J 2023

Preexisting social ties among Auschwitz prisoners support Holocaust survival

BĚLÍN, Matěj, Tomáš JELÍNEK and Štěpán JURAJDA

Basic information

Original name

Preexisting social ties among Auschwitz prisoners support Holocaust survival

Authors

BĚLÍN, Matěj (203 Czech Republic), Tomáš JELÍNEK (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution) and Štěpán JURAJDA

Edition

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Washington, 2023, 0027-8424

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

50900 5.9 Other social sciences

Country of publisher

United States of America

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

Organization unit

Moravian Business College Olomouc

UT WoS

001051921000002

Keywords in English

Holocaust survival; Nazi concentration camp/ghetto; social networks

Tags

Změněno: 21/2/2024 07:59, Ing. Michaela Nováková

Abstract

V originále

Survivor testimonies link survival in deadly POW camps, Gulags, and Nazi concentration camps to the formation of close friendships with other prisoners. To provide evidence free of survival bias on the importance of social ties for surviving the Holocaust, we study individual histories of 30 thousand Jewish prisoners who entered the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp on transports from the Theresienstadt ghetto. We ask whether the availability of potential friends among fellow prisoners on a transport influenced the chances of surviving the Holocaust. Relying on multiple proxies of preexisting social networks and varying social-linkage composition of transports, we uncover a significant survival advantage to entering Auschwitz with a larger group of potential friends.