Biography

The world certainly would have gone insane or it would have at least been over-crowded with manics, phobics and psychotics, in the absence of the beautiful city of Vienna. After all, Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler, the two most influencing men in the field of therapeutic Digital Photo were a gift from Vienna. But as if not satisfied by its contribution, the womb of Vienna conceived and delivered yet another psychologist and psychotherapist who made the lasting impact in the field of Curative Psychology, in the form of Dr. Victor Frankl.[br /]
[br /]

[b]Birth[/b][br /]
[br /]

On a beautiful afternoon, on the top floor of a dwelling, in the 2nd district of Vienna, a cry emanated from a room. A cry that was to end many other cries in future. That was March 26, 1905, the day when Victor was born. The Jewish family in which he was born, had stayed for long in the beautiful capital city of Austria, Vienna. Elsa Frankl, wife of Gabriel Frankl delivered their child on 6, Czerningasse, 2nd district, Vienna.[br /]
[br /]

[b]Childhood[/b][br /]
[br /]

Victor was the second child of his parents. The qualities that his character exhibited as a child and later on as an adult were a rare combination of two diametrically opposites. His mother being a religious and empathic woman was very sensitive, and these same qualities descended in Victor, that gave him a unique ability to understand his patients later on. At the same time, as if to balance his emotional sensitivity, he inherited rationality from his father.[br /]
[br /]


Psychologists state that how a man’s life shapes as an adult is merely an expansion of the qualities and traits he acquired as a child. That is exactly what happened to Victor Frankl. His mother’s tender heart was mirrored in the child; a state that stayed until he died at the age of 92.[br /]
[br /]

[b]The Childhood Dream[/b][br /]
[br /]

Seldom does it happen that childhood dreams, which have more a tint of fantasy than reality, take real form. But Victor was born to be an exception to most rules. As a child, he, like most other children of his age in Vienna dreamed of becoming a physician or being a memberan Army personnel. At the age of three, he declared that he wanted to be a doctor – may be a doctor in the Army. Later on, his dream turned into a reality with his endless efforts. Victor Frankl’s life is an evidence of the intense power that lies within man to be committed to his desire and achieve the same against all possible odds.[br /]
[br /]


However, there was one more dream that the prevalent circumstances did not allow him to fulfil. As a child, Frankl had a flair for riding bicycle. He often longed for a bicycle of his own, dreaming to go riding on the streets of Vienna. Unfortunately, this could never materialize. But what was noticeable was that in spite of his not being able to fulfil his dream, he did not have any regrets. As early as when he was seven, he had an unconscious understanding that in spite of the circumstances, man is free to choose his reaction to them.[br /]
[br /]

[b]The Starvation[/b][br /]
[br /]

Young Victor was growing as a witty and intelligent child. But then no one knew, the road ahead was not so rosy, and was a path strewn with hope and despair.[br /]
[br /]


As a direct effect of World War I, Frankl’s father had to suffer employment crisis being in the civil services. The family had to move to Gabriel’s native village. Starvation engulfed the family. Days were so tough for Victor and his family that the next meal was their biggest problem. In order to keep the family surviving, Victor begged for bread. At other times he would go to the fields outside the village with his brother and other children of his age and steal some corn, to fight hunger.[br /]
[br /]


In Vienna, he stood in queues from 3.00 a.m. for buying few potatoes. Actually that was a time when the world was suffering from starvation. So, most children of his age would help their families to get the food rations by standing in long winding lines. Elisa, his mother would replace young Victor around 7.30 a.m. so that he could go to school.[br /]
[br /]


These were his first experiences of the struggle for existence – as if, life was preparing him for the worst yet to come.[br /]
[br /]

[b]First Encounter with Psychology[/b][br /]
[br /]

As a student, Frankl did well to be among the toppers of his class, until he entered junior high school. In high school, he was a bit distracted from formal studies. The reason was his growing interest in psychology. Studying others behavior was more than a hobby for him. Being in high school, gave him a platform to explore his interest in psychology. In those halcyon days, he began to attend adult evening classes on applied psychology.[br /]
[br /]


In course of time, Victor developed an interest in experimental psychology. There is an incident that portrays him as a born to be a psychologist.[br /]
[br /]


