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Comprising well over half the entire book, preface and postscript included, Part One is an account of life in Nazi concentration camps. Frankl tells the story of the many undistinguished prisoners who passed through camps like his (he was at several). He does not tell the story of the Capos, prisoners who served as trustees and enjoyed special privileges, nor the story of the saintly few inmates who died rather than ruthlessly compete with others for survival. Frankl himself was a medical doctor and a psychiatrist, but he spent nearly all his camp time performing unskilled manual labor and only at the very end was called on to use his medical skills. Frankl formally divides the camp inmate’s experience into three phases: arrival and early days, entrenchment in camp routine, and release and liberation. Because the middle phase was the longest, Frankl devotes by far the most space to it. His narrative is a mix of anecdotes and psychological observations, with little clear (and occasionally very unclear) chronology beyond the three phases just noted, and few mentions of specific locales. There are no recurring characters besides Frankl himself—a sign, perhaps, of the thin and transient nature of human relationships in the camps.

Read a helpful historical context essay: “Nazi Concentration Camps and Extermination Camps.”

Psychologically, the first phase of an inmate’s experience was marked by shock. A crowded train delivered Frankl and other prisoners to a station where the sign “Auschwitz” informed them of their arrival at the place they knew by dreaded reputation. Capos began screaming orders at them. At first, the new camp inductees were in denial about the gravity of their situation. Soon they were sorted into two groups, and that night, 10 percent in one group learned that the 90 percent in the other group had been taken to the gas chambers. Those who remained were marched naked through disinfection chambers after being forced to take off their clothes and hand over any valuables. Those who did not undress quickly enough were beaten. A book manuscript Frankl carried with him was lost. Thus began an existence marked by filth and lack of sleep. Men wore the same ragged clothes day after day and spent nights huddled together on tiered wooden platforms, under shared blankets. Most prisoners considered suicide at least briefly; the electrified fence around the camp provided easy opportunity. Frankl decided against suicide, reasoning that he likely did not have long to live anyway.

Read an explanation of a quote (#1) about the importance of meaning in one’s life is a source of strength.

Within a few days or weeks of arriving at the camp, a prisoner underwent a psychological shift, from shock to apathy—“a kind of emotional death.” In this second phase of the camp experience, a man no longer averted his eyes when others were beaten. The sight of a corpse was not even a reason to pause during a meal. When someone died, others quickly converged on his body to take the dead man’s shoes and any food he might have had on him. Once in a while, human feeling of one sort or another would flicker up. On at least one occasion, Frankl talked back to a guard who was being especially abusive. On other occasions, a kindly Capo did Frankl a favor, such as seeing to it that he got an especially generous ladle of soup in the serving line. But for the most part, the inmates simply endured, herded about like sheep, day after day.

Read about Main Idea #2: One is always free to choose how to respond to one’s circumstances.

Chronically undernourished, inmates would obsess about food, trading favorite recipes with one another or planning future parties. The only other topics that interested them were the progress of the war (about which there were constant rumors) and religion, which was a source of strength for many and seemed to enable prisoners of weak constitution to cope with hardship better than some of the healthier ones. Frankl himself was once deeply moved by a mystical vision of his wife, appearing to him almost like a divine being. Two other things were sources of occasional pleasure: natural beauty, such as a spectacular sunset, and humor. Frankl liked to tell another inmate funny stories about things that would happen after their release. From Frankl’s examples of inmates taking interest in food, politics, religion, natural beauty and humor, it appears that the apathy characteristic of phase two applies to apathy specifically about death and suffering, not a complete loss of interest in all aspects of life.

Read an explanation of a quote (#2) about Frankl’s quasi-mystical vision of his wife.

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