Viktor Frankl (1905–1997)
Author of Man's Search for Meaning
About the Author
Viktor E. Frankl was a man who persevered in living, writing, and helping people, despite suffering for years at the hands of the Nazis. He was born in Vienna on March 26, 1905, and received his doctorate of medicine in 1930. As a psychiatrist, he supervised a ward of suicidal female patients, and show more later became chief of the neurological department at Rothschild Hospital in Vienna. Frankl's successful career was halted temporarily in 1942 when he was deported to a Nazi concentration camp. In Auschwitz and other camps, he witnessed and experienced daily horrors until 1945. Although he survived, his parents and many other family members did not. Returning to Vienna in 1945, he resumed his work, becoming head physician of the neurological department at the Vienna Polyclinic Hospital. Frankl wrote more than 30 books, the most famous being Man's Search For Meaning. As a professor, he taught at many American universities, including Harvard and Stanford. He is credited with the development of logotherapy, a new style of psychotherapy. He died in Vienna in 1997. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Photo © ÖNB/Wien
(link)
Works by Viktor Frankl
On the Theory and Therapy of Mental Disorders: An Introduction to Logotherapy and Existential Analysis (1983) 43 copies
Chegará o dia em que serás livre 2 copies
Si può insegnare e imparare la psicoterapia?: scritti sulla logoterapia e analisi esistenziale (2009) 2 copies
A přesto říci životu ano 1 copy
Logos und Existenz 1 copy
NË KËRKIM TË KUPTIMIT 1 copy
Altes Ethos, neues Tabu : Colloquium Köln 1974 : [Vorträge u. Aussprachen d. Colloquiums Altes Ethos, Neues Tabu] (1974) 1 copy
Smisao sloboda i odgovornost 1 copy
Čovekova potraga za smislom 1 copy
Psychoterapia dla każdego 1 copy
THE WILL TO MEANING 1 copy
Sul senso della vita-).epub 1 copy
Sincronizacion en Birkenwald 1 copy
Uno psicologo nel lager 1 copy
Associated Works
The Moral Life: An Introductory Reader in Ethics and Literature (1999) — Contributor — 202 copies, 2 reviews
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Frankl, Viktor
- Legal name
- Frankl, Viktor Emil
- Other names
- 弗蘭克
FRANKL, Viktor Emil
FRANKL, Viktor E. - Birthdate
- 1905-03-26
- Date of death
- 1997-09-02
- Gender
- male
- Education
- University of Vienna (MD|1930|Ph.D|1948)
- Occupations
- neurologist
psychiatrist
writer
Holocaust survivor - Organizations
- University of Vienna
Visiting Professor, Harvard University
General Polyclinic Vienna
Rothschild Hospital - Awards and honors
- Great Gold Medal with Star for Services to the Republic of Austria (1995)
Honorary Citizen of the City of Vienna (1995)
Hans Prinzhorn Medal (1995)
Great Silver Medal with Star for Services to the Republic of Austria (1988)
Oskar Pfister Award (1985)
Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst (1981) (show all 11)
Ehrenring der Stadt Wien (1980)
Donauland Sachbuchpreis Danubius (1976)
Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class (1969)
Cardinal Innitzer Prize (1962)
Promotion Award for Public Education of the Ministry of Education (1956) - Relationships
- Vesely, Franz (son-in-law)
פרנקל, ויקטור אמיל
Jonas, Regina (colleague) - Short biography
- Victor E. Frankl was born in Vienna, Austria. He studied medicine at the University of Vienna and later specialized in neurology and psychiatry. His early work was influenced by his contacts with Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler, although he would later diverge from their teachings. After surviving three years in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, Dr. Frankl returned to Vienna and wrote more than 30 books. He married for the second time to Eleonore Katharina Schwindt (his first wife Tilly Grosser was killed in Bergen-Belsen) and the couple had a daughter. In 1948, he earned a Ph.D. in philosophy with a dissertation on the relationship between psychology and religion. In 1955, he was awarded a professorship of neurology and psychiatry at the University of Vienna, and a visiting professorship at Harvard University. He lectured and taught seminars in many countries around the world.
- Cause of death
- heart failure
- Nationality
- Austria
- Birthplace
- Vienna, Austria
- Places of residence
- Vienna, Austria
Theresienstadt concentration camp - Place of death
- Vienna, Austria
- Burial location
- Vienna Central Cemetery, Vienna, Austria
- Associated Place (for map)
- Vienna, Austria
Members
Reviews
Rating: 5* of five
The Publisher Says: Find hope even in these dark times with this rediscovered masterpiece, a companion to his international bestseller Man’s Search for Meaning.
Eleven months after he was liberated from the Nazi concentration camps, Viktor E. Frankl held a series of public lectures in Vienna. The psychiatrist, who would soon become world famous, explained his central thoughts on meaning, resilience, and the importance of embracing life even in the face of great show more adversity.
