentit \"L'home a la recerca de sentit – Catalan\")\n- [کوردی](https:\/\/ckb.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%DA%AF%DB%95%DA%95%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C_%D9%85%D8%B1%DB%86%DA%A4_%D8%A8%DB%95%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%A7%DB%8C_%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A7 \"گەڕانی مرۆڤ بەدوای واتادا – Central Kurdish\")\n- [Čeština](https:\/\/cs.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/A_p%C5%99esto_%C5%99%C3%ADci_%C5%BEivotu_ano \"A přesto říci životu ano – Czech\")\n- [Deutsch](https:\/\/de.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%E2%80%A6_trotzdem_Ja_zum_Leben_sagen \"… trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen – German\")\n- [Ελληνικά](https:\/\/el.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%CE%91%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%B6%CE%B7%CF%84%CF%8E%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B1%CF%82_%CE%BD%CF%8C%CE%B7%CE%BC%CE%B1_%CE%B6%CF%89%CE%AE%CF%82 \"Αναζητώντας νόημα ζωής – Greek\")\n- [Esperanto](https:\/\/eo.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%E2%80%A6_tamen_jesi_al_vivo:_Psikologo_spertas_la_koncentrejon \"… tamen jesi al vivo: Psikologo spertas la koncentrejon – Esperanto\")\n- [Español](https:\/\/es.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/El_hombre_en_busca_de_sentido \"El hombre en busca de sentido – Spanish\")\n- [فارسی](https:\/\/fa.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%AF%D8%B1_%D8%AC%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%AC%D9%88%DB%8C_%D9%85%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%A7 \"انسان در جستجوی معنا – Persian\")\n- [Suomi](https:\/\/fi.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ihmisyyden_rajalla \"Ihmisyyden rajalla – Finnish\")\n- [Français](https:\/\/fr.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Trotzdem_Ja_zum_Leben_sagen:_Ein_Psychologe_erlebt_das_Konzentrationslager \"Trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager – 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Frankl](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Viktor_E._Frankl \"Viktor E. Frankl\") |\n| Original title | *Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager* |\n| Translator | Ilse Lasch (Part One) |\n| Language | German |\n| Genre | [Autobiography](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Autobiography \"Autobiography\"), [psychotherapy](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Psychotherapy \"Psychotherapy\") |\n| Publisher | Verlag für Jugend und Volk (Austria) [Beacon Press](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Beacon_Press \"Beacon Press\") (English) |\n| Publication date | 1946 (Vienna, Austria) 1959 (United States) |\n| Publication place | Austria |\n| Pages | 200 |\n| [ISBN](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/ISBN_\\(identifier\\) \"ISBN (identifier)\") | [080701429X](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:BookSources\/080701429X \"Special:BookSources\/080701429X\") |\n| [OCLC](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/OCLC_\\(identifier\\) \"OCLC (identifier)\") | [233687922](https:\/\/www.worldcat.org\/oclc\/233687922) |\n| Followed by | *[The Doctor and the Soul](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Doctor_and_the_Soul \"The Doctor and the Soul\"): From Psychotherapy in Logotherapy* |\n\n***Man's Search for Meaning*** ([German](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/German_language \"German language\"): *... trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen. Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager*, [lit.](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Literal_translation \"Literal translation\")'... Say Yes to Life nonetheless: A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp') is a 1946 book by [Viktor Frankl](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Viktor_Frankl \"Viktor Frankl\") chronicling his experiences as a prisoner in [Nazi concentration camps](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nazi_concentration_camps \"Nazi concentration camps\") during World War II, and describing his [psychotherapeutic](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Psychotherapeutic \"Psychotherapeutic\") method, which involved identifying a purpose to each person's life through one of three ways: the completion of tasks, caring for another person, or finding meaning by facing suffering with dignity.\n\nFrankl observed that among the fellow inmates in the concentration camp, those who survived were able to connect with a purpose in life to feel positive about and who then immersed themselves in imagining that purpose in their own way, such as conversing with an (imagined) loved one. According to Frankl, the way a prisoner imagined the future affected their longevity.\n\nThe book intends to answer the question \"How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?\" Part One constitutes Frankl's analysis of his experiences in the concentration camps, while Part Two introduces his ideas of [meaning](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Meaning_\\(existential\\) \"Meaning (existential)\") and his theory for the link between people's health and their sense of meaning in life. He called this theory [logotherapy](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Logotherapy \"Logotherapy\"), and there are now multiple [logotherapy institutes](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_logotherapy_institutes \"List of logotherapy institutes\") around the world.\n\nAccording to a survey conducted by the [Book-of-the-Month Club](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Book-of-the-Month_Club \"Book-of-the-Month Club\") and the [Library of Congress](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Library_of_Congress \"Library of Congress\"), *Man's Search for Meaning* belongs to a list of \"the ten most influential books in the United States.\"[\\[1\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-Fein_1991-1) At the time of the author's death in 1997, the book had sold over 10 million copies and had been translated into 24 languages.[\\[2\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-dies_at_92-2)[\\[3\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-InstituteVienna-3)\n\n## Editions\n\\[[edit](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning&action=edit&section=1 \"Edit section: Editions\")\\]\n\nThe book's original title is *Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager* (\"A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp\"). Later [German](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/German_language \"German language\") editions prefixed the title with *Trotzdem Ja zum Leben Sagen* (\"Nevertheless Saying Yes to Life\"), taken from a line in *Das Buchenwaldlied,* a song written by [Friedrich Löhner-Beda](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fritz_L%C3%B6hner-Beda \"Fritz Löhner-Beda\") while an inmate at [Buchenwald](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Buchenwald_concentration_camp \"Buchenwald concentration camp\").[\\[4\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-4) The title of the first English-language translation was *From Death-Camp to Existentialism*. The book's common full English title is ***Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy***, although this subtitle is often not printed on the cover of modern editions.[\\[5\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-5)\n\n## Experiences in a concentration camp\n\\[[edit](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning&action=edit&section=2 \"Edit section: Experiences in a concentration camp\")\\]\n\nFrankl identifies three psychological reactions experienced by all inmates to one degree or another:\n\n1. Shock during the initial admission phase to the camp,\n2. Apathy after becoming accustomed to camp existence, in which the inmate values only that which helps himself and his friends survive, and\n3. Reactions of [depersonalization](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Depersonalization \"Depersonalization\"), moral deformity, bitterness, and disillusionment if he survives and is liberated.[\\[6\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-6)\n\nFrankl concludes that the [meaning of life](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Meaning_of_life \"Meaning of life\") is found in every moment of living; life never ceases to have meaning, even in suffering and death. In a [group therapy](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Group_therapy \"Group therapy\") session during a mass fast inflicted on the camp's inmates trying to protect an anonymous fellow inmate from fatal retribution by authorities, Frankl offered the thought that for everyone in a dire condition there is someone looking down, a friend, family member, or even God, who would expect not to be disappointed. Frankl concludes from his experience that a prisoner's psychological reactions are not solely the result of the conditions of his life, but also from the [freedom of choice](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Freedom_of_choice \"Freedom of choice\") he always has even in severe suffering. The inner hold a prisoner has on his spiritual self relies on having a hope in the future, and that once a prisoner loses that hope, he is doomed.\n\nFrankl also concludes that there are only two races of men, decent men and indecent. No society is free of either of them, and thus there were decent [Nazi](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nazi \"Nazi\") guards and indecent prisoners, most notably the [kapo](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kapo_\\(concentration_camp\\) \"Kapo (concentration camp)\") who would torture and abuse their fellow prisoners for personal gain.\n\nHis concluding passage in Part One describes the psychological reaction of the inmates to their liberation, which he separates into three stages. The first is depersonalization—a period of readjustment in which a prisoner gradually returns to the world. Initially, the liberated prisoners are so numb that they are unable to understand what freedom means or to emotionally respond to it. Part of them believes that it is an illusion or a dream that will be taken away from them. In their first foray outside their former prison, the prisoners realized that they [could not comprehend pleasure](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anhedonia \"Anhedonia\"). Flowers and the reality of the freedom they had dreamed about for years were all surreal, unable to be grasped in their depersonalization.\n\nThe body is the first element to break out of this stage, responding by big appetites of eating and wanting more sleeping. Only after the partial replenishing of the body is the mind finally able to respond, as \"feeling suddenly broke through the strange fetters which had restrained it\" (p. 111).\n\nThis begins the second stage, in which there is a danger of deformation. As the intense pressure on the mind is released, mental health can be endangered. Frankl uses the analogy of a diver [suddenly released from his pressure chamber](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Decompression_sickness \"Decompression sickness\"). He recounts the story of a friend who became immediately obsessed with dispensing the same violence in judgment of his abusers that they had inflicted on him.\n\nUpon returning home, the prisoners had to struggle with two fundamental experiences that could damage their mental health: bitterness and disillusionment. The last stage is bitterness at the lack of responsiveness of the world outside—a \"superficiality and lack of feeling... so disgusting that one finally felt like creeping into a hole and neither hearing nor seeing human beings any more\" (p. 113). Worse was disillusionment, the discovery that suffering does not end, that the longed-for happiness will not come. This was the experience of those who—like Frankl—returned home to discover that no one awaited them. The hope that had sustained them throughout their time in the concentration camp was now gone. Frankl cites this experience as the most difficult to overcome.\n\nAs time passed, however, the prisoner's experience in a concentration camp became nothing but a remembered nightmare. What is more, he comes to believe that he has nothing left to fear \"except his God\" (p. 115).\n\n## Reception\n\\[[edit](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning&action=edit&section=3 \"Edit section: Reception\")\\]\n\nIn a 1991 survey conducted for the [Library of Congress](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Library_of_Congress \"Library of Congress\") and the [Book of the Month Club](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Book_of_the_Month_Club \"Book of the Month Club\"), *Man's Search for Meaning* was named one of the 10 most influential books in the US.[\\[7\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-7) At the time of Frankl's death in 1997, the book had sold over 10 million copies and had been translated into 24 languages. As of 2022 the book has sold 16 million copies and been printed in 52 languages.[\\[8\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-8)\n\n[Gordon Allport](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gordon_Allport \"Gordon Allport\"), who wrote a preface to the book, described it as a \"gem of dramatic narrative\" which \"provides a compelling introduction to the most significant psychological movement of our day\".[\\[9\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-9) [Sarah Bakewell](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sarah_Bakewell \"Sarah Bakewell\") describes it as \"an incredibly powerful and moving example of what [existentialist](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Existentialist \"Existentialist\") thought can actually be for in real life\"[\\[10\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-10) while [Mary Fulbrook](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mary_Fulbrook \"Mary Fulbrook\") praises \"the way \\[Frankl\\] explores the importance of meaning in life as the key to survival.\"[\\[11\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-11)\n\nHowever, aspects of the book have garnered criticism. One of Frankl's main ideas in the book is that a [positive attitude](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Positive_mental_attitude \"Positive mental attitude\") made one better equipped for surviving the camps. Richard Middleton-Kaplan has said that this implies, whether intentionally or unintentionally, that those who died had given up and that this paved the way for the idea of the Jews going [like sheep to the slaughter](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Like_sheep_to_the_slaughter \"Like sheep to the slaughter\").[\\[12\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-12) Holocaust analyst [Lawrence L. Langer](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lawrence_L._Langer \"Lawrence L. Langer\") criticises Frankl's promotion of logotherapy and says the book has a problematic subtext. He also accuses Frankl of having a tone of self-aggrandizement and a general inhumane sense of studying-detachment towards victims of the Holocaust.[\\[13\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-13)[\\[14\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-14)\n\nIn his book *Faith in Freedom*, psychiatrist [Thomas Szasz](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thomas_Szasz \"Thomas Szasz\") states that Frankl's survivor testimony was written to misdirect, and betrays instead an intent of a transparent effort to conceal Frankl's actions and his collaboration with the Nazis, and that, in the assessment of [Raul Hilberg](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Raul_Hilberg \"Raul Hilberg\"), the founder of [Holocaust Studies](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Holocaust_studies \"Holocaust studies\"), Frankl's historical account contains distortions akin to [Binjamin Wilkomirski](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fragments:_Memories_of_a_Wartime_Childhood \"Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood\")'s memoirs, which were translated into nine languages before being exposed as deeply problematic (and according to the most radical interpretation false) in Hilberg's 1996 *Politics of Memory*.[\\[15\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-15) Szasz's criticism of Frankl is not universally embraced.[\\[16\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-16)\\[*[irrelevant citation](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wikipedia:Verifiability \"Wikipedia:Verifiability\")*\\] Similarly, Hilberg's allegations have been rebutted by several reviewers.