Suicide Was the Only Option: Elie Wiesel's Night

The Holocaust was the genocide of approximately six million people of innocent Jewish decent by the Nazi government. The Holocaust was a very tragic time in history due to the idealism that people were taken from their surroundings, persecuted and murdered due to the belief that German Nazi’s were superior to Jews. During the Holocaust, many people suffered both physically and mentally. Tragic events in people’s lives cause a change in their outlook on the world and their future. Due to the tragic events that had taken place being deceased in their lives, survivors often felt that death was a better option than freedom.

The Holocaust was a traumatic event that changed everyone that survived. The psychological effects that survivors experienced were Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (“PTSD”), shock and depression. PTSD is a type of anxiety disorder that occurs after you have been through an extreme trauma that involves a threat of injury or death. The prisoners in concentration camps were being tortured, putting them in constant danger of injury or death. People with PTSD experience symptoms such as flashbacks which cause these people to relive the trauma over and over. These people also experience nightmares which make them feel unsafe even when they sleep and physical symptoms such as their hearts racing or sweating due to instinct to fight or flight danger. PTSD may also result in avoidance symptoms such as staying away from places, events, or objects that are reminders of past traumas. The way people think about themselves as well as others around them often change because of the trauma they suffered. This interfered with their social lives as well as their relationship with themselves because they began to feel gui...

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...when there is a person who tells you what to do, when to do it and how to do it you will listen out of fear, nationalism and to be respected. In today’s day and age we still have this because we still listen to each other’s opinions and what goes on in each other’s life but when it does come down to it you will not take your own life unless it is unavoidable. This may be because you are a person who has no hope to go on with your life. You may have experienced your own trauma that can’t escape your mind or maybe you live your daily life in fear of the world you live in. When you feel like there is nothing that you have to live for death seems like a better option whether we are talking about a traumatic event from almost forty years ago or a traumatic event in today’s day and age. Life does not always seem more rewarding in someone who is hurting’s eyes.