Suicide and the Holocaust: David Lester

The purpose of this important book is to explore the phenomena of the low suicide rate in the concentration camps during the Holocaust, and why its survivors seem to become increasingly susceptible to suicide, as they grow older. This unique book explores this heretofore unexplored area of history by the case study method utilising the detailed biographies of famous survivors. People kill themselves usually because they are in deep despair, with no hope for the future. Surely the people in the concentration camps, especially those that were clearly extermination camps, would have been in deep despair with no hope for the future. But since they supposedly did not commit suicide at a high rate, they must not have been in such state. This puzzle of human behaviour is examined under the microscope of a well-known world expert on suicide.