[\\[17\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-17) Comparison between Frankl's memoirs and Wilkomirski's memoirs leveled by Szasz, however, could legitimately be dismissed altogether as an inapt and misleading analogy insofar as questions arose (and remained) as to whether or not Wilkomirski had ever been an inmate at a concentration camp, whereas this was never a question in Frankl's case: there is no doubt that he is a survivor.\n\nBriefly: Conflicting views about the nature of memory under extreme conditions, as well as the sort of instinctual opportunism (for the sake of survival) or [positive thinking mentality](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Positive_psychology \"Positive psychology\") that often (one might even say 'usually' or 'almost always') correlated with long-term survival in the Nazi death camps, makes the memoir an important document of witness during the holocaust but also highlight the way in which it displays the cognitive and psychological limits of representing a situation like the Nazi extermination from an 'impartial' first person perspective.\n\nBased on a suggestion in Man's Search for Meaning, a proposed [Statue of Responsibility](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Statue_of_Responsibility \"Statue of Responsibility\") has been designed by Utah sculptor [Gary Lee Price](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gary_Lee_Price \"Gary Lee Price\") and endorsed for construction by the Utah governor. In the book, Frankl makes the following statement about the sculpture:\n\n> Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.[\\[18\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-18)\n\n## See also\n\\[[edit](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning&action=edit&section=4 \"Edit section: See also\")\\]\n\n- [Existential anxiety](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anxiety#Existential \"Anxiety\")\n- *[Jonathan Livingston Seagull](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jonathan_Livingston_Seagull \"Jonathan Livingston Seagull\")*\n- [Maslow's hierarchy of needs](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs \"Maslow's hierarchy of needs\")\n- [Statue of Responsibility](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Statue_of_Responsibility \"Statue of Responsibility\") – proposed in the book to complement the [Statue of Liberty](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Statue_of_Liberty \"Statue of Liberty\")\n- *[Life Is Beautiful](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Life_Is_Beautiful \"Life Is Beautiful\")* (1997), a film on how a positive attitude can be maintained in the worst of circumstances, including a concentration camp\n\n## References\n\\[[edit](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning&action=edit&section=5 \"Edit section: References\")\\]\n\n1. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-Fein_1991_1-0)**\n   Fein, Esther (1991). [\"Book Notes\"](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1991\/11\/20\/books\/book-notes-059091.html). *New York Times*. Retrieved 22 May 2012.\n2. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-dies_at_92_2-0)**\n   Noble, Holcomb B. (September 4, 1997). [\"Dr. Viktor E. Frankl of Vienna, Psychiatrist of the Search for Meaning, Dies at 92\"](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1997\/09\/04\/world\/dr-viktor-e-frankl-of-vienna-psychiatrist-of-the-search-for-meaning-dies-at-92.html). *The New York Times*. p. B-7. Retrieved 22 May 2012.\n3. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-InstituteVienna_3-0)**\n   [\"Viktor Frankl Life and Work\"](https:\/\/www.viktorfrankl.org\/e\/lifeandwork.html). Viktor Frankl Institute Vienna. 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2012.\n4. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-4)**\n   Foreword to *Trotzdem Ja zum Leben Sagen: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager,* [Hans Weigel](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hans_Weigel \"Hans Weigel\"), Penguin, München, 2009,\n   \n   [ISBN](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/ISBN_\\(identifier\\) \"ISBN (identifier)\")\n   \n   [978-3328102779](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:BookSources\/978-3328102779 \"Special:BookSources\/978-3328102779\")\n   \n   (reprinted from 1977)\n5. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-5)**\n   *Man's Search for Meaning*, Viktor Frankl. Beacon Press, 2006,\n   \n   [ISBN](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/ISBN_\\(identifier\\) \"ISBN (identifier)\")\n   \n   [978-0807014264](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:BookSources\/978-0807014264 \"Special:BookSources\/978-0807014264\")\n6. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-6)**\n   Frankl, Viktor (1959). [*Man's Search for Meaning*](https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/manssearchformea00vikt). [ISBN](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/ISBN_\\(identifier\\) \"ISBN (identifier)\")\n   \n   [978-0807014295](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:BookSources\/978-0807014295 \"Special:BookSources\/978-0807014295\")\n   \n   .\n   \n   `{{cite book}}`: ISBN \/ Date incompatibility ([help](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Help:CS1_errors#invalid_isbn_date \"Help:CS1 errors\"))\n7. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-7)**\n   Fein, Esther B. (20 November 1991). [\"New York Times, 11-20-1991\"](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1991\/11\/20\/books\/book-notes-059091.html). *The New York Times*. [Archived](https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20200428021311\/https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1991\/11\/20\/books\/book-notes-059091.html) from the original on 28 April 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020.\n8. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-8)**\n   [\"How Instagram turned a Holocaust memoir into a self-help manifesto\"](https:\/\/www.vox.com\/the-goods\/23467058\/mans-search-for-meaning-frankl-holocaust-memoir-wellness-instagram). Vox.\n9. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-9)** *Man's Search for Meaning*, Viktor Frankl\n10. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-10)**\n    [\"The best books on Existentialism\"](https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/best-books\/existentialism-sarah-bakewell\/#book-6795).\n11. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-11)**\n    [\"The best books on Auschwitz\"](https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/best-books\/auschwitz-mary-fulbrook\/).\n12. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-12)**\n    Middleton-Kaplan, Richard (2014). \"The Myth of Jewish Passivity\". In Henry, Patrick (ed.). *Jewish Resistance Against the Nazis*. Washington, D.C.: [Catholic University of America Press](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Catholic_University_of_America_Press \"Catholic University of America Press\"). pp. 9–10\\. [ISBN](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/ISBN_\\(identifier\\) \"ISBN (identifier)\")\n    \n    [978-0813225890](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:BookSources\/978-0813225890 \"Special:BookSources\/978-0813225890\")\n    \n    .\n13. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-13)** Lawrence Langer, *Versions of Survival: The Holocaust and the Human Spirit* (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1982), p. 24.\n14. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-14)**\n    Pytell, Timothy (June 3, 2003). [\"Redeeming the Unredeemable: Auschwitz and Man's Search for Meaning\"](https:\/\/muse.jhu.edu\/article\/43137). *Holocaust and Genocide Studies*. **17** (1): 89–113\\. [doi](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Doi_\\(identifier\\) \"Doi (identifier)\"):[10\\.1093\/hgs\/17.1.89](https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093%2Fhgs%2F17.1.89) – via Project MUSE.\n15. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-15)** *Faith in Freedom*, p. 181 Thomas Szasz\n16. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-16)**\n    [\"Thomas Szasz: An Evaluation \\| Psychology Today\"](https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/mood-swings\/201801\/thomas-szasz-evaluation). *www.psychologytoday.com*. Retrieved 2024-03-18.\n17. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-17)**\n    [\"Review of the Wilkomirski Affair\"](https:\/\/scholarsarchive.byu.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1336&context=sahs_review). *Swiss American Historical Society Review*. **37** (3): 25–32\\.\n18. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-18)**\n    Frankl, Viktor (2006). *Man's Search for Meaning*. Beacon Press. [ISBN](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/ISBN_\\(identifier\\) \"ISBN (identifier)\")\n    \n    [978-0807014264](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:BookSources\/978-0807014264 \"Special:BookSources\/978-0807014264\")\n    \n    .\n\n## External links\n\\[[edit](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning&action=edit&section=6 \"Edit section: External links\")\\]\n\n![](https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/f\/fa\/Wikiquote-logo.svg\/40px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)\n\nWikiquote has quotations related to ***[Man's Search for Meaning](https:\/\/en.wikiquote.org\/wiki\/Special:Search\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning \"q:Special:Search\/Man's Search for Meaning\")***.\n\n- [Viktor Frankl: Why believe in others](https:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/viktor_frankl_why_believe_in_others) [TED](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/TED_\\(conference\\) \"TED (conference)\") talk\n- [Commentary on Man's Search For Meaning](http:\/\/www.butler-bowdon.com\/manssearch) by personal development scholar [Tom Butler-Bowdon](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tom_Butler-Bowdon \"Tom Butler-Bowdon\") (*50 Self-Help Classics*, 2003.\n  [ISBN](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/ISBN_\\(identifier\\) \"ISBN (identifier)\")\n  [978-1857883237](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:BookSources\/978-1857883237 \"Special:BookSources\/978-1857883237\")\n  )\n- [Viktor Frankl at Ninety: An Interview](http:\/\/www.firstthings.com\/article\/1995\/04\/004-viktor-frankl-at-ninety-an-interview) [Archived](https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20180731070952\/http:\/\/www.firstthings.com\/article\/1995\/04\/004-viktor-frankl-at-ninety-an-interview) 2018-07-31 at the [Wayback Machine](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wayback_Machine \"Wayback Machine\")\n- [Man's Search for Meaning book cover](https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20130119012816\/http:\/\/www.maillife.co.uk\/medias\/sys_master\/8801499316254.jpg)\n- Gilmore, Byron Ross (1997). [*The search for meaning in grief: A comparison of Victor Frankl's 'Search for Meaning' with Douglas Hall's 'Theology of the Cross', and their implications for grief ministry*](https:\/\/scholars.wlu.ca\/etd\/824\/) (M.A. thesis). [Wilfrid Laurier University](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wilfrid_Laurier_University \"Wilfrid Laurier University\").\n- [There's More To Life Than Being Happy](https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/health\/archive\/2013\/01\/theres-more-to-life-than-being-happy\/266805\/) in *The Atlantic*, discussion of Man's Search For Meaning. 2013.\n\n[Portals](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wikipedia:Contents\/Portals \"Wikipedia:Contents\/Portals\"):\n\n- [![icon](https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/a\/a5\/Nuvola_apps_bookcase.svg\/20px-Nuvola_apps_bookcase.svg.png)](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:Nuvola_apps_bookcase.svg) [Books](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Portal:Books \"Portal:Books\")\n- ![](https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/6\/6c\/Psi2.svg\/20px-Psi2.svg.png) [Psychology](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Portal:Psychology \"Portal:Psychology\")\n- ![](https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/c\/cd\/Socrates.png\/20px-Socrates.png) [Philosophy](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Portal:Philosophy \"Portal:Philosophy\")\n\n| [v](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Template:Logotherapy \"Template:Logotherapy\") [t](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Template_talk:Logotherapy \"Template talk:Logotherapy\") [e](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:EditPage\/Template:Logotherapy \"Special:EditPage\/Template:Logotherapy\")[Logotherapy](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Logotherapy \"Logotherapy\") |   |\n|---|---|\n| People | [Viktor Frankl](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Viktor_Frankl \"Viktor Frankl\") [Joseph Fabry](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Joseph_Fabry \"Joseph Fabry\") [Elisabeth Lukas](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Elisabeth_Lukas \"Elisabeth Lukas\") |\n| Ideas and terms | [Dimensional ontology](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Dimensional_ontology&action=edit&redlink=1 \"Dimensional ontology (page does not exist)\") [Existential frustration](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Existential_frustration&action=edit&redlink=1 \"Existential frustration (page does not exist)\") [Hyperintention](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Hyperintention&action=edit&redlink=1 \"Hyperintention (page does not exist)\") [Noogenic neurosis](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Noogenic_neurosis \"Noogenic neurosis\") [Paradoxical intention](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Paradoxical_intention \"Paradoxical intention\") [Tragic triad](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tragic_triad \"Tragic triad\") [Tragic optimism](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Tragic_optimism&action=edit&redlink=1 \"Tragic optimism (page does not exist)\") [Will to meaning](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Will_to_meaning_\\(Frankl\\)&action=edit&redlink=1 \"Will to meaning (Frankl) (page does not exist)\") |\n| Books and publications | *[Man's Search for Meaning]()* *[The Doctor and the Soul](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Doctor_and_the_Soul \"The Doctor and the Soul\")* *[The Unconscious God](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Unconscious_God \"The Unconscious God\")* *[The Will to Meaning](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=The_Will_to_Meaning&action=edit&redlink=1 \"The Will to Meaning (page does not exist)\")* *[The Journal of the U.S. Logotherapy Society](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=The_Journal_of_the_U.S._Logotherapy_Society&action=edit&redlink=1 \"The Journal of the U.S. Logotherapy Society (page does not exist)\")* |\n| Locations | [List of logotherapy institutes](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_logotherapy_institutes \"List of logotherapy institutes\") [World Congress on Logotherapy](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=World_Congress_on_Logotherapy&action=edit&redlink=1 \"World Congress on Logotherapy (page does not exist)\") |\n\n| [Authority control databases](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Help:Authority_control \"Help:Authority control\") [![Edit this at Wikidata](https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/thumb\/8\/8a\/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg\/20px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png)](https:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/wiki\/Q426369#identifiers \"Edit this at Wikidata\") |   |\n|---|---|\n| International | [VIAF](https:\/\/viaf.org\/viaf\/182206484) [GND](https:\/\/d-nb.info\/gnd\/7858201-5) |\n| Other | [Open Library](https:\/\/openlibrary.org\/works\/OL1268413W?mode=all) [2](https:\/\/openlibrary.org\/works\/OL8257090W?mode=all) |\n\n![](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:CentralAutoLogin\/start?useformat=desktop&type=1x1&usesul3=1)\n\nRetrieved from \"[https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Man%27s\\_Search\\_for\\_Meaning\\&oldid=1345848768](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning&oldid=1345848768)\"\n\n[Categories](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Help:Category \"Help:Category\"):\n\n- [Works by Viktor Frankl](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Works_by_Viktor_Frankl \"Category:Works by Viktor Frankl\")\n- [Personal accounts of the Holocaust](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Personal_accounts_of_the_Holocaust \"Category:Personal accounts of the Holocaust\")\n- [Holocaust literature](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Holocaust_literature \"Category:Holocaust literature\")\n- [Existentialist books](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Existentialist_books \"Category:Existentialist books\")\n- [1946 non-fiction books](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Category:1946_non-fiction_books \"Category:1946 non-fiction books\")\n- [Psychology books](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Psychology_books \"Category:Psychology books\")\n- [Logotherapy](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Logotherapy \"Category:Logotherapy\")\n- [Literary autobiographies](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Literary_autobiographies \"Category:Literary autobiographies\")\n- [Books about the meaning of life](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Books_about_the_meaning_of_life \"Category:Books about the meaning of life\")\n- [Beacon Press books](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Beacon_Press_books \"Category:Beacon Press books\")\n\nHidden categories:\n\n- [CS1 errors: ISBN date](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Category:CS1_errors:_ISBN_date \"Category:CS1 errors: ISBN date\")\n- [Articles with short description](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Articles_with_short_description \"Category:Articles with short description\")\n- [Short description is different from 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Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the [Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.](https:\/\/wikimediafoundation.org\/), a non-profit organization.