ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the effect of the Nazi concentration camps, a negative experience, to see how it affects response to strain. It examines how persistent the effects of the Nazi concentration camp were in conditioning survivors in their response to strain. The chapter demonstrates that the traumatic strain of the concentration camp experience does have certain fairly persistent after effects, specifically with reference to survivors' orientation toward the future and their tolerance for additional environmental strain. It investigates two problems, namely, the effect of a major trauma involving severe strain on optimism and the effect of a former major trauma on the structure of response to current strain. The chapter examines the current level of optimism of concentration camp survivors and compares it with the level of optimism of people who had not been in a Nazi concentration camp. It discusses the response to these strain situations among concentration camp survivors and a control population of European immigrants.
