In 1943, Primo Levi, a twenty-five-year-old chemist and "Italian citizen of Jewish race," was arrested by Italian fascists and deported from his native Turin to Auschwitz. Survival in Auschwitz is Levi's classic account of his ten months in the German death camp, a harrowing story of systematic cruelty and miraculous endurance. Remarkable for its simplicity, restraint, compassion, and even wit, Survival in Auschwitz remains a lasting testament to the indestructibility of the human spirit. Included in this new edition is an illuminating conversation between Philip Roth and Primo Levi never before published in book form.
Survival in Auschwitz is a mostly straightforward narrative, beginning with Primo Levi's deportation from Turin, Italy, to the concentration camp Auschwitz in Poland in 1943. Levi, then a 25-year-old chemist, spent 10 months in the camp. Even Levi's most graphic descriptions of the horrors he witnessed and endured there are marked by a restraint and wit that not only gives readers access to his experience, but confronts them with it in stark ethical and emotional terms: "[A]t dawn the barbed wire was full of children's washing hung out in the wind to dry. Nor did they forget the diapers, the toys, the cushions and the hundred other small things which mothers remember and which children always need. Would you not do the same? If you and your child were going to be killed tomorrow, would you not give him something to eat today?" --Michael Joseph Gross
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Best historical autobiography I have ever read:
For historians who represent the past, and for authors such as Mr. Levi, the greatest fear about history is society forgetting integral parts of its existence. I won't forget it. His story is significant so please read this book.
First, my words bow to the author with the deepest respect. "Survival in Auschwitz," an autobiography, discusses the life of the author, a young prisoner in a Nazi death camp. Mr. Levi transports the reader into an incredible time, and places the reader- into his head- his... more info
What humans become in a time of basic survival, unfortunately it was by design:
When humans are placed in environments similar to those of the concentration camps created by Germany in World War II, the currency becomes calories, clothing and shelter in that order. Survival is based on getting enough food, oftentimes by having others die or be denied. Every crumb becomes important; over time saving and consuming them is literally the difference between life and death.
Primo Levi was in his mid twenties, a chemist and an Italian Jew when the war broke out. At first, Italian Jews... more info
Auschwitz and its emotional consequences:
In the book Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi paints a detailed picture about living as a Jew in fascist Northern Italy and then being transferred to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. By 1943, the Nazis had moved south and set up holding camps around Italy to detain political prisoners and those of the Jewish nationality until they could be transported to established concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Dachau. This book depicts what happened to Levi after his arrest in 1943. Along with 650 others,... more info
survivor in auschwitz:
this is about the most vivid description of the camps. the only problem i had was the very poor editorial work with frequent misspellings and/or wrong words or spaces in words where they do not belong. this became distracting at times despite the intensity of the story.