\n\n- [Privacy policy](https:\/\/foundation.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Special:MyLanguage\/Policy:Privacy_policy)\n- [About Wikipedia](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wikipedia:About)\n- [Disclaimers](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer)\n- [Contact Wikipedia](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wikipedia:Contact_us)\n- [Legal & safety contacts](https:\/\/foundation.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Special:MyLanguage\/Legal:Wikimedia_Foundation_Legal_and_Safety_Contact_Information)\n- [Code of Conduct](https:\/\/foundation.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Special:MyLanguage\/Policy:Universal_Code_of_Conduct)\n- [Developers](https:\/\/developer.wikimedia.org\/)\n- [Statistics](https:\/\/stats.wikimedia.org\/#\/en.wikipedia.org)\n- [Cookie statement](https:\/\/foundation.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Special:MyLanguage\/Policy:Cookie_statement)\n- [Mobile view](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning&mobileaction=toggle_view_mobile)\n\n- [![Wikimedia Foundation](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/static\/images\/footer\/wikimedia.svg)](https:\/\/www.wikimedia.org\/)\n- [![Powered by MediaWiki](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/resources\/assets\/mediawiki_compact.svg)](https:\/\/www.mediawiki.org\/)\n\nSearch\n\nToggle the table of contents\n\n*Man's Search for Meaning*\n\n26 languages\n\n[Add topic](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning)","attrs_readable_markdown":"From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia\n\n|   |   |\n|---|---|\n| [![](https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/thumb\/c\/cf\/Trotzdem_Ja_zum_Leben_sagen_%28Viktor_Frankl_novel%29_cover.jpg\/250px-Trotzdem_Ja_zum_Leben_sagen_%28Viktor_Frankl_novel%29_cover.jpg)](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:Trotzdem_Ja_zum_Leben_sagen_\\(Viktor_Frankl_novel\\)_cover.jpg)Second edition (1947) |   |\n| Author | [Viktor E. Frankl](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Viktor_E._Frankl \"Viktor E. Frankl\") |\n| Original title | *Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager* |\n| Translator | Ilse Lasch (Part One) |\n| Language | German |\n| Genre | [Autobiography](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Autobiography \"Autobiography\"), [psychotherapy](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Psychotherapy \"Psychotherapy\") |\n| Publisher | Verlag für Jugend und Volk (Austria) [Beacon Press](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Beacon_Press \"Beacon Press\") (English) |\n| Publication date | 1946 (Vienna, Austria) 1959 (United States) |\n| Publication place | Austria |\n| Pages | 200 |\n| [ISBN](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/ISBN_\\(identifier\\) \"ISBN (identifier)\") | [080701429X](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:BookSources\/080701429X \"Special:BookSources\/080701429X\") |\n| [OCLC](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/OCLC_\\(identifier\\) \"OCLC (identifier)\") | [233687922](https:\/\/www.worldcat.org\/oclc\/233687922) |\n| Followed by | *[The Doctor and the Soul](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Doctor_and_the_Soul \"The Doctor and the Soul\"): From Psychotherapy in Logotherapy* |\n\n***Man's Search for Meaning*** ([German](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/German_language \"German language\"): *... trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen. Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager*, [lit.](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Literal_translation \"Literal translation\")'... Say Yes to Life nonetheless: A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp') is a 1946 book by [Viktor Frankl](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Viktor_Frankl \"Viktor Frankl\") chronicling his experiences as a prisoner in [Nazi concentration camps](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nazi_concentration_camps \"Nazi concentration camps\") during World War II, and describing his [psychotherapeutic](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Psychotherapeutic \"Psychotherapeutic\") method, which involved identifying a purpose to each person's life through one of three ways: the completion of tasks, caring for another person, or finding meaning by facing suffering with dignity.\n\nFrankl observed that among the fellow inmates in the concentration camp, those who survived were able to connect with a purpose in life to feel positive about and who then immersed themselves in imagining that purpose in their own way, such as conversing with an (imagined) loved one. According to Frankl, the way a prisoner imagined the future affected their longevity.\n\nThe book intends to answer the question \"How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?\" Part One constitutes Frankl's analysis of his experiences in the concentration camps, while Part Two introduces his ideas of [meaning](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Meaning_\\(existential\\) \"Meaning (existential)\") and his theory for the link between people's health and their sense of meaning in life. He called this theory [logotherapy](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Logotherapy \"Logotherapy\"), and there are now multiple [logotherapy institutes](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_logotherapy_institutes \"List of logotherapy institutes\") around the world.\n\nAccording to a survey conducted by the [Book-of-the-Month Club](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Book-of-the-Month_Club \"Book-of-the-Month Club\") and the [Library of Congress](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Library_of_Congress \"Library of Congress\"), *Man's Search for Meaning* belongs to a list of \"the ten most influential books in the United States.\"[\\[1\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-Fein_1991-1) At the time of the author's death in 1997, the book had sold over 10 million copies and had been translated into 24 languages.[\\[2\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-dies_at_92-2)[\\[3\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-InstituteVienna-3)\n\nThe book's original title is *Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager* (\"A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp\"). Later [German](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/German_language \"German language\") editions prefixed the title with *Trotzdem Ja zum Leben Sagen* (\"Nevertheless Saying Yes to Life\"), taken from a line in *Das Buchenwaldlied,* a song written by [Friedrich Löhner-Beda](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fritz_L%C3%B6hner-Beda \"Fritz Löhner-Beda\") while an inmate at [Buchenwald](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Buchenwald_concentration_camp \"Buchenwald concentration camp\").[\\[4\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-4) The title of the first English-language translation was *From Death-Camp to Existentialism*. The book's common full English title is ***Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy***, although this subtitle is often not printed on the cover of modern editions.[\\[5\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-5)\n\n## Experiences in a concentration camp\n\\[[edit](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning&action=edit&section=2 \"Edit section: Experiences in a concentration camp\")\\]\n\nFrankl identifies three psychological reactions experienced by all inmates to one degree or another:\n\n1. Shock during the initial admission phase to the camp,\n2. Apathy after becoming accustomed to camp existence, in which the inmate values only that which helps himself and his friends survive, and\n3. Reactions of [depersonalization](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Depersonalization \"Depersonalization\"), moral deformity, bitterness, and disillusionment if he survives and is liberated.[\\[6\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-6)\n\nFrankl concludes that the [meaning of life](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Meaning_of_life \"Meaning of life\") is found in every moment of living; life never ceases to have meaning, even in suffering and death. In a [group therapy](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Group_therapy \"Group therapy\") session during a mass fast inflicted on the camp's inmates trying to protect an anonymous fellow inmate from fatal retribution by authorities, Frankl offered the thought that for everyone in a dire condition there is someone looking down, a friend, family member, or even God, who would expect not to be disappointed. Frankl concludes from his experience that a prisoner's psychological reactions are not solely the result of the conditions of his life, but also from the [freedom of choice](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Freedom_of_choice \"Freedom of choice\") he always has even in severe suffering. The inner hold a prisoner has on his spiritual self relies on having a hope in the future, and that once a prisoner loses that hope, he is doomed.\n\nFrankl also concludes that there are only two races of men, decent men and indecent. No society is free of either of them, and thus there were decent [Nazi](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nazi \"Nazi\") guards and indecent prisoners, most notably the [kapo](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kapo_\\(concentration_camp\\) \"Kapo (concentration camp)\") who would torture and abuse their fellow prisoners for personal gain.\n\nHis concluding passage in Part One describes the psychological reaction of the inmates to their liberation, which he separates into three stages. The first is depersonalization—a period of readjustment in which a prisoner gradually returns to the world. Initially, the liberated prisoners are so numb that they are unable to understand what freedom means or to emotionally respond to it. Part of them believes that it is an illusion or a dream that will be taken away from them. In their first foray outside their former prison, the prisoners realized that they [could not comprehend pleasure](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anhedonia \"Anhedonia\"). Flowers and the reality of the freedom they had dreamed about for years were all surreal, unable to be grasped in their depersonalization.\n\nThe body is the first element to break out of this stage, responding by big appetites of eating and wanting more sleeping. Only after the partial replenishing of the body is the mind finally able to respond, as \"feeling suddenly broke through the strange fetters which had restrained it\" (p. 111).\n\nThis begins the second stage, in which there is a danger of deformation. As the intense pressure on the mind is released, mental health can be endangered. Frankl uses the analogy of a diver [suddenly released from his pressure chamber](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Decompression_sickness \"Decompression sickness\"). He recounts the story of a friend who became immediately obsessed with dispensing the same violence in judgment of his abusers that they had inflicted on him.\n\nUpon returning home, the prisoners had to struggle with two fundamental experiences that could damage their mental health: bitterness and disillusionment. The last stage is bitterness at the lack of responsiveness of the world outside—a \"superficiality and lack of feeling... so disgusting that one finally felt like creeping into a hole and neither hearing nor seeing human beings any more\" (p. 113). Worse was disillusionment, the discovery that suffering does not end, that the longed-for happiness will not come. This was the experience of those who—like Frankl—returned home to discover that no one awaited them. The hope that had sustained them throughout their time in the concentration camp was now gone. Frankl cites this experience as the most difficult to overcome.\n\nAs time passed, however, the prisoner's experience in a concentration camp became nothing but a remembered nightmare. What is more, he comes to believe that he has nothing left to fear \"except his God\" (p. 115).\n\nIn a 1991 survey conducted for the [Library of Congress](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Library_of_Congress \"Library of Congress\") and the [Book of the Month Club](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Book_of_the_Month_Club \"Book of the Month Club\"), *Man's Search for Meaning* was named one of the 10 most influential books in the US.[\\[7\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-7) At the time of Frankl's death in 1997, the book had sold over 10 million copies and had been translated into 24 languages. As of 2022 the book has sold 16 million copies and been printed in 52 languages.[\\[8\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-8)\n\n[Gordon Allport](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gordon_Allport \"Gordon Allport\"), who wrote a preface to the book, described it as a \"gem of dramatic narrative\" which \"provides a compelling introduction to the most significant psychological movement of our day\".[\\[9\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-9) [Sarah Bakewell](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sarah_Bakewell \"Sarah Bakewell\") describes it as \"an incredibly powerful and moving example of what [existentialist](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Existentialist \"Existentialist\") thought can actually be for in real life\"[\\[10\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-10) while [Mary Fulbrook](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mary_Fulbrook \"Mary Fulbrook\") praises \"the way \\[Frankl\\] explores the importance of meaning in life as the key to survival.\"[\\[11\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-11)\n\nHowever, aspects of the book have garnered criticism. One of Frankl's main ideas in the book is that a [positive attitude](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Positive_mental_attitude \"Positive mental attitude\") made one better equipped for surviving the camps. Richard Middleton-Kaplan has said that this implies, whether intentionally or unintentionally, that those who died had given up and that this paved the way for the idea of the Jews going [like sheep to the slaughter](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Like_sheep_to_the_slaughter \"Like sheep to the slaughter\").[\\[12\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-12) Holocaust analyst [Lawrence L. Langer](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lawrence_L._Langer \"Lawrence L. Langer\") criticises Frankl's promotion of logotherapy and says the book has a problematic subtext. He also accuses Frankl of having a tone of self-aggrandizement and a general inhumane sense of studying-detachment towards victims of the Holocaust.[\\[13\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-13)[\\[14\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-14)\n\nIn his book *Faith in Freedom*, psychiatrist [Thomas Szasz](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thomas_Szasz \"Thomas Szasz\") states that Frankl's survivor testimony was written to misdirect, and betrays instead an intent of a transparent effort to conceal Frankl's actions and his collaboration with the Nazis, and that, in the assessment of [Raul Hilberg](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Raul_Hilberg \"Raul Hilberg\"), the founder of [Holocaust Studies](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Holocaust_studies \"Holocaust studies\"), Frankl's historical account contains distortions akin to [Binjamin Wilkomirski](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fragments:_Memories_of_a_Wartime_Childhood \"Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood\")'s memoirs, which were translated into nine languages before being exposed as deeply problematic (and according to the most radical interpretation false) in Hilberg's 1996 *Politics of Memory*.