This paper describes a follow-up study of twenty-five kibbutz couples who were survivors of the holocaust. There have been numerous observations that survivors who chose to live in kibbutzim show considerably less morbidity than those who chose more conventional social organizations. Klein provides clinical data and the theoretical basis for these observations. During the years immediately after their liberation, these people had all undergone profound depressive reactions, with six out of the fifty having made suicide attempts. None sought psychiatric help. Living in a kibbutz permitted a reinvestment in the community, particularly by giving substantial reality to ubiquitous rebirth fantasies and by providing mechanisms for transforming 'survival guilt' into a virtue. The reality of the need to defend themselves helped to avoid internalization of aggression. Klein stresses the sense of historic continuity that the survivors developed, and believes that the kibbutz offers more continuity with the past life and ideals than is generally realized.