Published here for the very first time in English, Frankl’s words resonate as strongly today—as the world faces a coronavirus pandemic, social isolation, and great economic uncertainty—as they did in 1946. He offers an insightful exploration of the maxim “Live as if you were living for the second time,” and he unfolds his basic conviction that every crisis contains opportunity. Despite the unspeakable horrors of the camps, Frankl learned from the strength of his fellow inmates that it is always possible to “say yes to life”—a profound and timeless lesson for us all.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: I had a copy of Man’s Search for Meaning in my house all my life. I first read it in one or another of the 1970s, though I can't recall which one; it was at a time of abject misery in my youth. It is a book about healing, and about perspective as the path to healing, messages that resonated deeply with me and still do. One always has the right to choose one's response to troubles and imposed suffering.
The 1946 lecures in this present book are not quite precursors to his larger, later work. They are shorter stems, less fully grown and un-espaliered on his carefully developed walls of philosophy; they're certainly grown on the same rootstock, however. That's how this gem arose to my grateful eyes: "Our perspective on life's events—what we make of them—matters as much or more than what actually befalls us. 'Fate' is what happens to us beyond our control. But we each are responsible for how we relate to those events."
I read this book, which came out early in the pandemic, after seeing Will of The Brothers Gwynne encounter Frankl and his bracing philosophy of using one's trauma for positive growth this month. It was a nudge for me to dig this book out, having shelved it during COVID while watching literal dozens of the people who live in my facility die hacking for breath that was not ever coming back because...honestly because I had the privilege of living and the luxury of only the most minor of symptoms when I caught the disease. It felt too on the nose in 2020, and I just forgot I had it until I saw the young man speaking on YouTube, and then reading his review on Goodreads about how he felt changed by Man’s Search for Meaning after reading it.
I was prompted by young Gwynne's reaction to seek out a similar one. I found several things that were of great value to me in my dotage, and weren't exactly mirrored in the Frankl quotes in my commonplace book, eg: "To say yes to life is not only meaningful under all circumstances—because life itself is—but it is also possible under all circumstances." What a mind to come up with this statement after being in Auschwitz!
Viktor Frankl is more than an inspiration. He argued in the face of people who wanted to exterminate him, like Daleks or Borg want to exterminate because they can, all those they Othered and deprived of essential humanity, that everyone, even his oppressors and wannabe murderers, are worthy of dignity and able to find meaning and value in this bizarre thing we call life.
Viktor Frankl is as close as we will see to holy man. He lived for fifty years after his liberation from Auschwitz. His simple continued existence would be inspiring enough. He never stopped, in his long life,espousing his belief in "logotherapy", something that was controversially developed *before* Frankl went to the camps for being Jewish...and while working for a Nazi-affiliated Austrian organization.
Does this make his story a lie? Some very nasty people, who never met Frankl or even conducted primary archival research on their allegations against him, claim he greatly exaggerated his peril as a Jew. Some extremely religious Jews claim he was a monstrous collaborator with the Nazis.
Judging him by his works, I believe they are the exaggerators, and quite possibly the liars. I say this without having done any serious research into the facts they allege to have discovered, only using for them the standard I've used for Frankl: Their works speak loudly. And in my opinion, point to darkness and ugliness in their motivations.
I remain inspired and uplifted by the works and words of Viktor E. Frankel. Thank you, young Mr. Gwynne, for saying the right thing at the right time, thereby reminding me of a good role model for the best use of perspective. show less
The Publisher Says: Find hope even in these dark times with this rediscovered masterpiece, a companion to his international bestseller Man’s Search for Meaning.
Eleven months after he was liberated from the Nazi concentration camps, Viktor E. Frankl held a series of public lectures in Vienna. The psychiatrist, who would soon become world famous, explained his central thoughts on meaning, resilience, and the importance of embracing life even in the face of great show more adversity.
Published here for the very first time in English, Frankl’s words resonate as strongly today—as the world faces a coronavirus pandemic, social isolation, and great economic uncertainty—as they did in 1946. He offers an insightful exploration of the maxim “Live as if you were living for the second time,” and he unfolds his basic conviction that every crisis contains opportunity. Despite the unspeakable horrors of the camps, Frankl learned from the strength of his fellow inmates that it is always possible to “say yes to life”—a profound and timeless lesson for us all.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: I had a copy of Man’s Search for Meaning in my house all my life. I first read it in one or another of the 1970s, though I can't recall which one; it was at a time of abject misery in my youth. It is a book about healing, and about perspective as the path to healing, messages that resonated deeply with me and still do. One always has the right to choose one's response to troubles and imposed suffering.