[\\[15\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-15) Szasz's criticism of Frankl is not universally embraced.[\\[16\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-16)\\[*[irrelevant citation](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wikipedia:Verifiability \"Wikipedia:Verifiability\")*\\] Similarly, Hilberg's allegations have been rebutted by several reviewers.[\\[17\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-17) Comparison between Frankl's memoirs and Wilkomirski's memoirs leveled by Szasz, however, could legitimately be dismissed altogether as an inapt and misleading analogy insofar as questions arose (and remained) as to whether or not Wilkomirski had ever been an inmate at a concentration camp, whereas this was never a question in Frankl's case: there is no doubt that he is a survivor.\n\nBriefly: Conflicting views about the nature of memory under extreme conditions, as well as the sort of instinctual opportunism (for the sake of survival) or [positive thinking mentality](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Positive_psychology \"Positive psychology\") that often (one might even say 'usually' or 'almost always') correlated with long-term survival in the Nazi death camps, makes the memoir an important document of witness during the holocaust but also highlight the way in which it displays the cognitive and psychological limits of representing a situation like the Nazi extermination from an 'impartial' first person perspective.\n\nBased on a suggestion in Man's Search for Meaning, a proposed [Statue of Responsibility](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Statue_of_Responsibility \"Statue of Responsibility\") has been designed by Utah sculptor [Gary Lee Price](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gary_Lee_Price \"Gary Lee Price\") and endorsed for construction by the Utah governor. In the book, Frankl makes the following statement about the sculpture:\n\n> Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.[\\[18\\]](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-18)\n\n- [Existential anxiety](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anxiety#Existential \"Anxiety\")\n- *[Jonathan Livingston Seagull](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jonathan_Livingston_Seagull \"Jonathan Livingston Seagull\")*\n- [Maslow's hierarchy of needs](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs \"Maslow's hierarchy of needs\")\n- [Statue of Responsibility](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Statue_of_Responsibility \"Statue of Responsibility\") – proposed in the book to complement the [Statue of Liberty](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Statue_of_Liberty \"Statue of Liberty\")\n- *[Life Is Beautiful](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Life_Is_Beautiful \"Life Is Beautiful\")* (1997), a film on how a positive attitude can be maintained in the worst of circumstances, including a concentration camp\n\n1. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-Fein_1991_1-0)**\n   Fein, Esther (1991). [\"Book Notes\"](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1991\/11\/20\/books\/book-notes-059091.html). *New York Times*. Retrieved 22 May 2012.\n2. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-dies_at_92_2-0)**\n   Noble, Holcomb B. (September 4, 1997). [\"Dr. Viktor E. Frankl of Vienna, Psychiatrist of the Search for Meaning, Dies at 92\"](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1997\/09\/04\/world\/dr-viktor-e-frankl-of-vienna-psychiatrist-of-the-search-for-meaning-dies-at-92.html). *The New York Times*. p. B-7. Retrieved 22 May 2012.\n3. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-InstituteVienna_3-0)**\n   [\"Viktor Frankl Life and Work\"](https:\/\/www.viktorfrankl.org\/e\/lifeandwork.html). Viktor Frankl Institute Vienna. 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2012.\n4. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-4)**\n   Foreword to *Trotzdem Ja zum Leben Sagen: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager,* [Hans Weigel](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hans_Weigel \"Hans Weigel\"), Penguin, München, 2009, [ISBN](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/ISBN_\\(identifier\\) \"ISBN (identifier)\")\n   \n   [978-3328102779](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:BookSources\/978-3328102779 \"Special:BookSources\/978-3328102779\")\n   \n   (reprinted from 1977)\n5. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-5)**\n   *Man's Search for Meaning*, Viktor Frankl. Beacon Press, 2006, [ISBN](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/ISBN_\\(identifier\\) \"ISBN (identifier)\")\n   \n   [978-0807014264](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:BookSources\/978-0807014264 \"Special:BookSources\/978-0807014264\")\n6. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-6)**\n   Frankl, Viktor (1959). [*Man's Search for Meaning*](https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/manssearchformea00vikt). [ISBN](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/ISBN_\\(identifier\\) \"ISBN (identifier)\")\n   \n   [978-0807014295](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:BookSources\/978-0807014295 \"Special:BookSources\/978-0807014295\")\n   \n   .\n7. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-7)**\n   Fein, Esther B. (20 November 1991). [\"New York Times, 11-20-1991\"](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1991\/11\/20\/books\/book-notes-059091.html). *The New York Times*. [Archived](https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20200428021311\/https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1991\/11\/20\/books\/book-notes-059091.html) from the original on 28 April 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020.\n8. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-8)**\n   [\"How Instagram turned a Holocaust memoir into a self-help manifesto\"](https:\/\/www.vox.com\/the-goods\/23467058\/mans-search-for-meaning-frankl-holocaust-memoir-wellness-instagram). Vox.\n9. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-9)** *Man's Search for Meaning*, Viktor Frankl\n10. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-10)**\n    [\"The best books on Existentialism\"](https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/best-books\/existentialism-sarah-bakewell\/#book-6795).\n11. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-11)**\n    [\"The best books on Auschwitz\"](https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/best-books\/auschwitz-mary-fulbrook\/).\n12. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-12)**\n    Middleton-Kaplan, Richard (2014). \"The Myth of Jewish Passivity\". In Henry, Patrick (ed.). *Jewish Resistance Against the Nazis*. Washington, D.C.: [Catholic University of America Press](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Catholic_University_of_America_Press \"Catholic University of America Press\"). pp. 9–10\\. [ISBN](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/ISBN_\\(identifier\\) \"ISBN (identifier)\")\n    \n    [978-0813225890](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:BookSources\/978-0813225890 \"Special:BookSources\/978-0813225890\")\n    \n    .\n13. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-13)** Lawrence Langer, *Versions of Survival: The Holocaust and the Human Spirit* (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1982), p. 24.\n14. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-14)**\n    Pytell, Timothy (June 3, 2003). [\"Redeeming the Unredeemable: Auschwitz and Man's Search for Meaning\"](https:\/\/muse.jhu.edu\/article\/43137). *Holocaust and Genocide Studies*. **17** (1): 89–113\\. [doi](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Doi_\\(identifier\\) \"Doi (identifier)\"):[10\\.1093\/hgs\/17.1.89](https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093%2Fhgs%2F17.1.89) – via Project MUSE.\n15. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-15)** *Faith in Freedom*, p. 181 Thomas Szasz\n16. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-16)**\n    [\"Thomas Szasz: An Evaluation \\| Psychology Today\"](https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/mood-swings\/201801\/thomas-szasz-evaluation). *www.psychologytoday.com*. Retrieved 2024-03-18.\n17. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-17)**\n    [\"Review of the Wilkomirski Affair\"](https:\/\/scholarsarchive.byu.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1336&context=sahs_review). *Swiss American Historical Society Review*. **37** (3): 25–32\\.\n18. **[^](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-18)**\n    Frankl, Viktor (2006). *Man's Search for Meaning*. Beacon Press. [ISBN](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/ISBN_\\(identifier\\) \"ISBN (identifier)\")\n    \n    [978-0807014264](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:BookSources\/978-0807014264 \"Special:BookSources\/978-0807014264\")\n    \n    .\n\n- [Viktor Frankl: Why believe in others](https:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/viktor_frankl_why_believe_in_others) [TED](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/TED_\\(conference\\) \"TED (conference)\") talk\n- [Commentary on Man's Search For Meaning](http:\/\/www.butler-bowdon.com\/manssearch) by personal development scholar [Tom Butler-Bowdon](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tom_Butler-Bowdon \"Tom Butler-Bowdon\") (*50 Self-Help Classics*, 2003. [ISBN](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/ISBN_\\(identifier\\) \"ISBN (identifier)\")\n  [978-1857883237](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:BookSources\/978-1857883237 \"Special:BookSources\/978-1857883237\")\n  )\n- [Viktor Frankl at Ninety: An Interview](http:\/\/www.firstthings.com\/article\/1995\/04\/004-viktor-frankl-at-ninety-an-interview) [Archived](https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20180731070952\/http:\/\/www.firstthings.com\/article\/1995\/04\/004-viktor-frankl-at-ninety-an-interview) 2018-07-31 at the [Wayback Machine](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wayback_Machine \"Wayback Machine\")\n- [Man's Search for Meaning book cover](https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20130119012816\/http:\/\/www.maillife.co.uk\/medias\/sys_master\/8801499316254.jpg)\n- Gilmore, Byron Ross (1997). [*The search for meaning in grief: A comparison of Victor Frankl's 'Search for Meaning' with Douglas Hall's 'Theology of the Cross', and their implications for grief ministry*](https:\/\/scholars.wlu.ca\/etd\/824\/) (M.A. thesis). [Wilfrid Laurier University](https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wilfrid_Laurier_University \"Wilfrid Laurier University\").\n- [There's More To Life Than Being Happy](https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/health\/archive\/2013\/01\/theres-more-to-life-than-being-happy\/266805\/) in *The Atlantic*, discussion of Man's Search For Meaning. 2013.","meta_canonical":null}

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Boilerpipe Text	From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Man's Search for Meaning Second edition (1947) Author Viktor E. Frankl Original title Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager Translator Ilse Lasch (Part One) Language German Genre Autobiography , psychotherapy Publisher Verlag für Jugend und Volk (Austria) Beacon Press (English) Publication date 1946 (Vienna, Austria) 1959 (United States) Publication place Austria Pages 200 ISBN 080701429X OCLC 233687922 Followed by The Doctor and the Soul : From Psychotherapy in Logotherapy Man's Search for Meaning ( German : ... trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen. Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager , lit. ' ... Say Yes to Life nonetheless: A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp ' ) is a 1946 book by Viktor Frankl chronicling his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, and describing his psychotherapeutic method, which involved identifying a purpose to each person's life through one of three ways: the completion of tasks, caring for another person, or finding meaning by facing suffering with dignity. Frankl observed that among the fellow inmates in the concentration camp, those who survived were able to connect with a purpose in life to feel positive about and who then immersed themselves in imagining that purpose in their own way, such as conversing with an (imagined) loved one. According to Frankl, the way a prisoner imagined the future affected their longevity. The book intends to answer the question "How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?" Part One constitutes Frankl's analysis of his experiences in the concentration camps, while Part Two introduces his ideas of meaning and his theory for the link between people's health and their sense of meaning in life. He called this theory logotherapy , and there are now multiple logotherapy institutes around the world. According to a survey conducted by the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Library of Congress , Man's Search for Meaning belongs to a list of "the ten most influential books in the United States." [ 1 ] At the time of the author's death in 1997, the book had sold over 10 million copies and had been translated into 24 languages. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] The book's original title is Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager ("A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp"). Later German editions prefixed the title with Trotzdem Ja zum Leben Sagen ("Nevertheless Saying Yes to Life"), taken from a line in Das Buchenwaldlied, a song written by Friedrich Löhner-Beda while an inmate at Buchenwald . [ 4 ] The title of the first English-language translation was From Death-Camp to Existentialism . The book's common full English title is Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy , although this subtitle is often not printed on the cover of modern editions. [ 5 ] Experiences in a concentration camp [ edit ] Frankl identifies three psychological reactions experienced by all inmates to one degree or another: Shock during the initial admission phase to the camp, Apathy after becoming accustomed to camp existence, in which the inmate values only that which helps himself and his friends survive, and Reactions of depersonalization , moral deformity, bitterness, and disillusionment if he survives and is liberated. [ 6 ] Frankl concludes that the meaning of life is found in every moment of living; life never ceases to have meaning, even in suffering and death. In a group therapy session during a mass fast inflicted on the camp's inmates trying to protect an anonymous fellow inmate from fatal retribution by authorities, Frankl offered the thought that for everyone in a dire condition there is someone looking down, a friend, family member, or even God, who would expect not to be disappointed. Frankl concludes from his experience that a prisoner's psychological reactions are not solely the result of the conditions of his life, but also from the freedom of choice he always has even in severe suffering. The inner hold a prisoner has on his spiritual self relies on having a hope in the future, and that once a prisoner loses that hope, he is doomed. Frankl also concludes that there are only two races of men, decent men and indecent. No society is free of either of them, and thus there were decent Nazi guards and indecent prisoners, most notably the kapo who would torture and abuse their fellow prisoners for personal gain. His concluding passage in Part One describes the psychological reaction of the inmates to their liberation, which he separates into three stages. The first is depersonalization—a period of readjustment in which a prisoner gradually returns to the world. Initially, the liberated prisoners are so numb that they are unable to understand what freedom means or to emotionally respond to it. Part of them believes that it is an illusion or a dream that will be taken away from them. In their first foray outside their former prison, the prisoners realized that they could not comprehend pleasure . Flowers and the reality of the freedom they had dreamed about for years were all surreal, unable to be grasped in their depersonalization. The body is the first element to break out of this stage, responding by big appetites of eating and