Survivors of Nazi concentration camps still suffer the mental and physical wounds of their experiences 15 years after the liberation, a Norwegian psychiatrist who was himself one of those survivors, reported last night.
Dr. Leo Eitinger, who made the report to a joint session of the American Ortho-psychiatric Association and the World Federation for Mental Health meeting here, is a member of a team set up at the University of Oslo Hospital to study and help Norwegian camp victims who have since liberation developed illnesses that have made normal life increasingly difficult.
He reported that of the first 100 patients studied 96 were suffering from symptoms which could be traced to the long-term effect of life amid daily death in the camps, “the concentration camp syndrome.” Eighty-five suffered from chronic ills resulting directly from long and severe starvation, head injuries and severe infections.
They suffered generally from loss of ability to concentrate, increased irritability, greater fatigue and emotional instability. He found that 84 could do work only with the greatest efforts and with the last remains of their strength.
Among the worst of the continuing conditions were the associations called up by innocent objects. An avenue of trees brought visions of rows of gallows with corpses swinging in the breeze. A man stretching his arms recalled prisoners hanging in agony by their arms. More than half still experienced nightmares recalling their camp experiences, Dr. Eitinger reported.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
