PERSPECTIVE ON SURVIVAL : Optimism, Tenacity Lead Way Back to Life : Jews who found strength and prevailed after the Holocaust share something with all who have overcome disaster.

Accounts of tragedy and catastrophe have been much in the news: hurricanes in Florida and Hawaii, the siege of Sarajevo, famine in Somalia and Sudan. The media focus tends to be on death and destruction and the terrible aftereffects on human beings. This is not surprising, but there are other, more hopeful, lessons to be learned from calamity.

I have spent the last six years traveling the United States, from New York to California, from Wisconsin to Mississippi, hearing from hundreds of people who lived through the greatest horror of the 20th Century, the Holocaust. I was curious as to how the lives of these Jews had turned out and whether they were able to recover from their terrible experiences.

The results, when compared with the stereotypical anecdotal accounts of survivors who succumb to depression, anxiety and hopelessness, were highly surprising. While many survivors did have these serious emotional problems, the great majority did not. They led relatively normal lives, holding down jobs, having and raising children and contributing to the communities in which they settled. Some, such as Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Burlingame); Abraham Resnick, former vice mayor of Miami; Maj. Gen. Sidney Shachnow and the director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, achieved considerable fame in their chosen fields. Others, not so well-known, became musicians, tailors, businessmen, teachers and farmers.

Naturally, all of the survivors are still affected, even haunted, by what happened to them. But they also constitute, on the whole, a community whose members display a zest for life and who have faith in the future.

How did they do it, I wondered? How, after experiencing betrayal and unspeakable cruelty in the Nazi death camps and elsewhere in Europe, were the survivors able to learn to live again, trust again, love again, and bring children into a world that had inflicted such pain on them? The answers contain lessons for everyone who goes through crisis and adversity, be it loss of a loved one, crippling illness, natural disaster or even a job reversal.

Most of the survivors who succeeded in rebuilding their lives possessed several traits:

First was flexibility, a willingness to adapt to new situations, much like what faces the survivors of Hurricanes Andrew and Iniki. In addition, there was a need to be assertive--a recognition that help given by others would be temporary and that ultimately they were on their own. Related to this was tenacity, an approach to life that refused to accept initial setbacks as the status quo.

One of the most crucial survivor characteristics was optimism. More than not thinking about the past, it reflected a certain mind-set. Alex Gross, a real estate developer who survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald, later lost his only son, at 14, in a farming accident. When he saw the mangled body, he resolved never to reveal the details of the death to his wife. Alas, that was not the end of Gross’s woes. Nine years later his wife was murdered. Despite this double tragedy, Alex Gross has remarried and is active in his community. He is a survivor.

Survivors who did well were intelligent. This trait, which includes “street smarts,” amounts to an ability to think quickly, analyze a situation and act. Another key feature was distancing ability, the capacity to view the Holocaust as a unique event requiring certain behavior that was appropriate then but not now. This was accompanied by group consciousness, the forging of a common bond with others who shared their tragedy.

Related to this was a more subtle trait, assimilation of the knowledge that they survived. This amounted to using the fact that one has prevailed over hardship as a source of strength. Of equal significance was finding meaning in one’s life. For some it was their work, for others religion, and for many it was the bonds of love within the family structure.

Finally, there was courage. Simply continuing with life was an act of bravery. Specifically, however, it took many forms--fighting back from debilitating illness, taking risks in business or standing up to bigotry.

Those who have lived through the riots in Los Angeles or the siege in Sarajevo, those who have lived through earthquakes, hurricanes and floods, can draw strength and sustenance from Hitler’s survivors. The reason is that the success story of the survivors is not one of remarkable people. Rather, it is one of just how remarkable people can be.