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Survival in Auschwitz (Colecção Mil Folhas #15)

by Primo Levi, Stuart J. Woolf (Translator), Philip Roth (Afterword)

4.25 of 5 stars 4.25 · rating details · 13,902 ratings · 486 reviews

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, com...more

Paperback, 187 pages

Published September 1st 1995 by Touchstone (first published 1947)

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May 29, 2012 K.D. Oliveros rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to K.D. by: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006-2010)

Shelves: memoirs, holocaust, non-fiction, saddest

This book is said to be one of the most important books ever written about Holocaust. What I am referring here are not the history books but the first-hand experiences written and narrated by the people who were there when the Holocaust happened. Since I read a handful of these, I can't disagree. I even think that, in some aspects, this could be the MOST important of them all.

You see, Anne Frank wrote her diary

at 13 while hiding in her house with her family so she was not able to include her...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Marco Tamborrino rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

È uomo chi uccide, è uomo chi fa o subisce ingiustizia; non è uomo chi, perso ogni ritegno, divide il letto con un cadavere. Chi ha atteso che il suo vicino finisse di morire per togliergli un quarto di pane, è, pur senza sua colpa, più lontano dal modello dell'uomo pensante, che il più rozzo pigmeo e il sadico più atroce.

Molti hanno scritto su questo libro, molto è stato scritto in generale sul genocidio degli ebrei. Non è mia intenzione scrivere un sermone a difesa degli ebrei, perché lo sappi...more