wanting more sleeping. Only after the partial replenishing of the body is the mind finally able to respond, as "feeling suddenly broke through the strange fetters which had restrained it" (p. 111). This begins the second stage, in which there is a danger of deformation. As the intense pressure on the mind is released, mental health can be endangered. Frankl uses the analogy of a diver suddenly released from his pressure chamber . He recounts the story of a friend who became immediately obsessed with dispensing the same violence in judgment of his abusers that they had inflicted on him. Upon returning home, the prisoners had to struggle with two fundamental experiences that could damage their mental health: bitterness and disillusionment. The last stage is bitterness at the lack of responsiveness of the world outside—a "superficiality and lack of feeling... so disgusting that one finally felt like creeping into a hole and neither hearing nor seeing human beings any more" (p. 113). Worse was disillusionment, the discovery that suffering does not end, that the longed-for happiness will not come. This was the experience of those who—like Frankl—returned home to discover that no one awaited them. The hope that had sustained them throughout their time in the concentration camp was now gone. Frankl cites this experience as the most difficult to overcome. As time passed, however, the prisoner's experience in a concentration camp became nothing but a remembered nightmare. What is more, he comes to believe that he has nothing left to fear "except his God" (p. 115). In a 1991 survey conducted for the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club , Man's Search for Meaning was named one of the 10 most influential books in the US. [ 7 ] At the time of Frankl's death in 1997, the book had sold over 10 million copies and had been translated into 24 languages. As of 2022 the book has sold 16 million copies and been printed in 52 languages. [ 8 ] Gordon Allport , who wrote a preface to the book, described it as a "gem of dramatic narrative" which "provides a compelling introduction to the most significant psychological movement of our day". [ 9 ] Sarah Bakewell describes it as "an incredibly powerful and moving example of what existentialist thought can actually be for in real life" [ 10 ] while Mary Fulbrook praises "the way [Frankl] explores the importance of meaning in life as the key to survival." [ 11 ] However, aspects of the book have garnered criticism. One of Frankl's main ideas in the book is that a positive attitude made one better equipped for surviving the camps. Richard Middleton-Kaplan has said that this implies, whether intentionally or unintentionally, that those who died had given up and that this paved the way for the idea of the Jews going like sheep to the slaughter . [ 12 ] Holocaust analyst Lawrence L. Langer criticises Frankl's promotion of logotherapy and says the book has a problematic subtext. He also accuses Frankl of having a tone of self-aggrandizement and a general inhumane sense of studying-detachment towards victims of the Holocaust. [ 13 ] [ 14 ] In his book Faith in Freedom , psychiatrist Thomas Szasz states that Frankl's survivor testimony was written to misdirect, and betrays instead an intent of a transparent effort to conceal Frankl's actions and his collaboration with the Nazis, and that, in the assessment of Raul Hilberg , the founder of Holocaust Studies , Frankl's historical account contains distortions akin to Binjamin Wilkomirski 's memoirs, which were translated into nine languages before being exposed as deeply problematic (and according to the most radical interpretation false) in Hilberg's 1996 Politics of Memory . [ 15 ] Szasz's criticism of Frankl is not universally embraced. [ 16 ] [ irrelevant citation ] Similarly, Hilberg's allegations have been rebutted by several reviewers. [ 17 ] Comparison between Frankl's memoirs and Wilkomirski's memoirs leveled by Szasz, however, could legitimately be dismissed altogether as an inapt and misleading analogy insofar as questions arose (and remained) as to whether or not Wilkomirski had ever been an inmate at a concentration camp, whereas this was never a question in Frankl's case: there is no doubt that he is a survivor. Briefly: Conflicting views about the nature of memory under extreme conditions, as well as the sort of instinctual opportunism (for the sake of survival) or positive thinking mentality that often (one might even say 'usually' or 'almost always') correlated with long-term survival in the Nazi death camps, makes the memoir an important document of witness during the holocaust but also highlight the way in which it displays the cognitive and psychological limits of representing a situation like the Nazi extermination from an 'impartial' first person perspective. Based on a suggestion in Man's Search for Meaning, a proposed Statue of Responsibility has been designed by Utah sculptor Gary Lee Price and endorsed for construction by the Utah governor. In the book, Frankl makes the following statement about the sculpture: Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast. [ 18 ] Existential anxiety Jonathan Livingston Seagull Maslow's hierarchy of needs Statue of Responsibility – proposed in the book to complement the Statue of Liberty Life Is Beautiful (1997), a film on how a positive attitude can be maintained in the worst of circumstances, including a concentration camp ^ Fein, Esther (1991). "Book Notes" . New York Times . Retrieved 22 May 2012 . ^ Noble, Holcomb B. (September 4, 1997). "Dr. Viktor E. Frankl of Vienna, Psychiatrist of the Search for Meaning, Dies at 92" . The New York Times . p. B-7 . Retrieved 22 May 2012 . ^ "Viktor Frankl Life and Work" . Viktor Frankl Institute Vienna. 2011 . Retrieved 22 May 2012 . ^ Foreword to Trotzdem Ja zum Leben Sagen: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager, Hans Weigel , Penguin, München, 2009, ISBN 978-3328102779 (reprinted from 1977) ^ Man's Search for Meaning , Viktor Frankl. Beacon Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0807014264 ^ Frankl, Viktor (1959). Man's Search for Meaning . ISBN 978-0807014295 . ^ Fein, Esther B. (20 November 1991). "New York Times, 11-20-1991" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on 28 April 2020 . Retrieved 21 April 2020 . ^ "How Instagram turned a Holocaust memoir into a self-help manifesto" . Vox. ^ Man's Search for Meaning , Viktor Frankl ^ "The best books on Existentialism" . ^ "The best books on Auschwitz" . ^ Middleton-Kaplan, Richard (2014). "The Myth of Jewish Passivity". In Henry, Patrick (ed.). Jewish Resistance Against the Nazis . Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press . pp. 9– 10. ISBN 978-0813225890 . ^ Lawrence Langer, Versions of Survival: The Holocaust and the Human Spirit (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1982), p. 24. ^ Pytell, Timothy (June 3, 2003). "Redeeming the Unredeemable: Auschwitz and Man's Search for Meaning" . Holocaust and Genocide Studies . 17 (1): 89– 113. doi : 10.1093/hgs/17.1.89 – via Project MUSE. ^ Faith in Freedom , p. 181 Thomas Szasz ^ "Thomas Szasz: An Evaluation \| Psychology Today" . www.psychologytoday.com . Retrieved 2024-03-18 . ^ "Review of the Wilkomirski Affair" . Swiss American Historical Society Review . 37 (3): 25– 32. ^ Frankl, Viktor (2006). Man's Search for Meaning . Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0807014264 . Viktor Frankl: Why believe in others TED talk Commentary on Man's Search For Meaning by personal development scholar Tom Butler-Bowdon ( 50 Self-Help Classics , 2003. ISBN 978-1857883237 ) Viktor Frankl at Ninety: An Interview Archived 2018-07-31 at the Wayback Machine Man's Search for Meaning book cover Gilmore, Byron Ross (1997). The search for meaning in grief: A comparison of Victor Frankl's 'Search for Meaning' with Douglas Hall's 'Theology of the Cross', and their implications for grief ministry (M.A. thesis). Wilfrid Laurier University . There's More To Life Than Being Happy in The Atlantic , discussion of Man's Search For Meaning. 2013.
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[o]") ## Contents move to sidebar hide - [(Top)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning) - [1 Editions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#Editions) - [2 Experiences in a concentration camp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#Experiences_in_a_concentration_camp) - [3 Reception](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#Reception) - [4 See also](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#See_also) - [5 References](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#References) - [6 External links](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#External_links) Toggle the table of contents # Man's Search for Meaning 26 languages - [العربية](https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%D8%AD%D8%AB_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%B9%D9%86_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B9%D9%86%D9%89 "بحث الإنسان عن المعنى – Arabic") - [Azərbaycanca](https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%B0nsan%C4%B1n_m%C9%99na_axtar%C4%B1%C5%9F%C4%B1 "İnsanın məna axtarışı – Azerbaijani") - [Български](https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A7%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%8A%D1%82_%D0%B2_%D1%82%D1%8A%D1%80%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B5_%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D1%81%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%8A%D0%BB "Човекът в търсене на смисъл – Bulgarian") - [Català](https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27home_a_la_recerca_de_sentit "L'home a la recerca de sentit – Catalan") - [کوردی](https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%DA%AF%DB%95%DA%95%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C_%D9%85%D8%B1%DB%86%DA%A4_%D8%A8%DB%95%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%A7%DB%8C_%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A7 "گەڕانی مرۆڤ بەدوای واتادا – Central Kurdish") - [Čeština](https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_p%C5%99esto_%C5%99%C3%ADci_%C5%BEivotu_ano "A přesto říci životu ano – Czech") - [Deutsch](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E2%80%A6_trotzdem_Ja_zum_Leben_sagen "… trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen – German") - [Ελληνικά](https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%91%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%B6%CE%B7%CF%84%CF%8E%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B1%CF%82_%CE%BD%CF%8C%CE%B7%CE%BC%CE%B1_%CE%B6%CF%89%CE%AE%CF%82 "Αναζητώντας νόημα ζωής – Greek") - [Esperanto](https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E2%80%A6_tamen_jesi_al_vivo:_Psikologo_spertas_la_koncentrejon "… tamen jesi al vivo: Psikologo spertas la koncentrejon – Esperanto") - [Español](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_hombre_en_busca_de_sentido "El hombre en busca de sentido – Spanish") - [فارسی](https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%AF%D8%B1_%D8%AC%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%AC%D9%88%DB%8C_%D9%85%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%A7 "انسان در جستجوی معنا – Persian") - [Suomi](https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ihmisyyden_rajalla "Ihmisyyden rajalla – Finnish") - [Français](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trotzdem_Ja_zum_Leben_sagen:_Ein_Psychologe_erlebt_das_Konzentrationslager "Trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager – French") - [עברית](https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%94%D7%90%D7%93%D7%9D_%D7%9E%D7%97%D7%A4%D7%A9_%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%AA "האדם מחפש משמעות – Hebrew") - [Bahasa Indonesia](https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning "Man's Search for Meaning – Indonesian") - [Italiano](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uno_psicologo_nei_lager "Uno psicologo nei lager – Italian") - [日本語](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%9C%E3%81%A8%E9%9C%A7_\(%E6%96%87%E5%AD%A6\) "夜と霧 (文学) – Japanese") - [한국어](https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%A3%BD%EC%9D%8C%EC%9D%98_%EC%88%98%EC%9A%A9%EC%86%8C%EC%97%90%EC%84%9C "죽음의 수용소에서 – Korean") - [Polski](https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cz%C5%82owiek_w_poszukiwaniu_sensu "Człowiek w poszukiwaniu sensu – Polish") - [Português](https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Em_Busca_de_Sentido "Em Busca de Sentido – Portuguese") - [Русский](https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C_%D0%B6%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B8_%C2%AB%D0%94%D0%B0!%C2%BB:_%D0%BF%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B3_%D0%B2_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%86%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5 "Сказать жизни «Да!»: психолог в концлагере – Russian") - [Српски / srpski](https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%97%D0%B0%D1%88%D1%82%D0%BE_%D1%81%D0%B5_%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B5_%D1%83%D0%B1%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8:_%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B6%D0%B5%D1%9A%D0%B5_%D1%81%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%B0_%D0%B6%D0%B8%D0%B2%D1%99%D0%B5%D1%9A%D0%B0 "Зашто се нисте убили: тражење смисла живљења – Serbian") - [Svenska](https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livet_m%C3%A5ste_ha_mening "Livet måste ha mening – Swedish") - [Українська](https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9B%D1%8E%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%B2_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%88%D1%83%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%85_%D1%81%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B6%D0%BD%D1%8C%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE_%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%83._%D0%9F%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B3_%D1%83_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%86%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%96 "Людина в пошуках справжнього сенсу. 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Frankl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_E._Frankl "Viktor E. Frankl") \| \| Original title \| Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager \| \| Translator \| Ilse Lasch (Part One) \| \| Language \| German \| \| Genre \| [Autobiography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobiography "Autobiography"), [psychotherapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychotherapy "Psychotherapy") \| \| Publisher \| Verlag für Jugend und Volk (Austria) [Beacon Press](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beacon_Press "Beacon Press") (English) \| \| Publication date \| 1946 (Vienna, Austria) 1959 (United States) \| \| Publication place \| Austria \| \| Pages \| 200 \| \| [ISBN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_\(identifier\) "ISBN (identifier)") \| [080701429X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/080701429X "Special:BookSources/080701429X") \| \| [OCLC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCLC_\(identifier\) "OCLC (identifier)") \| [233687922](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/233687922) \| \| Followed by \| [The Doctor and the Soul](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doctor_and_the_Soul "The Doctor and the Soul"): From Psychotherapy in Logotherapy \| *Man's Search for Meaning* ([German](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_language "German language"): ... trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen. Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager, [lit.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literal_translation "Literal translation")'... Say Yes to Life nonetheless: A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp') is a 1946 book by [Viktor Frankl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Frankl "Viktor Frankl") chronicling his experiences as a prisoner in [Nazi concentration camps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_concentration_camps "Nazi concentration camps") during World War II, and describing his [psychotherapeutic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychotherapeutic "Psychotherapeutic") method, which involved identifying a purpose to each person's life through one of three ways: the completion of tasks, caring for another person, or finding meaning by facing suffering with dignity. Frankl observed that among the fellow inmates in the concentration camp, those who survived were able to connect with a purpose in life to feel positive about and who then immersed themselves in imagining that purpose in their own way, such as conversing with an (imagined) loved one. According to Frankl, the way a prisoner imagined the future affected their longevity. The book intends to answer the question "How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?" Part One constitutes Frankl's analysis of his experiences in the concentration camps, while Part Two introduces his ideas of [meaning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning_\(existential\) "Meaning (existential)") and his theory for the link between people's health and their sense of meaning in life. He called this theory [logotherapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logotherapy "Logotherapy"), and there are now multiple [logotherapy institutes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_logotherapy_institutes "List of logotherapy institutes") around the world. According to a survey conducted by the [Book-of-the-Month Club](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book-of-the-Month_Club "Book-of-the-Month Club") and the [Library of Congress](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress "Library of Congress"), Man's Search for Meaning belongs to a list of "the ten most influential books in the United States."