r/Judaism • u/justjust000 • Jan 20 '26

We're what's left šŸ˜„

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Link to original Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQJ3AkViofr

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u/Remarkable-Pea4889 Jan 20 '26

I wouldn't wear a shirt like this, but it's actually somewhat true. Research has shown that to survive the Holocaust people needed to be selfish rather than selfless.

16

u/Sensitive-Inside-250 Jan 20 '26

What research?

22

u/Remarkable-Pea4889 Jan 20 '26

For example, Survivorship and Shame: Tracing the Affective Afterlife of the Holocaust.

For some, this shame stems from the unshakeable understanding that they survived when many others did not, while for others this shame is caused by the their actions during the war which they now understand as wrong or corrupt, such as carrying out acts of perpetration towards other prisoners, using sex and prostitution as a survival tool, and acting in selfish and inhumane ways.

https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/constellations/index.php/constellations/article/view/22032/16400

21

u/idkmyusernameagain Jan 20 '26 edited Jan 20 '26

Thatā€™s not the conclusion that can be drawn from what you shared.

It starts with ā€œfor someā€ letting you know this isnā€™t going to be applicable to all or even most.

Then, it classifies shame as being derived from different sources from simply surviving when others didnā€™t (doesnā€™t sound selfish to me), sex and prostitution or selfish acts.

The closest conclusion from this is ā€œsome people survived through selfish acts, others through using sex as a survival tool, means of survival for all others was not addressed by this paperā€

1

u/crazysometimedreamer Reform Jan 23 '26

Yes, they are totally missing the point of this. Itā€™s a very common phenomenon that people who survive something that kills a lot of people feel deep shame and guilt over surviving, and come to see the people who survived as more innocent and perfect than themselves. I can tell you about all the kind hearted people Iā€™ve known who died of cancer, and Iā€™d probably say theyā€™re nicer than I am. (I had cancer and didnā€™t die.) I know, objectively, they werenā€™t. They were real people with real problems and real faults, but I can tell you fantastic stories about every one of them.

But my mind has romanticized them. I know all my ugly faults, but I donā€™t know all of theirā€™s. And I guess Iā€™ve internalized the ā€œonly the good die young.ā€

Iā€™m also certain that there were selfish people and people who traded sex who didnā€™t survive the holocaust. They just didnā€™t live to tell about it.