In Dr Chaya Ostrowers’ article, “Humor as a Defense Mechanism during the Holocaust,” published in April of 2015, issued in the Interpretation: A journal of Bible & Theology, she breaks down the humor developed and required to survive traumatic events, such as the Holocaust. Ostrower describes the five categories of humor, paired with the stories of real survivors and even jokes of their very own creation, which she gathered during interviews with 55 men and women, who were in there teens in 1933-1945 (184). With her doctorate in psychology, given to her at Bert College in Kfar Saba, Israel, Ostrower dives into the minds of the interviewees, trying to truly understand where humor can be found in such despair. This article stems from the book…show more content… Sexual humor in the camps and ghettos where described as extremely blunt and many interviewees described the jokes and songs as “vulgar, grossness, and macabre nature” (188). “Vulgar jokes existed because we knew there was no hope, that every moment, another day, another month was without hope. It was simple to encourage whenever there was a chance because the next day we could die, so why not? (Rina (Risha) Treibich)”…show more content… Gollows humor was like hope, it allowed people to focus on the unbearable truths of their lives… and bear it (191). Self-directed humor, like gallows humor, is powerful. It uses the self-confidence of a person to allow him or her to reveal their weaknesses (192). An example of such humor is: “The first time that I took things like this, not so conventionally, was when they cut our hair in Auschwitz. That was something terrible. We went into the shower and came out of it. It all went so fast, we did not understand what it meant, and so fast, we didn’t have a moment to thing. And after they cut my hair off… suddenly, I saw some girlfriends of mine, that I’d known for a very long time. You couldn’t recognize them, and then I started laughing. I don’t know, many cried. They cried for their long hair, and then I started laughing, and they asked: “What, are you out of your mind, what are you laughing about” I said: “I never had this before, a hairdo for free, never in my whole life.” Yes, that is what I said, “I never had a hairdo for free before,” and I still remember, they looked at me as if I was crazy” (Lily Rickman