In school, there was a tradition of submitting reports of their work. But the young genius once decided to employ props and activities in his presentation. During a presentation, Frankl called upon one of his friends to volunteer. A galvanometer with an arm moving from left to right was used to notice the physiological changes that occur in our brain by the thoughts. Frankl uttered a few words, and the meter read slight deflection, denoting the reaction of his friend’s brain. Soon Victor called his friend’s girlfriend’s name and the meter showed maximum deflection; the arm of meter crossed across the range to its other extreme, denoting an intense physical reaction in the friend’s brain. The room being dark, no one could notice the blushed face of his friend.[br /]
[br /]

[b]Attraction and Repulsion from Psychoanalysis[/b][br /]
[br /]


While in high school, he got attracted to the concepts of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis. Eduard Hirchmann and Paul Schilder gave lectures regularly at the Vienna University’s psychiatry clinic. Young Victor became a regular visitor at that lecture hall and soon began to give speeches and write assignments on psychology – primarily with a tinge of Freud’s psychoanalysis.[br /]
[br /]


[b]Correspondence with Freud[/b][br /]
[br /]


With time his interest in psychology matured, and he began to refer to any material he could read on psychology. Being under the influence of psychoanalysis, he began correspondence with Freud. Frankl, painstakingly, would collect all the material that he thought would interest Sigmund Freud and sent it to him. In response, Freud answered back every letter promptly.[br /]
[br /]


One day while sitting on the bench of a park, Frankl poured his valuable inferences and created an article on "the origin of the mimic movements of affirmation and negation". Even without reading it again, Frankl posted that manuscript to Freud. To his surprise, Freud’s letter arrived, informing him that his article has been forwarded to appear in the "International Journal of Psychoanalysis". That article actually appeared in the journal later in 1924.[br /]
[br /]


Their correspondence gradually faded, on account of Frankl developing doubts with the basic premises of psychoanalysis. He met Freud in person by chance. But then it was too late. Frankl had developed doubts about psychoanalysis and at the same time was attracted by Alfred Adler’s works.[br /]
[br /]

[b]In Adler’s Orbit[/b][br /]
[br /]

Vienna had become the Mecca for psychology, with Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler as the two Gods of psychology then in 1920s. On account of his differences with Freudian psychoanalysis, and attraction to Alfred Adler’s "Individual Psychology", Frankl joined the "Society for Individual Psychology". One of his articles appeared in the Journal of Individual Psychology in 1925 and other in 1926. He made his stand clear as out of the circle of psychoanalysis, into the orbit of Adlerian "Individual Psychology".[br /]
[br /]

[b]Paving his Own Way[/b][br /]
[br /]

Stars are not meant to go around in the orbits of other stars. Sooner or later, they chart their own course. They can’t keep revolving around a center; they themselves become a center. Frankl was such a star. Not long after he got associated with Adler, he developed doubts about the effectiveness of Individual Psychology, especially for its consideration of a man’s urge to acquire power as a primary motivating factor. Frankl on the other hand perceived an altogether different picture. He began to believe firmly that man is not in the power race, but primarily in search of a meaningful life.[br /]
[br /]


Unexpectedly, life provided Frankl with an opportunity to pave his own way. The year was 1926 and the occasion the "International Congress for Individual Psychology". Victor Frankl, who was still a student, was asked to give a keynote address at the conference. But he denied, as he could not cling to the concepts of Individual Psychology, which according to him were rigid.[br /]
[br /]


Another opportunity gave Frankl a chance to clear his stand in 1927.[br /]
[br /]


Two men, Rudolf Allers and Oswald Schwarz, announced their withdrawal from the Society for Individual Psychology openly. A large lecture hall at the University of Vienna was almost packed during the announcements of Allers and Schwarz. Adler asked Frankl if he would like to comment. In front of everyone present, Frankl courageously made his announcement, regarding his differences with Adler’s concept. Still a kid of 22 among the grey heads of experienced psychologists, he declared that he was in favor of Schwarz and Allers.[br /]
[br /]


