He was born in the Austrian capital into a family of Jewish origin. His father was a parliamentary stenographer until he became Minister of Social Affairs. From a young age, as a university student and involved in socialist youth organizations, Frankl became interested in psychology.
He studied medicine at the University of Vienna and specialized in neurology and psychiatry. From 1933 to 1937, he worked at the Vienna General Hospital. From 1937 to 1940 he practiced psychiatry privately. From 1940 to 1942 he headed the neurology department of the Rothschild Hospital (the only hospital in Vienna where Jews were admitted).
Deportation: concentration camps
In September 1942, he, his wife, and parents were deported to Theresienstadt, a concentration camp near Prague. From 1942 to 1945 he was in four concentration camps, including Auschwitz, known as the extermination camp. What he experienced in those years is unimaginable. He managed to survive; Not so his wife, his parents, brother, sister-in-law, many colleagues and friends.
Man's Search for Meaning
After the liberation, he spent several weeks in Munich trying to find out who of his relatives had survived. Little by little he learned that no one had achieved it and he experienced deep pain, loneliness and emptiness. Upon his return to Vienna, he was assigned an apartment in the 9th district in which he lived for the rest of his life.
He was appointed head of the Department of Neurology at the Vienna Polyclinic, a position he held for 25 years. He was a professor of both neurology and psychiatry at the University of Vienna.
Teaching work
He directed the neurological polyclinic in Vienna until 1971. In 1949 he received a doctorate in philosophy. In 1955 he was appointed professor at the University of Vienna. Beginning in 1961, Frankl held five teaching positions at universities in the United States: at Harvard, Stanford, Dallas, Pittsburg, and San Diego. He continued to teach at the University of Vienna until he was 85 years old on a regular basis. He gave courses and conferences all over the world.
Awards
He won the Oskar Pfister Award from the American Psychiatric Association, as well as other distinctions from different European countries. She received 29 doctorates Honorary from different universities.
He published more than 20 books, translated into numerous languages.
Source: Wikipedia