The 1946 lecures in this present book are not quite precursors to his larger, later work. They are shorter stems, less fully grown and un-espaliered on his carefully developed walls of philosophy; they're certainly grown on the same rootstock, however. That's how this gem arose to my grateful eyes: "Our perspective on life's events—what we make of them—matters as much or more than what actually befalls us. 'Fate' is what happens to us beyond our control. But we each are responsible for how we relate to those events."
I read this book, which came out early in the pandemic, after seeing Will of The Brothers Gwynne encounter Frankl and his bracing philosophy of using one's trauma for positive growth this month. It was a nudge for me to dig this book out, having shelved it during COVID while watching literal dozens of the people who live in my facility die hacking for breath that was not ever coming back because...honestly because I had the privilege of living and the luxury of only the most minor of symptoms when I caught the disease. It felt too on the nose in 2020, and I just forgot I had it until I saw the young man speaking on YouTube, and then reading his review on Goodreads about how he felt changed by Man’s Search for Meaning after reading it.
I was prompted by young Gwynne's reaction to seek out a similar one. I found several things that were of great value to me in my dotage, and weren't exactly mirrored in the Frankl quotes in my commonplace book, eg: "To say yes to life is not only meaningful under all circumstances—because life itself is—but it is also possible under all circumstances." What a mind to come up with this statement after being in Auschwitz!
Viktor Frankl is more than an inspiration. He argued in the face of people who wanted to exterminate him, like Daleks or Borg want to exterminate because they can, all those they Othered and deprived of essential humanity, that everyone, even his oppressors and wannabe murderers, are worthy of dignity and able to find meaning and value in this bizarre thing we call life.
Viktor Frankl is as close as we will see to holy man. He lived for fifty years after his liberation from Auschwitz. His simple continued existence would be inspiring enough. He never stopped, in his long life,espousing his belief in "logotherapy", something that was controversially developed *before* Frankl went to the camps for being Jewish...and while working for a Nazi-affiliated Austrian organization.
Does this make his story a lie? Some very nasty people, who never met Frankl or even conducted primary archival research on their allegations against him, claim he greatly exaggerated his peril as a Jew. Some extremely religious Jews claim he was a monstrous collaborator with the Nazis.
Judging him by his works, I believe they are the exaggerators, and quite possibly the liars. I say this without having done any serious research into the facts they allege to have discovered, only using for them the standard I've used for Frankl: Their works speak loudly. And in my opinion, point to darkness and ugliness in their motivations.
I remain inspired and uplifted by the works and words of Viktor E. Frankel. Thank you, young Mr. Gwynne, for saying the right thing at the right time, thereby reminding me of a good role model for the best use of perspective. show less
In the first section of Man's Search for Meaning, Austrian-Jewish psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl (1905-1997) remembers his incarcerations at four WWII-era concentration camps, including Auschwitz. In Frankl’s estimation, his own survival under horrific conditions affirms the tenets of logotherapy, the psychological framework he developed before his internment. The goal of logotherapy is the individual's discovery of meaning in life. This meaning may change daily or even "hour by hour," but, show more as Frankl, quoting Nietzsche, likes to say, "He who has a Why to live for can bear almost any How” (why Frankl would quote with approval the Nazis’ favorite philosopher is an open question).
In the second section of this book, Frankl explains how therapists can apply the principles of logotherapy in their practices. This section is dated, especially in its descriptions of treatments for phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
This book has been hugely influential, but there is something about Frankl's dispassionate concentration camp memoir that doesn’t sit well with me. For example, after recapitulating a pep talk he delivered to his starving, freezing, demoralized fellow prisoners (he calls this interaction "collective psychotherapy"), Frankl writes, "But I have to confess here that only too rarely had I the inner strength to make contact with my companions in suffering and that I must have missed many opportunities to do so" (84). I am surprised by this admission and am not quite sure what to make of it. It seems that Frankl was, in fact, rather detached from the experiences of others, especially their suffering. I would think that under the principles of logotherapy, engagement rather than detachment would be the goal. Moreover, on the first page of the narrative, Frankl states that his purpose is to demonstrate “how everyday life in a concentration camp [was] reflected in the mind of the average prisoner” (3), but I think that the author forgot about his thesis sentence along the way. Frankl would never have considered himself an “average prisoner,” and how would he know what average prisoners thought if he didn't typically engage with them?
Frankl acknowledges only in passing the incredible luck that allowed him to survive while others perished. Instead, Frankl attributes his survival to his sensitivity to beauty and his belief (in vain, it turns out) that someday he will see his beloved wife again. Implied in this attribution is the idea that the millions who did not survive the camps (especially those who chose suicide over continued degradation) failed because they did not appreciate beauty or love someone deeply. This is utter nonsense. Frankl writes, “The best of us did not return” (6), but I am not convinced he really believes it.