Never in his life did Adler speak to Frankl after that eventful evening. Close on the heels of this incidence, followed Frankl’s expulsion from the society. Frankl embarked on the journey to create his own goals. To break up with someone as influential as Adler was in his field, demanded remarkable courage. But Frankl was not the one to go against the voice of his heart, and decided that if the road did not take him where he wanted to go, he would create his own, and so he set about it.[br /]
[br /]

[b]Born to be a Psychiatrist[/b][br /]
[br /]

To be a physician was a childhood dream for Frankl. While in high school, his growing interest in psychology inclined him towards psychiatry. However, at one point of time, he was hooked to the idea of pursuing a career in dermatology or obstetrics. He also discussed this with one of his classmates in the medical school. His friend advised him that he should not make any hasty decision, and instead follow his heart. He also said that he was gifted for psychiatry and he should own up to his talent.[br /]
[br /]


Finally, Frankl made a decision to let his talent work through him by being a psychiatrist. He selected medicine to specialize in psychiatry.[br /]
[br /]

[b]Youth[/b][br /]
[br /]

His days as an Adlerian – a person following the dictums of "Individual Psychology", gave in a way security to him in the form of a young member of an already established school of thought. Unfortunately, he was expelled from the society. He was groundless. Having declared his disagreements with both Freud and Adler, there was little hope that he could move forward in psychology – after all Freud and Adler, were the two demi-Gods of psychology in those days. What could be more frustrating to a man, who was yet in his embryonic state as a psychiatrist, especially in Vienna – the Mecca of psychology ? Before he could finish his studies in medicine, he was out of the orbits of two most accepted schools of psychology.[br /]
[br /]


Do the great men have the same grey matter as the common men have ? Because, when most people would have held themselves back in depression, getting immobilized, Victor Frankl responded in a way unique to him. He decided to focus on practice of psychology. He created a youth counseling centre in Vienna. Consequently, based on the counseling centres at Vienna, six new centres were initiated in six different cities. The basic idea for opening such centres was to help young people in personal and psychological distress. What was remarkable about those centres was that the psychological support was totally free, so that more number of youngsters could turn up to seek help. The task demanded more than just good intentions. It required that skilled counselors operate the centres. Frankl had no source of income then. Yet somehow his dream came true. Without remuneration, some young men offered to join the centers as counselors.[br /]
[br /]


As a direct consequence of those counseling centers a large number of students were counseled. The number of students committing suicide in reaction to their study report cards was really worrisome then. Amazingly, that very first year when no student committed suicide in Vienna, brought recognition for Frankl and inquiries popped up asking for Frankl’s lectures. Soon he was mostly on the roads, giving lectures in different European cities, including Berlin, Budapest, Prague and others. Frankl got an invitation from the German Youth Welfare Service too.[br /]
[br /]


Frankl decided to fight his circumstances. While he himself was almost kicked out of the Adlerian society, he set up centers to help others. The days of youth were full of fun and activities. Impressing a girl and getting a date, was another area he had developed expertise in, in a way very personal to him. He never believed that he could impress a girl with his looks and out of that belief, he had found a very effective way to impress a girl. If he would meet a girl at a party whom he wanted to impress, then during their formal talk, he would insist the girl to attend a lecture of a ‘certain’ Frankl. Never did he utter the name of ‘that certain’ Frankl. Praising him, he would tell the girl that he himself attended Frankl’s lectures and that he was really impressive. Then the next day, he would go to the lecture with his date and sit in the first row of the audience. Then as the time of lecture approached, he would get up from his seat and go on the stage to lecture. The date would be taken by surprise. Victor Frankl said, this trick usually worked for him.[br /]
[br /]


Another activity that he began in those days was a series of lectures for organizations of the socialist youth movement. Socialist movements were at their peaks in the late 1920s and early 1930s. This gave Frankl the opportunity to arrange hundreds of lectures. Each such lecture was followed by a discussion session. These lectures, the counseling centres and writing articles while he was still studying, all contributed to strengthen his abilities as a psychiatrist. The dawn of a new sun on the horizon of Vienna’s psychology world had set in.[br /]
[br /]

[b]The Caterpillar Died, Giving Birth to a Butterfly[/b][br /]
[br /]