[\[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-Fein_1991-1) At the time of the author's death in 1997, the book had sold over 10 million copies and had been translated into 24 languages.[\[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-dies_at_92-2)[\[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-InstituteVienna-3) ## Editions \[[edit](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning&action=edit&section=1 "Edit section: Editions")\] The book's original title is Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager ("A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp"). Later [German](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_language "German language") editions prefixed the title with Trotzdem Ja zum Leben Sagen ("Nevertheless Saying Yes to Life"), taken from a line in Das Buchenwaldlied, a song written by [Friedrich Löhner-Beda](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_L%C3%B6hner-Beda "Fritz Löhner-Beda") while an inmate at [Buchenwald](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchenwald_concentration_camp "Buchenwald concentration camp").[\[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-4) The title of the first English-language translation was From Death-Camp to Existentialism. The book's common full English title is *Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy, although this subtitle is often not printed on the cover of modern editions.[\[5\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-5) ## Experiences in a concentration camp \[[edit](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning&action=edit&section=2 "Edit section: Experiences in a concentration camp")\] Frankl identifies three psychological reactions experienced by all inmates to one degree or another: 1. Shock during the initial admission phase to the camp, 2. Apathy after becoming accustomed to camp existence, in which the inmate values only that which helps himself and his friends survive, and 3. Reactions of [depersonalization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization "Depersonalization"), moral deformity, bitterness, and disillusionment if he survives and is liberated.[\[6\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-6) Frankl concludes that the [meaning of life](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning_of_life "Meaning of life") is found in every moment of living; life never ceases to have meaning, even in suffering and death. In a [group therapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_therapy "Group therapy") session during a mass fast inflicted on the camp's inmates trying to protect an anonymous fellow inmate from fatal retribution by authorities, Frankl offered the thought that for everyone in a dire condition there is someone looking down, a friend, family member, or even God, who would expect not to be disappointed. Frankl concludes from his experience that a prisoner's psychological reactions are not solely the result of the conditions of his life, but also from the [freedom of choice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_choice "Freedom of choice") he always has even in severe suffering. The inner hold a prisoner has on his spiritual self relies on having a hope in the future, and that once a prisoner loses that hope, he is doomed. Frankl also concludes that there are only two races of men, decent men and indecent. No society is free of either of them, and thus there were decent [Nazi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi "Nazi") guards and indecent prisoners, most notably the [kapo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapo_\(concentration_camp\) "Kapo (concentration camp)") who would torture and abuse their fellow prisoners for personal gain. His concluding passage in Part One describes the psychological reaction of the inmates to their liberation, which he separates into three stages. The first is depersonalization—a period of readjustment in which a prisoner gradually returns to the world. Initially, the liberated prisoners are so numb that they are unable to understand what freedom means or to emotionally respond to it. Part of them believes that it is an illusion or a dream that will be taken away from them. In their first foray outside their former prison, the prisoners realized that they [could not comprehend pleasure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhedonia "Anhedonia"). Flowers and the reality of the freedom they had dreamed about for years were all surreal, unable to be grasped in their depersonalization. The body is the first element to break out of this stage, responding by big appetites of eating and wanting more sleeping. Only after the partial replenishing of the body is the mind finally able to respond, as "feeling suddenly broke through the strange fetters which had restrained it" (p. 111). This begins the second stage, in which there is a danger of deformation. As the intense pressure on the mind is released, mental health can be endangered. Frankl uses the analogy of a diver [suddenly released from his pressure chamber](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decompression_sickness "Decompression sickness"). He recounts the story of a friend who became immediately obsessed with dispensing the same violence in judgment of his abusers that they had inflicted on him. Upon returning home, the prisoners had to struggle with two fundamental experiences that could damage their mental health: bitterness and disillusionment. The last stage is bitterness at the lack of responsiveness of the world outside—a "superficiality and lack of feeling... so disgusting that one finally felt like creeping into a hole and neither hearing nor seeing human beings any more" (p. 113). Worse was disillusionment, the discovery that suffering does not end, that the longed-for happiness will not come. This was the experience of those who—like Frankl—returned home to discover that no one awaited them. The hope that had sustained them throughout their time in the concentration camp was now gone. Frankl cites this experience as the most difficult to overcome. As time passed, however, the prisoner's experience in a concentration camp became nothing but a remembered nightmare. What is more, he comes to believe that he has nothing left to fear "except his God" (p. 115). ## Reception \[[edit](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning&action=edit&section=3 "Edit section: Reception")\] In a 1991 survey conducted for the [Library of Congress](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress "Library of Congress") and the [Book of the Month Club](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Month_Club "Book of the Month Club"), Man's Search for Meaning* was named one of the 10 most influential books in the US.[\[7\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-7) At the time of Frankl's death in 1997, the book had sold over 10 million copies and had been translated into 24 languages. As of 2022 the book has sold 16 million copies and been printed in 52 languages.[\[8\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-8) [Gordon Allport](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Allport "Gordon Allport"), who wrote a preface to the book, described it as a "gem of dramatic narrative" which "provides a compelling introduction to the most significant psychological movement of our day".[\[9\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-9) [Sarah Bakewell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Bakewell "Sarah Bakewell") describes it as "an incredibly powerful and moving example of what [existentialist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialist "Existentialist") thought can actually be for in real life"[\[10\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-10) while [Mary Fulbrook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Fulbrook "Mary Fulbrook") praises "the way \[Frankl\] explores the importance of meaning in life as the key to survival."[\[11\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-11) However, aspects of the book have garnered criticism. One of Frankl's main ideas in the book is that a [positive attitude](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_mental_attitude "Positive mental attitude") made one better equipped for surviving the camps. Richard Middleton-Kaplan has said that this implies, whether intentionally or unintentionally, that those who died had given up and that this paved the way for the idea of the Jews going [like sheep to the slaughter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Like_sheep_to_the_slaughter "Like sheep to the slaughter").[\[12\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-12) Holocaust analyst [Lawrence L. Langer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_L._Langer "Lawrence L. Langer") criticises Frankl's promotion of logotherapy and says the book has a problematic subtext. He also accuses Frankl of having a tone of self-aggrandizement and a general inhumane sense of studying-detachment towards victims of the Holocaust.[\[13\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-13)[\[14\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-14) In his book Faith in Freedom, psychiatrist [Thomas Szasz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Szasz "Thomas Szasz") states that Frankl's survivor testimony was written to misdirect, and betrays instead an intent of a transparent effort to conceal Frankl's actions and his collaboration with the Nazis, and that, in the assessment of [Raul Hilberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raul_Hilberg "Raul Hilberg"), the founder of [Holocaust Studies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_studies "Holocaust studies"), Frankl's historical account contains distortions akin to [Binjamin Wilkomirski](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragments:_Memories_of_a_Wartime_Childhood "Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood")'s memoirs, which were translated into nine languages before being exposed as deeply problematic (and according to the most radical interpretation false) in Hilberg's 1996 Politics of Memory.[\[15\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-15) Szasz's criticism of Frankl is not universally embraced.[\[16\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-16)\[[irrelevant citation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability "Wikipedia:Verifiability")\] Similarly, Hilberg's allegations have been rebutted by several reviewers.[\[17\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-17) Comparison between Frankl's memoirs and Wilkomirski's memoirs leveled by Szasz, however, could legitimately be dismissed altogether as an inapt and misleading analogy insofar as questions arose (and remained) as to whether or not Wilkomirski had ever been an inmate at a concentration camp, whereas this was never a question in Frankl's case: there is no doubt that he is a survivor. Briefly: Conflicting views about the nature of memory under extreme conditions, as well as the sort of instinctual opportunism (for the sake of survival) or [positive thinking mentality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_psychology "Positive psychology") that often (one might even say 'usually' or 'almost always') correlated with long-term survival in the Nazi death camps, makes the memoir an important document of witness during the holocaust but also highlight the way in which it displays the cognitive and psychological limits of representing a situation like the Nazi extermination from an 'impartial' first person perspective. Based on a suggestion in Man's Search for Meaning, a proposed [Statue of Responsibility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Responsibility "Statue of Responsibility") has been designed by Utah sculptor [Gary Lee Price](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Lee_Price "Gary Lee Price") and endorsed for construction by the Utah governor. In the book, Frankl makes the following statement about the sculpture: > Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.[\[18\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-18) ## See also \[[edit](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning&action=edit&section=4 "Edit section: See also")\] - [Existential anxiety](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety#Existential "Anxiety") - [Jonathan Livingston Seagull](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Livingston_Seagull "Jonathan Livingston Seagull") - [Maslow's hierarchy of needs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs "Maslow's hierarchy of needs") - [Statue of Responsibility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Responsibility "Statue of Responsibility") – proposed in the book to complement the [Statue of Liberty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty "Statue of Liberty") - [Life Is Beautiful](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_Beautiful "Life Is Beautiful") (1997), a film on how a positive attitude can be maintained in the worst of circumstances, including a concentration camp ## References \[[edit](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning&action=edit&section=5 "Edit section: References")\] 1. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-Fein_1991_1-0) Fein, Esther (1991). ["Book Notes"](https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/20/books/book-notes-059091.html). New York Times. Retrieved 22 May 2012. 2. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-dies_at_92_2-0) Noble, Holcomb B. (September 4, 1997). ["Dr. Viktor E. Frankl of Vienna, Psychiatrist of the Search for Meaning, Dies at 92"](https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/04/world/dr-viktor-e-frankl-of-vienna-psychiatrist-of-the-search-for-meaning-dies-at-92.html). The New York Times. p. B-7. Retrieved 22 May 2012. 3. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-InstituteVienna_3-0) ["Viktor Frankl Life and Work"](https://www.viktorfrankl.org/e/lifeandwork.html). Viktor Frankl Institute Vienna. 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2012. 4. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-4) Foreword to Trotzdem Ja zum Leben Sagen: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager, [Hans Weigel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Weigel "Hans Weigel"), Penguin, München, 2009, [ISBN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_\(identifier\) "ISBN (identifier)") [978-3328102779](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3328102779 "Special:BookSources/978-3328102779") (reprinted from 1977) 5. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-5) Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl. Beacon Press, 2006, [ISBN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_\(identifier\) "ISBN (identifier)") [978-0807014264](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0807014264 "Special:BookSources/978-0807014264") 6. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-6) Frankl, Viktor (1959). [Man's Search for Meaning](https://archive.org/details/manssearchformea00vikt). [ISBN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_\(identifier\) "ISBN (identifier)") [978-0807014295](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0807014295 "Special:BookSources/978-0807014295") . `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility ([help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:CS1_errors#invalid_isbn_date "Help:CS1 errors")) 7. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-7) Fein, Esther B. (20 November 1991). ["New York Times, 11-20-1991"](https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/20/books/book-notes-059091.html). The New York Times. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200428021311/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/20/books/book-notes-059091.html) from the original on 28 April 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020. 8. