Occupations that save in extreme situations

Abstract

Introduction: Extreme situations, such as wars, armed conflicts, urban violence and natural disasters, can produce a sense of dehumanization that makes people's involvement in their occupations unfeasible. However, memory, cultural roots and daily rituals can generate mechanisms for maintaining significant occupations in extreme situations, “saving” human beings from the sense of loss of their humanity, that is, the rupture of their participation in the everyday social fabric. Aim: To theoretically understand the survival in extreme situations in the context of the holocaust through occupational involvement. Method: Documentary research, with a qualitative approach, of the exploratory type, with approaches to the hermeneutic method, between October 2019 and March 2020. Seven books based on diaries of Jewish children and adolescents who experienced the Holocaust were used. Outcome: It was observed that occupations fulfill specific functions for survival in extreme situations, such as the one investigated in the context of the Holocaust. These occupations were related to body repair and care, routine maintenance and structuring, spirituality, leisure, sociability and community life, and feeling productive. Finding: Involvement in occupations participates in the elaboration of psychosocial traumas, through the maintenance of shared sociocultural meanings that preserve the sense of humanity in extreme situations.