For a student of psychiatry in Vienna, it was really a state of isolation, once he had declared his disagreement with Freud and Adler. Frankl wanted to develop his own way of working and desired that he could draw out his own theory that explained what psychoanalysis or individual Digital Photo could not. There were no apparent hopes. But his lectures and trips rescued him. A professor at the University, Otto Pötzl made an arrangement at his private clinic. This was a special way, as Frankl had yet not graduated and was only a student. Pötzl favored Frankl by letting him handle patients at his psychotherapy clinic, even before he got his degree in medicine.[br /]
[br /]


It was a period of inner confrontation for Frankl as he had to continuously deal with what he had learned in psychoanalysis and individual psychology and at the same time the theories he was developing himself. He could not totally disregard Freud’s and Adler’s concepts.[br /]
[br /]


After an initial stage of severe inner conflict, Frankl took a hard decision – to let go of all that he had learned from psychoanalysis and individual psychology. It was a painful state of ‘unlearning’. The Caterpillar had died. But then, it gave birth to the butterfly. Frankl emerged as an experienced student in psychotherapy. Leaving his past conditioning, he developed his own new theories – primarily from what he learned by listening to his patients.[br /]
[br /]

[b]Metamorphosis of a Psychiatrist[/b][br /]
[br /]


At the age of 25, in 1930, he graduated from the University of Vienna, specializing in psychiatry. The time following one’s graduation, especially for a man of medicine is very crucial, when he is required to gather diagnostic experience and proficiency as a healer. Fortunately for Frankl, he did not have to struggle to establish himself. Soon after graduation, he worked with Professor Pötzl in the University Psychiatric clinic. He continued his learning, by engaging himself into training in neurology. His training lasted for two years.[br /]
[br /]


Learning occurs through experiences and in that matter Frankl was always fortunate to have opportunities that allowed him to hone his skills as a medical practitioner. Frankl acquired the charge of the "pavilion for suicidal women" at a psychiatric hospital in Vienna. But then it was not a bed of roses. His first few experiences were terrible. Being exposed to psychologically ill people, with a tendency to make physical attacks was a very new kind of deal for Frankl. One of his well-wishers told him not to enter the suicidal women’s pavilion with his glasses on, as he might be hit by some psychotic lady. Frankl blindly followed that advice and entered the pavilion without his glasses on. Unable to see clearly, he stepped on the leg of a woman and got hit in the face – the very thing he was resisting. However, then after he had no such bitter experiences. For four consecutive years, he stayed there as the incharge. He gathered ample experience during that period by dealing with more than 10,000 patients in 4 years till 1937. [br /]
[br /]

At last in 1937, his career took a flight on its own. He opened a clinic for private practice as a specialist in psychiatry and neurology. He was not rich enough to be able to afford a place of his own. His practice began at his parent’s home, while his family members were out on a vacation. But as if God wanted to show the extremes of man’s capacity to go through physical and mental disappointments and tortures, through the life of Victor Frankl, he had to discontinue his private practice in only a few months. [br /]
[br /]

[b]Clipping the Wings[/b][br /]
[br /]

On a beautiful evening in 1938, Frankl was at a lecture hall giving his ideas on "Nervousness as a Phenomenon of our Time". Audience were totally immersed in the flow of his lectures, and suddenly something disturbed every one including Victor. The voice came from the wall that had the entrance to the hall. Everyone turned to look in rage at the one who had disturbed them. They were shocked to see a man standing in the middle of the door, in Nazi uniform. It was obvious that the soldier’s silence spoke about his intention, to disturb the lecture. Hitler’s troops had invaded Austria.[br /]
[br /]


Frankl disregarded the presence of that army man and continued his lecture. Until he finished his lecture, the man stood on the doorway. Following his lecture, he rushed to his place, passing through the howling mob, and reached his home. Radio announced the local government body’s dead, the chancellor being dethroned. As a result of Hitler’s invasion, Frankl had to discontinue his private practice. He was a Jew and how could a Jew keep up his practice when the country was in the clutch of Hitler’s Nazi Regime.[br /]
[br /]


[b]The Privileged Jew[/b][br /]
[br /]