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-8) ["How Instagram turned a Holocaust memoir into a self-help manifesto"](https://www.vox.com/the-goods/23467058/mans-search-for-meaning-frankl-holocaust-memoir-wellness-instagram). Vox. 9. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-9) Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl 10. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-10) ["The best books on Existentialism"](https://fivebooks.com/best-books/existentialism-sarah-bakewell/#book-6795). 11. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-11) ["The best books on Auschwitz"](https://fivebooks.com/best-books/auschwitz-mary-fulbrook/). 12. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-12) Middleton-Kaplan, Richard (2014). "The Myth of Jewish Passivity". In Henry, Patrick (ed.). Jewish Resistance Against the Nazis. Washington, D.C.: [Catholic University of America Press](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_University_of_America_Press "Catholic University of America Press"). pp. 9–10\. [ISBN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_\(identifier\) "ISBN (identifier)") [978-0813225890](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0813225890 "Special:BookSources/978-0813225890") . 13. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-13) Lawrence Langer, Versions of Survival: The Holocaust and the Human Spirit (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1982), p. 24. 14. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-14) Pytell, Timothy (June 3, 2003). ["Redeeming the Unredeemable: Auschwitz and Man's Search for Meaning"](https://muse.jhu.edu/article/43137). Holocaust and Genocide Studies. 17 (1): 89–113\. [doi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doi_\(identifier\) "Doi (identifier)"):[10\.1093/hgs/17.1.89](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fhgs%2F17.1.89) – via Project MUSE. 15. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-15) Faith in Freedom, p. 181 Thomas Szasz 16. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-16) ["Thomas Szasz: An Evaluation \\| Psychology Today"](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mood-swings/201801/thomas-szasz-evaluation). www.psychologytoday.com. Retrieved 2024-03-18. 17. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-17) ["Review of the Wilkomirski Affair"](https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1336&context=sahs_review). Swiss American Historical Society Review. 37 (3): 25–32\. 18. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-18) Frankl, Viktor (2006). Man's Search for Meaning. Beacon Press. [ISBN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_\(identifier\) "ISBN (identifier)") [978-0807014264](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0807014264 "Special:BookSources/978-0807014264") . ## External links \[[edit](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning&action=edit&section=6 "Edit section: External links")\] ![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/40px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png) Wikiquote has quotations related to *[Man's Search for Meaning](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:Search/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning "q:Special:Search/Man's Search for Meaning"). - [Viktor Frankl: Why believe in others](https://www.ted.com/talks/viktor_frankl_why_believe_in_others) [TED](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TED_\(conference\) "TED (conference)") talk - [Commentary on Man's Search For Meaning](http://www.butler-bowdon.com/manssearch) by personal development scholar [Tom Butler-Bowdon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Butler-Bowdon "Tom Butler-Bowdon") (50 Self-Help Classics, 2003. [ISBN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_\(identifier\) "ISBN (identifier)") [978-1857883237](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1857883237 "Special:BookSources/978-1857883237") ) - [Viktor Frankl at Ninety: An Interview](http://www.firstthings.com/article/1995/04/004-viktor-frankl-at-ninety-an-interview) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20180731070952/http://www.firstthings.com/article/1995/04/004-viktor-frankl-at-ninety-an-interview) 2018-07-31 at the [Wayback Machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayback_Machine "Wayback Machine") - [Man's Search for Meaning book cover](https://web.archive.org/web/20130119012816/http://www.maillife.co.uk/medias/sys_master/8801499316254.jpg) - Gilmore, Byron Ross (1997). [The search for meaning in grief: A comparison of Victor Frankl's 'Search for Meaning' with Douglas Hall's 'Theology of the Cross', and their implications for grief ministry](https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/824/) (M.A. thesis). [Wilfrid Laurier University](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfrid_Laurier_University "Wilfrid Laurier University"). - [There's More To Life Than Being Happy](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/theres-more-to-life-than-being-happy/266805/) in The Atlantic, discussion of Man's Search For Meaning. 2013. [Portals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents/Portals "Wikipedia:Contents/Portals"): - [![icon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a5/Nuvola_apps_bookcase.svg/20px-Nuvola_apps_bookcase.svg.png)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nuvola_apps_bookcase.svg) [Books](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Books "Portal:Books") - ![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Psi2.svg/20px-Psi2.svg.png) [Psychology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Psychology "Portal:Psychology") - ![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Socrates.png/20px-Socrates.png) [Philosophy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Philosophy "Portal:Philosophy") \| [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Logotherapy "Template:Logotherapy") [t](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:Logotherapy "Template talk:Logotherapy") [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Logotherapy "Special:EditPage/Template:Logotherapy")[Logotherapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logotherapy "Logotherapy") \| \| \|---\|---\| \| People \| [Viktor Frankl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Frankl "Viktor Frankl") [Joseph Fabry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Fabry "Joseph Fabry") [Elisabeth Lukas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Lukas "Elisabeth Lukas") \| \| Ideas and terms \| [Dimensional ontology](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dimensional_ontology&action=edit&redlink=1 "Dimensional ontology (page does not exist)") [Existential frustration](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Existential_frustration&action=edit&redlink=1 "Existential frustration (page does not exist)") [Hyperintention](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hyperintention&action=edit&redlink=1 "Hyperintention (page does not exist)") [Noogenic neurosis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noogenic_neurosis "Noogenic neurosis") [Paradoxical intention](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradoxical_intention "Paradoxical intention") [Tragic triad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragic_triad "Tragic triad") [Tragic optimism](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tragic_optimism&action=edit&redlink=1 "Tragic optimism (page does not exist)") [Will to meaning](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Will_to_meaning_\(Frankl\)&action=edit&redlink=1 "Will to meaning (Frankl) (page does not exist)") \| \| Books and publications \| [Man's Search for Meaning]()* [The Doctor and the Soul](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doctor_and_the_Soul "The Doctor and the Soul") [The Unconscious God](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unconscious_God "The Unconscious God") [The Will to Meaning](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Will_to_Meaning&action=edit&redlink=1 "The Will to Meaning (page does not exist)") [The Journal of the U.S. Logotherapy Society](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Journal_of_the_U.S._Logotherapy_Society&action=edit&redlink=1 "The Journal of the U.S. Logotherapy Society (page does not exist)") \| \| Locations \| [List of logotherapy institutes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_logotherapy_institutes "List of logotherapy institutes") [World Congress on Logotherapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=World_Congress_on_Logotherapy&action=edit&redlink=1 "World Congress on Logotherapy (page does not exist)") \| \| [Authority control databases](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Authority_control "Help:Authority control") [![Edit this at Wikidata](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/20px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png)](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q426369#identifiers "Edit this at Wikidata") \| \| \|---\|---\| \| International \| [VIAF](https://viaf.org/viaf/182206484) [GND](https://d-nb.info/gnd/7858201-5) \| \| Other \| [Open Library](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1268413W?mode=all) [2](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL8257090W?mode=all) \| ![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?useformat=desktop&type=1x1&usesul3=1) Retrieved from "[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Man%27s\_Search\_for\_Meaning\&oldid=1345848768](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning&oldid=1345848768)" [Categories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Category "Help:Category"): - 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Readable Markdown	From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia \| \| \| \|---\|---\| \| [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/cf/Trotzdem_Ja_zum_Leben_sagen_%28Viktor_Frankl_novel%29_cover.jpg/250px-Trotzdem_Ja_zum_Leben_sagen_%28Viktor_Frankl_novel%29_cover.jpg)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trotzdem_Ja_zum_Leben_sagen_\(Viktor_Frankl_novel\)_cover.jpg)Second edition (1947) \| \| \| Author \| [Viktor E. Frankl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_E._Frankl "Viktor E. Frankl") \| \| Original title \| Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager \| \| Translator \| Ilse Lasch (Part One) \| \| Language \| German \| \| Genre \| [Autobiography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobiography "Autobiography"), [psychotherapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychotherapy "Psychotherapy") \| \| Publisher \| Verlag für Jugend und Volk (Austria) [Beacon Press](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beacon_Press "Beacon Press") (English) \| \| Publication date \| 1946 (Vienna, Austria) 1959 (United States) \| \| Publication place \| Austria \| \| Pages \| 200 \| \| [ISBN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_\(identifier\) "ISBN (identifier)") \| [080701429X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/080701429X "Special:BookSources/080701429X") \| \| [OCLC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCLC_\(identifier\) "OCLC (identifier)") \| [233687922](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/233687922) \| \| Followed by \| [The Doctor and the Soul](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doctor_and_the_Soul "The Doctor and the Soul"): From Psychotherapy in Logotherapy \| *Man's Search for Meaning* ([German](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_language "German language"): ... trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen. Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager, [lit.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literal_translation "Literal translation")'... Say Yes to Life nonetheless: A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp') is a 1946 book by [Viktor Frankl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Frankl "Viktor Frankl") chronicling his experiences as a prisoner in [Nazi concentration camps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_concentration_camps "Nazi concentration camps") during World War II, and describing his [psychotherapeutic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychotherapeutic "Psychotherapeutic") method, which involved identifying a purpose to each person's life through one of three ways: the completion of tasks, caring for another person, or finding meaning by facing suffering with dignity. Frankl observed that among the fellow inmates in the concentration camp, those who survived were able to connect with a purpose in life to feel positive about and who then immersed themselves in imagining that purpose in their own way, such as conversing with an (imagined) loved one. According to Frankl, the way a prisoner imagined the future affected their longevity. The book intends to answer the question "How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?" Part One constitutes Frankl's analysis of his experiences in the concentration camps, while Part Two introduces his ideas of [meaning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning_\(existential\) "Meaning (existential)") and his theory for the link between people's health and their sense of meaning in life. He called this theory [logotherapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logotherapy "Logotherapy"), and there are now multiple [logotherapy institutes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_logotherapy_institutes "List of logotherapy institutes") around the world. According to a survey conducted by the [Book-of-the-Month Club](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book-of-the-Month_Club "Book-of-the-Month Club") and the [Library of Congress](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress "Library of Congress"), Man's Search for Meaning belongs to a list of "the ten most influential books in the United States."[\[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-Fein_1991-1) At the time of the author's death in 1997, the book had sold over 10 million copies and had been translated into 24 languages.[\[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-dies_at_92-2)[\[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-InstituteVienna-3) The book's original title is Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager ("A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp"). Later [German](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_language "German language") editions prefixed the title with Trotzdem Ja zum Leben Sagen ("Nevertheless Saying Yes to Life"), taken from a line in Das Buchenwaldlied, a song written by [Friedrich Löhner-Beda](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_L%C3%B6hner-Beda "Fritz Löhner-Beda") while an inmate at [Buchenwald](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchenwald_concentration_camp "Buchenwald concentration camp").[\[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-4) The title of the first English-language translation was From Death-Camp to Existentialism. The book's common full English title is *Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy, although this subtitle is often not printed on the cover of modern editions.[\[5\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-5) ## Experiences in a concentration camp \[[edit](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning&action=edit&section=2 "Edit section: Experiences in a concentration camp")\] Frankl identifies three psychological reactions experienced by all inmates to one degree or another: 1. Shock during the initial admission phase to the camp, 2. Apathy after becoming accustomed to camp existence, in which the inmate values only that which helps himself and his friends survive, and 3. Reactions of [depersonalization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization "Depersonalization"), moral deformity, bitterness, and disillusionment if he survives and is liberated.