Viktor Emil Frankl, born 26th March 1905, was an Austrian psychiatrist who endured the horrors of the Holocaust. During his time moving from concentration camp to another, he managed to produce some of the most groundbreaking literature whilst also keeping himself and others alive to face the challenges forced upon them.

Frankl was the founder of the logotherapy school of psychiatry which focuses on a human’s search for meaning in life as the central human motivational force. It forms part of existential and humanistic psychology, and is considered the third most prominent school following that of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

Frankl published 39 books, with his most well-known work ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ being based on his experiences in various Nazi concentration camps. Before this however, he organised youth counselling centres to address the high numbers of teen suicides occurring during his lifetime.

Just nine months after marrying his wife in 1942, Frankl and his family were sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. His father died there of starvation and pneumonia. Frankl was later taken to Auschwitz where his mother and brother were killed in gas chambers. He lost his wife to typhus.

Frankl spent three years in four different concentration camps. Following the war, he became head of the neurology department of the Vienna Polyclinic Hospital. His logotherapy school developed several ways of realising meaning in life for people. It also provided the foundational principles for the emerging field of positive psychology.

The winner of several awards and decorations for his work and determination, Frankl’s work ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ became a best-selling book and has remained so to this day. Readers are treated to both encouraging and introspective philosophy, but also tremble at the harsh realities endured by prisoners in concentration camps.

#MaltaDaily