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Apr 10, 2012 Alessia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Io non lo so come si commenta un libro così. Non lo so se ci si può permettere di parlare, di articolare parola e pensiero senza che la vergogna per ciò che è stato non tagli la voce e il filo dei pensieri. Io non lo so come si restituisce la dignità a certe anime offese, né tantomeno so come si può comprendere tutto questo. Penso che comprendere non sia umano. Però mi commuove l’immagine di un signore distinto, con una bella barba bianca, che se ne sta seduto a un tavolino, con l’orrore negli o...more Io non lo so come si commenta un libro così. Non lo so se ci si può permettere di parlare, di articolare parola e pensiero senza che la vergogna per ciò che è stato non tagli la voce e il filo dei pensieri. Io non lo so come si restituisce la dignità a certe anime offese, né tantomeno so come si può comprendere tutto questo. Penso che comprendere non sia umano. Però mi commuove l’immagine di un signore distinto, con una bella barba bianca, che se ne sta seduto a un tavolino, con l’orrore negli occhi e nei pensieri, a scrivere di quello che è stato, senza altro scopo se non quello di liberarsi di certe immagini, di certi ricordi, di certi odori. Mi commuove perché dentro a quest’immagine io ci vedo il senso di tutto ciò che è stato, io ci vedo tutta la distruzione di un uomo, e il bisogno impellente, necessario, assoluto di raccontare. E di essere ascoltato.
Confesso che mi accingevo a leggere questo memoriale con un certo timore. Non sapevo bene che effetto mi avrebbe fatto, e non ero certa di essere abbastanza forte per sopportare quella valanga di dolore. Ogni tanto gli buttavo un occhio, e lui se ne stava lì, nella mia libreria, e mi guardava, e mi diceva di stare tranquilla, ché prima o poi mi sarei sentita pronta per affrontare quel viaggio. E che glielo dovevo. Così un giorno l’ho preso e l’ho aperto. C’è una poesia a introdurlo, una poesia dura, vera, che secondo me ha la funzione di permettere alla mente di abituarsi a un certo ambiente, come un panno su una lampada che affievolisce la luce per introdurti al buio. L’ho letto tutto d’un fiato. Con gli occhi sbarrati, mentre continuavo a ripetermi non è vero, non è possibile, non può essere che sia successo davvero. E mi sono vergognata, per la prima volta nella mia vita, di appartenere al genere umano. Ma ciò che davvero mi ha colpita, ciò che ha fatto sì che le parole mi entrassero dentro e divenissero immagini, suoni, odori, è stata la voce di Primo Levi, quel suo modo preciso ed essenziale di raccontare. E mentre leggevo, me lo immaginavo di nuovo, seduto a quel tavolino, che raccontava. Raccontava senza giudicare, senza gridare, senza piangere. Con voce pacata, quasi esterna a quanto accaduto, lui era lì per informare. E lasciava a noi l’onere di giudicare. Lui era lì e con quel suo scrivere pacifico, calmo, buono mi diceva guarda, guarda cos’è successo, ascoltami, per favore, ti prego ascoltami raccontare, ascolta di come mi hanno distrutto la vita, di come un giorno ho cessato d’essere me, ascolta di come un uomo va a morire, della dignità che accompagna certe anime, della disperazione che abita in certi sguardi. Ascolta, ti prego, di quanta pena faccia la preghiera di un vecchio che ringrazia di esser scampato alla morte, quando nella cuccetta di fianco c’è un giovane che sa che domani andrà a morire, e deve arrendersi. Di quanto sia profonda e infinita la ferita che noi sopravvissuti ci portiamo dentro, quella patina di bruttezza e di orrore che ci vela gli occhi e ci impedisce di vedere la vita, la nostra vita finalmente libera, come qualcosa di bello, di gioioso, di confortevole. Ascolta di come qualcuno è riuscito a toglierci tutto e a distruggerci. Guarda, guarda l’odio che può fare. Ti prego, tu non odiare mai. Sta’ attenta ai tuoi sentimenti, ai tuoi giudizi, impara a rispettare la vita, qualunque forma e colore abbia. Impara che l’essere umano è anche questo, che può riaccadere, che tu potresti essere sia carnefice sia vittima. Ascolta, per piacere, non te ne andare, perché io mi spengo se te ne vai, perché io ho assolutamente bisogno che tu ti sieda e mi ascolti. E mi creda.
Questo mi ha detto Primo Levi in quelle poche pagine che sono memorie da un altro mondo. Con voce di padre, mi ha velatamente intimato di fermarmi a riflettere. E io, con grande, grandissimo rispetto, ogni volta mi sono seduta e l’ho ascoltato. Perché in cuor mio sentivo di doverglielo. Sentivo che dovevo star lì seduta a piangere e a vergognarmi, sentivo che avevo un dovere verso la Storia, e verso il triste destino di certe vite. Mi sono sentita inadeguata, perché mentre leggevo avevo in dosso un caldo maglione, e sulle gambe una coperta di lana, e i riscaldamenti accesi, e un tetto, una casa. Avevo del cibo, ed ero circondata dal tepore magico che sprigiona una casa, quel senso di pace e sicurezza che provocano certe mura e certe anime che ci ruotano attorno. E piangevo perché lui non le aveva. Perché lui viveva con gente estranea, ostile, e aveva nemici ovunque, senza un attimo per abbandonarsi e riposarsi, e stava al freddo, ché dire freddo è un eufemismo, e aveva fame di una fame che non può essere espressa con nessuna parola del vocabolario italiano, perché è fame di cibo, di vita, di futuro, di dignità. È fame di libertà. E tuttavia anche in questo c’è stato spazio per un piccolo, misero, breve attimo di bellezza. Anche in questo. Il canto di Ulisse. Il canto di ogni uomo in travaglio. La forza della parola, una scossa dell’animo. La commozione. E la speranza, che non muore mai, anche se la calpestano, anche se la prendono a calci, anche se la bruciano nei forni. Speranza di vita che mai si spegne, perché è il materiale con cui è intessuto l’animo di ogni uomo.
No, Primo, questo non è un uomo. L’ho capito. Il tuo messaggio l’ho afferrato e lo tengo stretto fra le mani. Sta’ tranquillo, Primo. Adesso conosco quel vostro tormento, e riesco a immaginare certi odori, certi volti, certi ricordi. Quei ricordi che un giorno non hai sopportato più, e hai deciso che tagliarli forse t’avrebbe donato un po’ di pace. Adesso ce l’hai, la pace? Lì dove sei esiste giustizia? Riposa, Primo. La tua voce continuerà sempre a parlare per te. Calma, buona, eterna.
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Jun 04, 2007 Sam rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Every person alive.

I will try not to overstate my feelings on this book.

I believe this is one of (if not THE) most important book ever written. Everyone should read this book. It details Levi's journey from his home in Turin to Buchenwald. It is absolutely beautifully written. Levi's style of writing is unlike any other I've read. It is detailed, incredibly intelligent, moving, poignant, and in some way almost detached from his experience, which makes reading about it all the more moving and painful. To hear him...more

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May 14, 2013 Goldmund rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, favorites

