Playing among the dead : how play fosters psychological survival / by Paulette Kouffman.

This dissertation explores the ways in which Holocaust Survivors constructed narratives of play and creativity to survive psychologically while interned in the concentration camps and ghettoes. It examines the way that survivors and their family continued to play among the dead, literally and metaphorically, in an ongoing construction of narrative. This dissertation will chart the ways in which creativity and play are verbal and non-verbal narratives. These narratives helped Holocaust survivors to maintain a cohesive self in the face of fragmentation. The hope is that by valuing the counter-plot of these survivors and acknowledging that they were agents as well as victims, we can create a healing climate, for them and for society. Other survivors of abuse can benefit from an understanding of the individual's capacity for survival.