|
''Muselmann'' (pl. ''Muselmänner'', from the German, of Persian origin, meaning Muslim) was a derogatory term used among captives of World War II Nazi concentration camps to refer to those suffering from a combination of starvation (known also as "hunger disease") and exhaustion and who were resigned to their impending death.〔Levi, Primo. ''If this is a man'', Everyman's Library (2000)〕 The Muselmann prisoners exhibited severe emaciation and physical weakness, an apathetic listlessness regarding their own fate, and unresponsiveness to their surroundings.〔(Muselmann definition ) Johannes Kepler University of Linz, official website. Insitut für Sozial und Wirtschaftsgeschichte. Retrieved November 30, 2010〕 The following quotation〔Levi, Primo. ''If This Is a Man / The Truce''. Abacus (1987), ISBN 0349100136, p.94.〕 appears as a footnote in ''If This Is a Man'', Primo Levi's autobiographical account of his time in Auschwitz, and it serves as the introduction to the word in that book. "Selection", in the context of the quotation, means selection for the gas chambers, i.e., death. In ''If This Is a Man'' Levi uses two variations of the spelling; ''Muselmann'' and ''Musselman'', as well as the plural, ''Muselmänner''. Some scholars argue that the term possibly comes from the Muselmann's inability to stand for any time due to the loss of leg muscle, thus spending much of the time in a prone position, recalling the position of the Mussulman (Muslim) during prayers.〔(Muselmann definition ) (PDF) Yad Vashem, official website. Shoah Resource Center, The International School for Holocaust Studies. Retrieved November 30, 2010〕 The term spread from Auschwitz-Birkenau to other concentration camps. Its equivalent in the Majdanek concentration camp was ''Gamel'' (derived from German ''gammeln'' - colloquial for "rotting") and in the Stutthof concentration camp, ''Krypel'' (derived from German ''Krüppel'', "cripple"). The psychologist and Auschwitz survivor Viktor Frankl, in his book ''Man's Search for Meaning'', provides the example of a prisoner who decides to use up his last cigarettes (used as currency in the concentration camps) in the evening because he is convinced he won't survive the ''Appell'' (roll call assembly) the next morning; his fellow captives derided him as a ''Muselmann''. Frankl compares this to the dehumanized behavior and attitudes of the kapos. The testimonial of the Polish witness, Adolf Gawalewicz, ''Refleksje z poczekalni do gazu: ze wspomnień muzułmana'' ("Reflections in the Gas Chamber's Waiting Room: From the Memoirs of a Muselmann"), published in 1968, incorporates the term in the title of the work.〔Adolf Gawalewicz, ''Refleksje z poczekalni do gazu: ze wspomnień muzułmana'', Cracow, Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1968. 165 pp.〕 == See also == * Action 14f13 * KZ Syndrome * Ka-tzetnik 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Muselmann」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|