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Carers Up Close
Book chapter

Carers Up Close

Arthur B. Shostak
Stealth Altruism
2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315114460-19

Abstract

Forbidden Care Altruistic Impulse Stealth Altruism Distinctive Personality Characteristics British Mandate Palestine Czechoslovakian Jews Altruistic Parents Camp Mother Vilna Ghetto Rena Gelissen Sobibor Death Camp Eugene Heimler Cousin’s Wife Slave Labor Camp SS Guard Aware Resilience Bread Ration True Angels True Human Beings Gender Socialization Norms Effective Altruism Anonymous Survivor Yom HaShoah Auschwitz Birkenau Death Camp JPA
Most Carers did not regard themselves as moral heroes or heroines, but as ordinary folk who did what came naturally, what conscience bid them to do. To judge cautiously from 195 memoirs, most Carers were fortunate enough to have been raised in settings that help widen a child's repertoire of humanistic emotions, a child's capacity for kindness, intimacy, compassion, empathy, and so on. Given gender socialization norms of the times, proportionately more Carers could be found in the ranks of female than of male prisoners. Relationships required that Carers employ considerable social and problem-solving skills, a fascinating mix of "magic, messiness, serendipity, and insanity". A 1971 study of 186 Jewish survivors found they identified "camaraderie with fellow inmates" and "active initiative in making social contact" as the foremost explanations of their survival.

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