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Five years ago I was asked, for the first time, to examine the survivor of a concentration camp, for his compensation claim against the German Government. This, then, is a report about my meeting with this man, whom I will call Joseph.
In no way did my awareness of the historical reality of the persecution and its implication prepare me for the experience this encounter would prove to be. Its impact broke through the limitation of a psychiatric evaluation. The extent of Joseph's injury revealed itself with its own compelling pace in the seven consecutive interview sessions which were needed. The severity of his condition unfolded itself with merciless dynamics in our relationship, to the extent that the traumatic situation was recreated. Ultimately, it seemed to be he who asked the essential questions.
Joseph, then in his early thirties, was below medium height and a bit stout. He had a full, open, rather youthful-looking face with a somewhat absent-minded and saddened expression. His clothing was a little shabby and out of style. His drooping posture, the sloping shoulders and his slightly shuffling gait gave him an air of unobtrusiveness. Most of the time he sat clumsily on his chair, feet planted squarely on the floor. He talked in a low, monotonous voice. His hands made only a rare gesture. However, there were three distinct phases in the form of his reporting and in his way of relating to me which corresponded to three specific periods of his life history: childhood, persecution, and postliberation. During the first session Joseph reviewed his childhood. Born in 1929 in a small Polish town, as the youngest of eight, he grew up in a wholesome family which was highly esteemed in and beyond the Jewish community of his village. All his childhood memories revealed the security of his home and soundness of his early adjustment. During the first hour, Joseph seemed relatively accepting of me in my effort to help in his search for memories. He treated m