Viktor Frankl

Viktor Emil Frankl, M.D., Ph.D., (March 26, 1905 - September 2, 1997) was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist. Frankl was the founder of logotherapy and Existential Analysis, the "Third Viennese School" of psychotherapy. His book Man's Search for Meaning (first published in 1946) chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate and describes his psychotherapeutic method of finding a reason to live. He was one of the key figures in existential therapy. Viktor Frankl raised chickens as a child.

Life before 1945

Frankl was born in Vienna. Frankl's interest for psychology surfaced early in his life. For the final exam (Matura) in high school he wrote a paper on the psychology of philosophical thinking. After he graduated from high school in 1923, he studied medicine at the University of Vienna and later specialized in neurology and psychiatry. From 1933 to 1937 he headed the so-called "Selbstmörderpavillon" (suicide pavilion) of the General Hospital in Vienna and from 1937 to 1940 he privately practiced psychiatry. From 1940 to 1942 he headed the neurological department of the Rothschild hospital (at this point of time this hospital was the only one left in Vienna where Jews were admitted).

Related Topics:
Vienna - Psychology - Matura - High school - 1923 - University of Vienna - 1933 - 1937 - Psychiatry - 1940 - 1942

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In 1942 he married Tilly Grosser. In the same year he, his wife and his parents were deported to the concentration camp of Theresienstadt. In 1944 he was transported to Auschwitz and later to Kaufering and Türkheim, two concentration camps adjuncted to the KZ Dachau. He was liberated on April 27th 1945 by the US Army.

Related Topics:
Concentration camp - Theresienstadt - Auschwitz - Kaufering - Türkheim - Dachau - US Army

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Frankl survived the Holocaust, but his wife, father and mother were murdered in concentration camps (of his immediate relatives only his sister, who had emigrated to Australia, survived the Holocaust). It was due to his (and others') suffering in these camps that he came to the conclusion that even in the most absurd, painful and dehumanised situation life has meaning and therefore even suffering is meaningful served as a strong basis of Frankl's later creation of logotherapy.

Related Topics:
Holocaust - Logotherapy

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