Some reflections from a psychoanalyst on the Shoá

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Abstract

Much has been said, written, recorded and investigated concerning the Shoa issue. There have been many advances on the investigation about the circumstances that were the foundations of the extermination, devastation
and annihilation of millions of human beings during the Second World War. It is also stillactive the research into the significations that the events of the catastrophe had in the past, have in the present, and may have in the future. In any case, even though the Shoa is the name of death, horror and evil, the author refuses to speak only in those terms. Maybe that is the reason
why the rescuers’ issue was selected, which is the story of some men and women who, in times when prejudices were elevated to truths and Justice vanished every single day, knew, as Emmanuel Levinas says «… how to behave in complete chaos as if the world had not disintegrated…». The author refers to those individuals that in fateful times tried to save, and in many cases succeeded in rescuing, who were fated to be murdered by the nazi machinery. Despite the horror of war, throughout the old Europe,
some human beings in different contexts put their own and their families’ lives in risk so that others, sometimes known but often completely unknown, could save themselves. Perhaps these stories may be considered a detail within the whole catastrophe, however, the behavior of most of these individuals question the other people. Regarding this issue, the Freudian essencialist perspective in Civilization and its discontents (Das Unbehagen in der Kultur) on human condition and the disasters that human beings are capable of causing to others seems to be interpellated. The author bases on psychoanalytical concepts to inquire into some aspects of the human being and its culture, which could bring near a better understanding of these events. This inquiry looks to transcend beyond the boundaries of the psychoanalytical science, to meet others and enrich itself. The author shows there are many questions that can be posed, however, just one remains to guide the investigation: Under certain circumstances, what takes an individual to risk his own life, and eventually his beloved ones’ lives, for other people? Taken as a starting point are the contributions of several authors of different sciences, who have conducted extensive and careful investigations and have studied the features of rescuers, as well as their actions, motivations and anguishes. Then, a few testimonies about the topic are exposed and a number of considerations are made.