Being a doctor, he enjoyed certain privileges and liberties denied to other Jews. He was offered the position of chief of Neurology at the Rothschild Hospital, which he accepted. That post was an armor that shielded Victor, his parents, and siblings from the list of people being deported to the Nazi concentration camps.[br /]
[br /]


That was the period of collective depression and systematic extermination of Jews. Frankl had to deal with more than 10 suicidal attempts made by clinically depressed Jews. However, Frankl and his family were relatively safe, compared to most other Jews who were vulnerable to be reported to the camps, consequently to their final destination – death.[br /]
[br /]


Visas to other countries were not offered to Jews soon after Hitler’s invasion. Later on, a fixed quota was set aside for Jews willing to leave Vienna. After waiting for a considerable period of time, Frankl was called to pick up his visa from the American consulate. He was among the very few privileged men to have the opportunity to fly away in safety. The visa call was an eagerly awaited moment that placed him in dilemma instead of giving him joy. How could he leave his parents behind in Vienna, just to be deported to the camps with gas chambers. He was unable to choose between freedom in the form of immigration to America, and a dreadful fate for his parents.[br /]
[br /]


Hopelessly, he left his home for a walk, deciding whether he should turn over the situation to ‘God’. It was odd for a psychiatrist to turn to God for some sign that would help him to decide his course of action. On returning home, he found a little piece of marble on table. His father said on inquiry that it had a part of the Ten Commandments on it, and then his father Gabriel went on to read the commandment.[br /]
[br /]


"Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."[br /]
[br /]


God had given him a sign clear enough to prompt him to stay with his parents and share their fate.[br /]
[br /]


Unknowingly, Frankl had chosen a horrible experience that awaited him just a couple of years ahead of him, on the timeline.[br /]
[br /]

[b]1st Marriage[/b][br /]
[br /]


"I did not marry her because she was pretty nor did she marry me because I was so smart."[br /]
[br /]


These are Frankl’s words while he was referring to his first wife Tilly. He met Tilly Grosser for the first time in the hospital he was serving. Tilly originally wanted to take revenge for her friend whom Frankl had dated some time ago but then had discontinued the relationship. On one occasion, Frankl told Tilly what her motive was and that really impressed her. After a period of courtship, Frankl finally married Tilly in 1942. They were the last Jew couple, fortunate enough to be permitted to wed. Those days, Jews were not permitted to have children. Frankl married in such a tense atmosphere. But then he never knew what was in store in the future. The happy days were to last alas ! but for a short while only ![br /]
[br /]


[b]Deportation[/b][br /]
[br /]


Soon after Frankl’s marriage the situation in Austria grew worse. He was anticipating a summons declaring their deportation to the Nazi concentration camps. Till then, Frankl had developed his concepts of Logotherapy. His deportation could bring an end to Logotherapy’s existence. In despair, he was losing hope for the future and progress of psychology, unable to find any possible way out of the problem. After contemplating over that issue, he concluded that no matter what happens, Logotherapy must survive, should anything happen to him. His desperation for putting forth his work in the world was borne out of his intense desire and passion. He prepared the first draft of a book that dealt with the essentials of Logotherapy.[br /]
[br /]


As anticipated, Frankl and his family members including his parents, wife Tilly, and elder brother Walter were summoned to deport. The whole family except his sister Stella were deported to the Theresienstandt camp. Stella had flown to Australia on an immigration basis. Being sent to a concentration camp was almost an undefined sentence to death for a major part of the deported Jews. However, Frankl and his family were fortunate enough to be sent to Theresienstandt, which was comparatively safer than most other concentration camps that were ill-famous for their gas chambers. Those days were the beginning of horrible experiences, Frankl was to go through.[br /]
[br /]

[b]The Perishing Family[/b][br /]
[br /]


Any attempt to describe the emotions Frankl passed through while his father Gabriel lay dead literally in his arms, would be futile. Injecting a stream of morphine into his father’s vein was a heart rending experience for Frankl, as he helped his father to ease his last moments of life. Victor had actually smuggled some morphine into the camp, which he utilized for an act of desensitizing his father’s painful suffering. Gabriel suffered from pulmonary edema and had almost reached the far end of life due to the multiplier effect of starvation. Pain exceeded Gabriel’s tolerance, and the only thing Frankl could do was to ease his father’s pain by pushing down some morphine into his father’s body. Consequently, he died in his son’s arms. For Frankl, this was the first of the series of blows he was to encounter.[br /]
[br /]