This thought-provoking book is well worth reading and discussing. show less
In the second section of this book, Frankl explains how therapists can apply the principles of logotherapy in their practices. This section is dated, especially in its descriptions of treatments for phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
This book has been hugely influential, but there is something about Frankl's dispassionate concentration camp memoir that doesn’t sit well with me. For example, after recapitulating a pep talk he delivered to his starving, freezing, demoralized fellow prisoners (he calls this interaction "collective psychotherapy"), Frankl writes, "But I have to confess here that only too rarely had I the inner strength to make contact with my companions in suffering and that I must have missed many opportunities to do so" (84). I am surprised by this admission and am not quite sure what to make of it. It seems that Frankl was, in fact, rather detached from the experiences of others, especially their suffering. I would think that under the principles of logotherapy, engagement rather than detachment would be the goal. Moreover, on the first page of the narrative, Frankl states that his purpose is to demonstrate “how everyday life in a concentration camp [was] reflected in the mind of the average prisoner” (3), but I think that the author forgot about his thesis sentence along the way. Frankl would never have considered himself an “average prisoner,” and how would he know what average prisoners thought if he didn't typically engage with them?
Frankl acknowledges only in passing the incredible luck that allowed him to survive while others perished. Instead, Frankl attributes his survival to his sensitivity to beauty and his belief (in vain, it turns out) that someday he will see his beloved wife again. Implied in this attribution is the idea that the millions who did not survive the camps (especially those who chose suicide over continued degradation) failed because they did not appreciate beauty or love someone deeply. This is utter nonsense. Frankl writes, “The best of us did not return” (6), but I am not convinced he really believes it.
This thought-provoking book is well worth reading and discussing. show less
This edition is split into 3 sections. The first section, “Experiences In A Concentration Camp” comprises 83 of the most powerful pages I have ever read. Powerful, upsetting, beautiful, horrific, haunting. I read it in a single sitting.
If you have any interest or wish to be a better person, you should read it. At least once. Probably multiple times. I intend to.
The second and third sections, respectively entitled “Logotherapy In A Nutshell” and “The Case For Tragic Optimism”, show more were both hard work. I’m not usually one to finish a book just because I started it - I almost stopped during section 2, except for the goodwill engendered by the first section. show less
If you have any interest or wish to be a better person, you should read it. At least once. Probably multiple times. I intend to.
The second and third sections, respectively entitled “Logotherapy In A Nutshell” and “The Case For Tragic Optimism”, show more were both hard work. I’m not usually one to finish a book just because I started it - I almost stopped during section 2, except for the goodwill engendered by the first section. show less
Thank God I stuck with this book. It really didn't begin for me until Page 97.
I came so close to shutting the book and passing it along to someone else, but my stubbornness did me good this time around. It wasn't that the first half was bad—it was more that I wasn't needing to rehash yet another non-fiction account of a concentration camp (especially one that isn't incredibly well written). Before I started the book, I had a strong feeling this one would be a mind and life changer, so I show more trudged through it. All 96 pages of it.
By the time I had read the first couple paragraphs of Page 97, I was hooked. Not only does Dr. Frankl's logotherapy, of which I knew nothing about before picking up this book, resonate with me personally—it is exactly what my adult child needs at this exact moment of his life.
I have always had a resistance to regular psychotherapy—not because of it's well meaning intent, but because I felt a long term delving into the past and a focus on the wrongdoings of the parents creates a tendency toward victimhood. My natural inclination is more in the behavioral therapy and perspective shift arenas.
Once you read this book—and you MUST read this book—you'll understand why I gave it 5 stars despite the fact that the first half of it bored me to sleep each night. show less
I came so close to shutting the book and passing it along to someone else, but my stubbornness did me good this time around. It wasn't that the first half was bad—it was more that I wasn't needing to rehash yet another non-fiction account of a concentration camp (especially one that isn't incredibly well written). Before I started the book, I had a strong feeling this one would be a mind and life changer, so I show more trudged through it. All 96 pages of it.
By the time I had read the first couple paragraphs of Page 97, I was hooked. Not only does Dr. Frankl's logotherapy, of which I knew nothing about before picking up this book, resonate with me personally—it is exactly what my adult child needs at this exact moment of his life.
I have always had a resistance to regular psychotherapy—not because of it's well meaning intent, but because I felt a long term delving into the past and a focus on the wrongdoings of the parents creates a tendency toward victimhood. My natural inclination is more in the behavioral therapy and perspective shift arenas.
Once you read this book—and you MUST read this book—you'll understand why I gave it 5 stars despite the fact that the first half of it bored me to sleep each night. show less
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Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 109
- Also by
- 3
- Members
- 23,168
- Popularity
- #910
- Rating
- 4.2
- Reviews
- 416
- ISBNs
- 582
- Languages
- 36
- Favorited
- 33
