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

We're what's left 😄

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

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144

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.

17

u/Sensitive-Inside-250 Jan 20 '26

What research?

20

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

33

u/Sensitive-Inside-250 Jan 20 '26

So normal human behavior seen in any violent or stressful situation. That link doesn’t back up your claim that people needed to be selfish to survive the holocaust. Survivors remorse and shame isn’t proof of being selfish.

Here’s a study showing that friendship and community even in places like Auschwitz improved the odds of survival.

13

u/Klexington47 Reconstructionist Jan 21 '26

My safta was a survivor and she always said "if you can make just one friend anywhere you go, your time will be easier. Friends are important". Damn she was a smart woman