One of the notoriously famous of all the concentration camps was at Auschwitz, well known for its death inflicting gas chambers. Tilly and Frankl were deported to Auschwitz – the hopeless of all camps. His mother cried in despair and gave them her blessings. It was actually Frankl and Tilly who were stepping into an uncertain future but fate turned out to be worse for the mother, who was relatively safer at Theresienstadt camp. Within one week of Frankl’s deportation, his mother Elsa too was deported to Auschwitz – only to reach the end of her life. Frankl’s mother was directly sent to the gas chamber upon her arrival at Auschwitz. This was another blow for him.[br /]
[br /]


Later on, he received a message from an inmate in the camp, informing him about the death of his elder brother Walter. Walter worked in a mine in one of the branch camp of Auschwitz, and perished in an accident. Tilly was one of the major factor that had kept Frankl’s will to live in the camp burning. They were separated from each other, although they were in the same camp in Auschwitz. Later on, the communication between them was broken, which could not be reconnected until Frankl’s liberation. What happened to Tilly ? Was she sent to one of the gas chambers or was she still surviving ?[br /]
[br /]

[b]Experiences in Concentration Camp[/b][br /]
[br /]


Tough times do not test your character, they simply reveal it. There was a time waiting for the young psychiatrist and neurologist, Dr. Frankl, that would reveal the inner strength of his character and would exemplify man’s ultimate power – the freedom to choose one’s attitude, in any given set of circumstances. Perhaps, the most significant time of his life was the period between 1942 and 1945, when everything that could go wrong with a man, went to the extreme point of suffering for him. This period of intense suffering strengthened Dr. Frankl’s faith in the concepts he had developed about logotherapy while going through the traumatic experience of surviving the Nazi concentration camps.[br /]
[br /]


To talk of a meaningful life, of attitudinal learning or about responding instead of reacting, are all easy matters in the wonderful atmosphere of a self-development workshop. It is altogether a different case when man has to live with his most basic instinct of survival when his very life is being threatened, and still, to think of meaning of one’s life, to choose one’s attitude. For most part of his student life, and later on during his practice Dr. Frankl had advocated man’s urge for a meaningful life, and as if to exhibit the worthiness of his theory, Victor Frankl was put through the ‘hell on earth’ for three consecutive years. To keep surviving, to have a piece of bread or to have a sip of soup were bigger issues than to consider morals or ethics for Dr. Frankl and his inmates in the concentration camps. Frankl’s survival through this hell justifies and classifies his own theory of man’s search for a meaningful life.[br /]
[br /]

[b]Life in Auschwitz[/b][br /]
[br /]

Comparatively the first phase of his life in concentration camps was less debilitating, than the later experiences at Auschwitz camp. The life at Theresienstadt camp was easy when the experiences he had at Auschwitz are taken into account. However, he lost his parents in those years.[br /]
[br /]


It all began with an order that declared Frankl’s transfer from Auschwitz. Somehow Tilly came to know that Victor was being deported to Auschwitz. She immediately volunteered to join the group that was leaving for the ill-famed camps at Auschwitz. In fact, Tilly had been exempted from deportation to that camp, yet she opted for her transfer to Auschwitz.[br /]
[br /]


A train, packed to its limits with people and their luggage, with more than a thousand Jews headed in the direction of ‘hell on earth’. After several days journey, the train shunted at a main station. The signboard read ‘Auschwitz’. People screamed out of terror in Victor Frankl’s compartment on their arrival at the most horrible of all concentration camps. A receiving squad of prisoners led them to a shed outside the rail station, which could accommodate only 200 people comfortably. They were all kept for four days in the shed, with only five-ounce pieces of bread for their food during the entire period.[br /]
[br /]


