Sorry, thought my thoughts showed the connections.

Part of PTSD is feeling out of control. Being able to come up with a solution or even as some people become activists, helps heal. Feeling hopeless adds to the illness. As does the secondary trauma of having to "never forget" ... as if anyone could, but the trauma has been transferred to downline relatives.... Not by choice but perhaps by ignorance: those who insisted we not forget were operating somewhat out of the disorder. It's one thing to never forget, another to relive by proxy so as not to forget. At 2 am this morning I watched the story of Corrie Ten Boom, and her sister--who died before release from Ravensbruck-- was always positive about God and hope. You need faith and perspective when experiencing PTSD.... and it's difficult to find.

And one of the reasons the mentally ill were killed was because the propaganda did not work on them! They could not be controlled with any effectiveness. They had no use to the Nazi's society of progressivism.

When I first moved here to be near mom, 10 years ago, I often saw tatoo'd arms while visiting her and at a local restaurant frequented by her neighbors. Of course, now I rarely see one, but then mom is gone too. I don't think I knew that only Auschwitz was the only place that tatoo'd.)

I wonder if there's any statistics about the scope of PTSD among survivors of the camps. Betsie Ten Boom obviously did not suffer from it, though she died months before her sister was released as she had dreamed. And, of course, the disorder didn't have such a name prior to the Vietnam conflict.