From Man's Search for Meaning :

"And there were always choices to make. Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you would become the plaything of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of the typical inmate...

Even though conditions such as lack of sleep, insufficient food and various mental stresses may suggest that the inmates were bound to react in certain ways, in the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone. Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him - mentally and spritually."

As bad as things got, Frankl recognized that the inmates still had the freedom to choose how they would react to their situation. This speaks to the same idea that many motivational speakers highlight today - that it isn't life events that determine the quality of our lives but rather how we react to those events. Our lives are defined by the lens that we view them with, and that is something that is always within our control.
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