Then came the day of selection. People were being separated in two lines. Most men were lined up on the left side, few others were lined up on the right side, no one knew, which of these lines led straight to the gas chambers. When Frankl’s turn came, the selector pointed his shoulder toward the left. For a while, when the selector was busy with other people in the shed. Frankl looked at the left line and could not find any one he knew. He saw few of his colleagues standing in the right line that prompted him to join that line. Escaping the attention of a guard, he managed to get into the group lined up on the right side. And who knew that his simple act of smartly getting into the ‘right’ gave him further extension of 52 years of life.[br /]
[br /]


It turned out after the selection that his choice had extended his life line as the people lined up on the left side were directly sent to the gas chambers to perish. Unknowingly, he had survived. But one of his dearest possessions was snatched from him. On arriving at Auschwitz he was asked to discard his own coat, which had his manuscript stitched inside its lining. He was given a torn coat in place of his. The manuscript of his book was his most valuable possession. That was the beginning of horrible days. Here is a glimpse of the life Frankl had during his stay at Auschwitz.[br /]
[br /]


He and his inmates had to sleep on tiered bed constructed of wood and on each tier nine men had to sleep. Two blankets were shared by those nine men. They had to wear the same shirt for more than six months – "Until it had lost its appearance as shirt," said Frankl later in his book. At other times they could not wash the sores and abrasions on their hands, which appeared due to hard work in dirt and soil, for days altogether. And in spite of it all, they had to manage to appear young and healthy, for if they lose their utility value as workers, they would be send to gas chambers for perishing.[br /]
[br /]


All the captives had to put on a uniform of rags, as they stayed in huts as prisoners. What laid between the huts was filth. Newly arrived prisoners were allotted the work to clean sewage and latrines. Any attempt to wipe off the sewage that had splashed on the face of prisoner would be punished severely. It was a common reaction to turn over their eyes from seeing other prisoners punished. But those who had stayed long, had reached the stage of apathy.[br /]
[br /]


In those days, when he had to begin his work before dawn, in the frozen morning of northern Europe, the only incentive for Frankl was to think about his wife Tilly in the few moments of rest he got after dusk. The other desire to live that kept burning was his book that had been snatched from him on his arrival at Auschwitz. The book was published late in 1946 – The Doctor and the Soul.[br /]
[br /]


Frankl did not have a great physique, which could be a strong reason for his exemption from gas chambers, yet his understanding of human mind, its motives rescued him on several occasions. He would listen to the love stories of a ‘capo’ – a prisoner appointed to monitor other prisoners. The capos were usually selected keeping in view their harshness and they held special privileges, including the power to beat any prisoner. Frankl was able to earn tender view of a capo who was ill-famed for his rough nature by listening to his love stories. At one of the occasions, the ill-famed capo recited a love poem that he himself had composed. Frankl had to work hard by pressing his teeth on lips to control his laughter. Had he laughed, he would have been punished. Instead, he gave a generous applause that created a soft corner in the capo’s heart for Frankl – earning him little favors, later on. Concentration camps were the places where Darwin’s theory got approval, as it was real struggle for existence with ample evidence of ‘Survival of the Fittest’ evidently seen in camps.[br /]
[br /]

On one of the occasions, a group of 100 prisoners was chosen for transport and Frankl was the last among them. Just as the group was about to move, the capo pounced on one of the prisoners standing near by and began to beat him cruelly. Hitting a blow at the prisoner’s belly, the capo pushed him into the group, and almost at the same time he pulled Frankl out of the group. The capo made it appear as if that man had tried to slip out of the group. The group marched leaving Frankl behind. Death had turned back almost after knocking his doors. The capo was well aware of the ill fate of that group, who were subjected to death.[br /]
[br /]


Frankl was transported to the camp Kavtering III, from Auschwitz, from there he got a transfer to his last camp at Türkeim. There, he had to take care of Typhus patients along with another doctor. Unfortunately, he himself contracted Typhus, reaching once again close to death. However, his desire to publish his book, mentioned Frankl in one of his articles later on, helped him to survive the terrible attack of Typhus.[br /]
[br /]


Hell is the only word that expresses the life in concentration camps. At times it was sheer luck, and at other times, it was Frankl’s ability to deal with testing life situations, that helped him to survive the concentration camps.[br /]
[br /]

[b]Liberation[/b][br /]
[br /]

