Survivalism: The Art Of Self-Preservation

Survivalism: the Art of Self-Preservation

Self-preservation is defined as the protection of oneself from harm or death, especially regarded as a base instinct in human beings and animals. It drives us to do things we otherwise would not do, to accomplish things we didn’t know were possible. Self-preservation can often be found throughout history and literature, always in the most desperate of times. Nowhere is it more prominent than in the history and literature surrounding the Holocaust, during which over six million Jews, including 1.5 million children, were brutally murdered in what has become known as one of history’s most deadly and widely publicized genocides. For almost 80 years, historians and Jewish survivors have authored and published

However, another aspect of their isolation was due in large part to themselves; for many, the only path to survival lay in prioritizing, putting themselves before everyone else, causing the distances between each individual to grow as they struggled to cope with their situations. In Wiesel’s memoir, he vividly described his friend’s request to be remembered, promising to recite the Jewish memorial Kaddish for Akiba Drummer after his death. “ ‘In three days I shall no longer be here… Say the Kaddish for me.’ We promised him. In three days’ time, when we saw the smoke rising from the chimney, we would think of him. Ten of us would gather together and hold a special service. All of his friends would say the Kaddish…These were terrible days. We received more blows than food; we were crushed with work. And three days after he had gone, we forgot to say the Kaddish.” In this instance, Elie and his friends were forced to let go, owing their allegiances to themselves, the living, rather than the dead. Another example of abandonment presented itself when, during the train ride to Buchenwald, a man killed his own father, merely for the sake of some bread. “‘Meir. Meir, my boy! Don’t you recognize me? I’m your father… you’re hurting me… you’re killing your father! I’ve got some bread.. For you

His son searched him, took the bread, and began to devour it.” At the age of fifteen, Eliezer had witnessed men beat each other to death like animals, had seen a boy, forced to ruthlessly kill for his own survival. Finally, the author recounted his conversation with Rabbi Eliahou, as well as