During the duration of their stay at Auschwitz, prisoners were forced to learn a number of things in order to retain their sanity and their lives. They had to learn that in everything humor could be found. In doing so, would help them to persevere through the terrible experience infamously known as Auschwitz. .
Some of the other things that they were forced to learn were when shoes were involved. Because they knew that good shoes were hard to come by, they had to try to keep them for as long as they could. Also, they were forced to learn to sleep in small uncomfortable cramped spaces, usually with more than 8 people in a bed that were only made for three or four. I think the reason why so few people committed suicide is for the simple fact that they thought they were all going to die anyway. I also think that some prisoners were just thinking that it was a matter of time before they were allowed to leave and be with their families. So they might have thought it was necessary to endure this for the sake of their families. If I had been in Frankl's position I probably would have chosen that path to end it all. Reflecting on my times of extreme depression, I realized how few problems I possessed than those of Frankl. .
If someone were to ask me if I think suicide was a "good or bad" thing, I would tell him or her that it couldn't be looked at from that perspective. Suicide is not something that can be judged simply because it is something that most people cannot comprehend or even grasp as a plausible solution to any problem, and in not realizing the full extent of the mental anguish behind that major decision, they are left without a full understanding of it. The best tactic to employ in the fight to stay alive is just to conform, in every sense of the word. I think something the prisoners of Auschwitz tried to do was to remain faceless in the eyes of their oppressors. If the S.S. were able to pick them out of a crowd that would almost mean certain death when it came to them screwing up or not being able to perform the necessary tasks properly.