After a long period of tension in Türkeim camp, on a beautiful morning, Frankl and his inmates were taken by surprise to see a white flag being waved at the gate of the camp. Cautiously, he and few fellow prisoners stepped out of the gate, and were amazed at not being shouted at. Frankl was astonished when in place of a shout, the guard offered him a cigarette. Only then he noticed that the guards were no more in their uniforms, but wearing civilian dress. For the first time, Frankl looked at the surroundings of the camp from the eyes of a free man.[br /]
[br /]


American troops had taken over the camp. They were all free but their minds were not conditioned to experience their freedom. Frankl had made a journey through hell and emerged safe and sound, into the air of freedom in 1945.[br /]
[br /]

[b]The Dawn of New Life[/b][br /]
[br /]

The hour of darkness is just before the dawn. For Frankl, the darkest hour lasted for three years in the concentration camps. But then as an unspoken rule, dawn occurred in his life in the form of his liberation by the American troops. He returned to Vienna, anticipating a meeting with his wife Tilly, only to be told that she had perished in the concentration camp. The streets of Vienna reminded him of his memorable moments with his family that no longer existed. Anyone could have decided to leave the place to which such memories are linked, yet Frankl stayed as a Viennese throughout his life.[br /]
[br /]


He had lot of emotions stuffed in his heart, which he could let go off in the company of empathetic Dr. Otto Pötzl, who was earlier his teacher. Dr. Pötzl and other friends feared that Frankl might commit suicide in despair. Yet, the clouds of despair were never dark enough to cover Frank’s optimism.[br /]
[br /]


After a period of recovery of body and mind, the sun moved from dawn to zenith in Frankl’s life, as he began his contributions as a psychiatrist, as a surgeon of neurology and of course as a great propounder of Logotherapy through his books and lectures around the world.[br /]
[br /]

[b]2nd Marriage[/b][br /]
[br /]


"Did you see those eyes ?"[br /]
[br /]


Frankl uttered these words to one of his assistants when a nurse approached him asking a favor for a patient. That was in 1946, when Frankl had joined the Policlinic. Those beautiful eyes belonged to Eleonore. A year later, she became Frankl’s wife. She survived Frankl after his death in 1997.[br /]
[br /]

[b]The Mobile Stability[/b][br /]
[br /]


Frankl’s life got stability for the first time in 1946. But that also made him mobile as he began to lecture all around the world in 209 Universities, upon invitation. The latter years he retained the post of director of Policlinic in Vienna until he retired. Earning recognition and fame, most of his time was consumed lecturing on Logotherapy and writing books.[br /]
[br /]


[b]The Adventurous Spirit[/b][br /]
[br /]


Unusual as it may seem for a man of 67 to take the flying license, Frankl took his first flying lessons at, as late as, the age of 67.[br /]
[br /]


Mountaineering was his love, so much so, that even when it was banned for Jews to climb the Alps, he dared to be there on a climbing expedition. Any time he could steal some hours from his busy schedules, he climbed the mountains. Until his age of 80 years, he continued to climb, exhibiting his adventurous spirit.[br /]
[br /]

[b]Memorable Moments[/b][br /]
[br /]


Among the many global personalities Frankl met, he specially remembered his meeting with Pope Paul VI. He visited the Pope with his wife Eleonore, who he also called Elly. In a private meeting with the Pope, he told Pope that in spite of all that he had achieved, he himself was discontented as he had not been able to do the extent he owed God’s grace in the form of life after the experience of concentration camps.[br /]
[br /]


Frankl was invited to Austin, the capital of Texas where the Mayor of Austin made him the honorary citizen of the city.[br /]
[br /]

[b]Death[/b][br /]
[br /]


Having a well-deserved extension of life after going through concentration camps, Frankl, the originator of Logotherapy employed all his days to extend Logotherapy in every corner of the world. The star in the sky of Psychology, Victor Frankl passed away on September 02, 1997, at the age of 92 years.[br /]
[br /]


Though he no more lives in the body, his spirit still survives in every corner of the world in form of Logotherapy. Frankl’s life reminds us of the American Psychologist and Philosopher, William James.[br /]
[br /]


"The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it."[br /]
[br /]
[br /]