[\[6\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-6) Frankl concludes that the [meaning of life](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning_of_life "Meaning of life") is found in every moment of living; life never ceases to have meaning, even in suffering and death. In a [group therapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_therapy "Group therapy") session during a mass fast inflicted on the camp's inmates trying to protect an anonymous fellow inmate from fatal retribution by authorities, Frankl offered the thought that for everyone in a dire condition there is someone looking down, a friend, family member, or even God, who would expect not to be disappointed. Frankl concludes from his experience that a prisoner's psychological reactions are not solely the result of the conditions of his life, but also from the [freedom of choice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_choice "Freedom of choice") he always has even in severe suffering. The inner hold a prisoner has on his spiritual self relies on having a hope in the future, and that once a prisoner loses that hope, he is doomed. Frankl also concludes that there are only two races of men, decent men and indecent. No society is free of either of them, and thus there were decent [Nazi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi "Nazi") guards and indecent prisoners, most notably the [kapo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapo_\(concentration_camp\) "Kapo (concentration camp)") who would torture and abuse their fellow prisoners for personal gain. His concluding passage in Part One describes the psychological reaction of the inmates to their liberation, which he separates into three stages. The first is depersonalization—a period of readjustment in which a prisoner gradually returns to the world. Initially, the liberated prisoners are so numb that they are unable to understand what freedom means or to emotionally respond to it. Part of them believes that it is an illusion or a dream that will be taken away from them. In their first foray outside their former prison, the prisoners realized that they [could not comprehend pleasure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhedonia "Anhedonia"). Flowers and the reality of the freedom they had dreamed about for years were all surreal, unable to be grasped in their depersonalization. The body is the first element to break out of this stage, responding by big appetites of eating and wanting more sleeping. Only after the partial replenishing of the body is the mind finally able to respond, as "feeling suddenly broke through the strange fetters which had restrained it" (p. 111). This begins the second stage, in which there is a danger of deformation. As the intense pressure on the mind is released, mental health can be endangered. Frankl uses the analogy of a diver [suddenly released from his pressure chamber](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decompression_sickness "Decompression sickness"). He recounts the story of a friend who became immediately obsessed with dispensing the same violence in judgment of his abusers that they had inflicted on him. Upon returning home, the prisoners had to struggle with two fundamental experiences that could damage their mental health: bitterness and disillusionment. The last stage is bitterness at the lack of responsiveness of the world outside—a "superficiality and lack of feeling... so disgusting that one finally felt like creeping into a hole and neither hearing nor seeing human beings any more" (p. 113). Worse was disillusionment, the discovery that suffering does not end, that the longed-for happiness will not come. This was the experience of those who—like Frankl—returned home to discover that no one awaited them. The hope that had sustained them throughout their time in the concentration camp was now gone. Frankl cites this experience as the most difficult to overcome. As time passed, however, the prisoner's experience in a concentration camp became nothing but a remembered nightmare. What is more, he comes to believe that he has nothing left to fear "except his God" (p. 115). In a 1991 survey conducted for the [Library of Congress](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress "Library of Congress") and the [Book of the Month Club](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Month_Club "Book of the Month Club"), Man's Search for Meaning* was named one of the 10 most influential books in the US.[\[7\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-7) At the time of Frankl's death in 1997, the book had sold over 10 million copies and had been translated into 24 languages. As of 2022 the book has sold 16 million copies and been printed in 52 languages.[\[8\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-8) [Gordon Allport](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Allport "Gordon Allport"), who wrote a preface to the book, described it as a "gem of dramatic narrative" which "provides a compelling introduction to the most significant psychological movement of our day".[\[9\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-9) [Sarah Bakewell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Bakewell "Sarah Bakewell") describes it as "an incredibly powerful and moving example of what [existentialist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialist "Existentialist") thought can actually be for in real life"[\[10\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-10) while [Mary Fulbrook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Fulbrook "Mary Fulbrook") praises "the way \[Frankl\] explores the importance of meaning in life as the key to survival."[\[11\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-11) However, aspects of the book have garnered criticism. One of Frankl's main ideas in the book is that a [positive attitude](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_mental_attitude "Positive mental attitude") made one better equipped for surviving the camps. Richard Middleton-Kaplan has said that this implies, whether intentionally or unintentionally, that those who died had given up and that this paved the way for the idea of the Jews going [like sheep to the slaughter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Like_sheep_to_the_slaughter "Like sheep to the slaughter").[\[12\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-12) Holocaust analyst [Lawrence L. Langer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_L._Langer "Lawrence L. Langer") criticises Frankl's promotion of logotherapy and says the book has a problematic subtext. He also accuses Frankl of having a tone of self-aggrandizement and a general inhumane sense of studying-detachment towards victims of the Holocaust.[\[13\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-13)[\[14\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-14) In his book Faith in Freedom, psychiatrist [Thomas Szasz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Szasz "Thomas Szasz") states that Frankl's survivor testimony was written to misdirect, and betrays instead an intent of a transparent effort to conceal Frankl's actions and his collaboration with the Nazis, and that, in the assessment of [Raul Hilberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raul_Hilberg "Raul Hilberg"), the founder of [Holocaust Studies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_studies "Holocaust studies"), Frankl's historical account contains distortions akin to [Binjamin Wilkomirski](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragments:_Memories_of_a_Wartime_Childhood "Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood")'s memoirs, which were translated into nine languages before being exposed as deeply problematic (and according to the most radical interpretation false) in Hilberg's 1996 Politics of Memory.[\[15\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-15) Szasz's criticism of Frankl is not universally embraced.[\[16\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-16)\[[irrelevant citation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability "Wikipedia:Verifiability")\] Similarly, Hilberg's allegations have been rebutted by several reviewers.[\[17\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-17) Comparison between Frankl's memoirs and Wilkomirski's memoirs leveled by Szasz, however, could legitimately be dismissed altogether as an inapt and misleading analogy insofar as questions arose (and remained) as to whether or not Wilkomirski had ever been an inmate at a concentration camp, whereas this was never a question in Frankl's case: there is no doubt that he is a survivor. Briefly: Conflicting views about the nature of memory under extreme conditions, as well as the sort of instinctual opportunism (for the sake of survival) or [positive thinking mentality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_psychology "Positive psychology") that often (one might even say 'usually' or 'almost always') correlated with long-term survival in the Nazi death camps, makes the memoir an important document of witness during the holocaust but also highlight the way in which it displays the cognitive and psychological limits of representing a situation like the Nazi extermination from an 'impartial' first person perspective. Based on a suggestion in Man's Search for Meaning, a proposed [Statue of Responsibility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Responsibility "Statue of Responsibility") has been designed by Utah sculptor [Gary Lee Price](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Lee_Price "Gary Lee Price") and endorsed for construction by the Utah governor. In the book, Frankl makes the following statement about the sculpture: > Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.[\[18\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_note-18) - [Existential anxiety](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety#Existential "Anxiety") - [Jonathan Livingston Seagull](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Livingston_Seagull "Jonathan Livingston Seagull") - [Maslow's hierarchy of needs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs "Maslow's hierarchy of needs") - [Statue of Responsibility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Responsibility "Statue of Responsibility") – proposed in the book to complement the [Statue of Liberty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty "Statue of Liberty") - [Life Is Beautiful](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_Beautiful "Life Is Beautiful") (1997), a film on how a positive attitude can be maintained in the worst of circumstances, including a concentration camp 1. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-Fein_1991_1-0) Fein, Esther (1991). ["Book Notes"](https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/20/books/book-notes-059091.html). New York Times. Retrieved 22 May 2012. 2. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-dies_at_92_2-0) Noble, Holcomb B. (September 4, 1997). ["Dr. Viktor E. Frankl of Vienna, Psychiatrist of the Search for Meaning, Dies at 92"](https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/04/world/dr-viktor-e-frankl-of-vienna-psychiatrist-of-the-search-for-meaning-dies-at-92.html). The New York Times. p. B-7. Retrieved 22 May 2012. 3. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-InstituteVienna_3-0) ["Viktor Frankl Life and Work"](https://www.viktorfrankl.org/e/lifeandwork.html). Viktor Frankl Institute Vienna. 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2012. 4. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-4) Foreword to Trotzdem Ja zum Leben Sagen: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager, [Hans Weigel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Weigel "Hans Weigel"), Penguin, München, 2009, [ISBN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_\(identifier\) "ISBN (identifier)") [978-3328102779](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3328102779 "Special:BookSources/978-3328102779") (reprinted from 1977) 5. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-5) Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl. Beacon Press, 2006, [ISBN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_\(identifier\) "ISBN (identifier)") [978-0807014264](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0807014264 "Special:BookSources/978-0807014264") 6. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-6) Frankl, Viktor (1959). [Man's Search for Meaning](https://archive.org/details/manssearchformea00vikt). [ISBN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_\(identifier\) "ISBN (identifier)") [978-0807014295](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0807014295 "Special:BookSources/978-0807014295") . 7. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-7) Fein, Esther B. (20 November 1991). ["New York Times, 11-20-1991"](https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/20/books/book-notes-059091.html). The New York Times. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200428021311/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/20/books/book-notes-059091.html) from the original on 28 April 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020. 8. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-8) ["How Instagram turned a Holocaust memoir into a self-help manifesto"](https://www.vox.com/the-goods/23467058/mans-search-for-meaning-frankl-holocaust-memoir-wellness-instagram). Vox. 9. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-9) Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl 10. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-10) ["The best books on Existentialism"](https://fivebooks.com/best-books/existentialism-sarah-bakewell/#book-6795). 11. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-11) ["The best books on Auschwitz"](https://fivebooks.com/best-books/auschwitz-mary-fulbrook/). 12. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-12) Middleton-Kaplan, Richard (2014). "The Myth of Jewish Passivity". In Henry, Patrick (ed.). Jewish Resistance Against the Nazis. Washington, D.C.: [Catholic University of America Press](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_University_of_America_Press "Catholic University of America Press"). pp. 9–10\. [ISBN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_\(identifier\) "ISBN (identifier)") [978-0813225890](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0813225890 "Special:BookSources/978-0813225890") . 13. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-13) Lawrence Langer, Versions of Survival: The Holocaust and the Human Spirit (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1982), p. 24. 14. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-14) Pytell, Timothy (June 3, 2003). ["Redeeming the Unredeemable: Auschwitz and Man's Search for Meaning"](https://muse.jhu.edu/article/43137). Holocaust and Genocide Studies. 17 (1): 89–113\. [doi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doi_\(identifier\) "Doi (identifier)"):[10\.1093/hgs/17.1.89](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fhgs%2F17.1.89) – via Project MUSE. 15. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-15) Faith in Freedom, p. 181 Thomas Szasz 16. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-16) ["Thomas Szasz: An Evaluation \\| Psychology Today"](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mood-swings/201801/thomas-szasz-evaluation). www.psychologytoday.com. Retrieved 2024-03-18. 17. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-17) ["Review of the Wilkomirski Affair"](https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1336&context=sahs_review). Swiss American Historical Society Review. 37 (3): 25–32\. 18. [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#cite_ref-18) Frankl, Viktor (2006). Man's Search for Meaning. Beacon Press. [ISBN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_\(identifier\) "ISBN (identifier)") [978-0807014264](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0807014264 "Special:BookSources/978-0807014264") . - [Viktor Frankl: Why believe in others](https://www.ted.com/talks/viktor_frankl_why_believe_in_others) [TED](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TED_\(conference\) "TED (conference)") talk - [Commentary on Man's Search For Meaning](http://www.butler-bowdon.com/manssearch) by personal development scholar [Tom Butler-Bowdon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Butler-Bowdon "Tom Butler-Bowdon") (50 Self-Help Classics, 2003. [ISBN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_\(identifier\) "ISBN (identifier)") [978-1857883237](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1857883237 "Special:BookSources/978-1857883237") ) - [Viktor Frankl at Ninety: An Interview](http://www.firstthings.com/article/1995/04/004-viktor-frankl-at-ninety-an-interview) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20180731070952/http://www.firstthings.com/article/1995/04/004-viktor-frankl-at-ninety-an-interview) 2018-07-31 at the [Wayback Machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayback_Machine "Wayback Machine") - [Man's Search for Meaning book cover](https://web.archive.org/web/20130119012816/http://www.maillife.co.uk/medias/sys_master/8801499316254.jpg) - Gilmore, Byron Ross (1997). [The search for meaning in grief: A comparison of Victor Frankl's 'Search for Meaning' with Douglas Hall's 'Theology of the Cross', and their implications for grief ministry](https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/824/) (M.A. thesis). [Wilfrid Laurier University](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfrid_Laurier_University "Wilfrid Laurier University"). - [There's More To Life Than Being Happy](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/theres-more-to-life-than-being-happy/266805/) in The Atlantic, discussion of Man's Search For Meaning. 2013.
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