Khi người ta hai mươi bốn tuổi, hãy còn “ít hiểu biết, không kinh nghiệm và dứt khoát muốn sống trong một thế giới siêu thực của mình”, mà bị bắt rồi đưa vào trại tập trung Auschwitz - nơi sau này sẽ được ghi nhận như một trong những nơi chốn khủng khiếp nhất trong lịch sử loài người - người ta sẽ khó lòng gọi đó là một chuyện may mắn. Có lẽ chỉ khi là một trong số rất ít ỏi người sống sót sau Auschwitz (theo nhiều số liệu thì chỉ khoảng 2% tù nhân Auschwitz là còn sống khi trại được giải phóng)...more Khi người ta hai mươi bốn tuổi, hãy còn “ít hiểu biết, không kinh nghiệm và dứt khoát muốn sống trong một thế giới siêu thực của mình”, mà bị bắt rồi đưa vào trại tập trung Auschwitz - nơi sau này sẽ được ghi nhận như một trong những nơi chốn khủng khiếp nhất trong lịch sử loài người - người ta sẽ khó lòng gọi đó là một chuyện may mắn. Có lẽ chỉ khi là một trong số rất ít ỏi người sống sót sau Auschwitz (theo nhiều số liệu thì chỉ khoảng 2% tù nhân Auschwitz là còn sống khi trại được giải phóng) và bắt đầu ghi lại những hồi ức kinh khủng về khoảng thời gian đen tối đó trên những tấm vé tàu ở Turin thì Primo Levi mới, như sau này ông viết trong lời mở đầu cuốn Có được là người, coi việc bị bắt vào Auschwitz tương đối muộn là một điều may mắn: Vào thời điểm ông bị đưa vào Auschwitz, đầu năm 1944, do cần nhân công lao động chính phủ Đức đã quyết định kéo thời gian sống của tù nhân trước khi giết, thay vì đưa thẳng vào trại hơi ngạt.

Được viết năm 1947, Có được là người thuật lại câu chuyện thực của chính tác giả từ lúc bị bắt tại Ý đến khi được/bị đưa vào trại tập trung Auschwitz và chuyện ông đã sống sót trong chốn địa ngục đó như thế nào. Cần nói thêm rằng, vào thời điểm tác giả và những người Do Thái khác bị tống lên đoàn tàu chở người nổi tiếng của Đức quốc xã, Auschwitz đối với họ là một cái tên chưa có ý nghĩa gì mấy - thậm chí họ còn cảm thấy “nhẹ cả người” vì ít nhất cái đích đến đó “cũng là một nơi nào đó trên trái đất này”. Họ sẽ nhanh chóng nhận ra cái “nơi nào đó” kia là nơi mà họ bị tước đoạt tất cả: vợ con, bố mẹ già, tư trang, nhân phẩm, thậm chí cả tên - mỗi người tù chỉ còn biết đến như một dãy số xăm vào cánh tay trái; là nơi mà họ sẽ phải sống - nếu như chưa chết hoặc chưa bị giết - dưới những điều kiện phi nhân nhất; là nơi mà rồi họ sẽ chia sẻ những giấc mơ giống nhau đến kỳ lạ: giấc mơ được ăn, mà mỗi khi thức ăn chạm miệng là vụt tan biến thành nghìn mẩu vụn. Ở chốn này, một ngày được coi là tốt lành khi ngày đó họ có vài giờ để “cảm thấy bất hạnh theo cái kiểu của những con người tự do” - tức khi những người tù xoay xở được thêm chút xúp loãng đủ tạm no nê mà có sức nghĩ về gia đình, vốn là việc những khi khác họ không làm nổi.

Cho đến bây giờ, đã có hàng nghìn cuốn sách viết về những trại diệt chủng trong thế chiến thứ hai. Còn vào thời điểm Primo Levi quyết định kể lại câu chuyện của mình, chúng cũng đã quá nổi tiếng. Levi khẳng định trong lời mở đầu rằng cuốn sách không nhằm đưa ra “những lời buộc tội mới” mà chỉ cung cấp thêm tư liệu cho những nghiên cứu về “tâm trạng con người”. Cuốn sách đặt ra nhiều câu hỏi nhức nhối: khi nào một con người là người? con người khác gì với con vật? liệu một con người có thể lấy đi nhân phẩm của một con người khác? người có thể làm gì đối với người? thiện, ác, đúng, sai liệu có ý nghĩa gì trong một nơi chốn khủng khiếp như Auschwitz? Trong quá trình học cách tồn tại, và nhờ cả may mắn để tồn tại đến những ngày cuối cùng giữa chốn phi nhân đó, Levi luôn tìm cách nhận ra những dấu hiệu con người: một cái ôm với người đồng hương trẻ tuổi Schlome, thái độ không từ bỏ, không chịu chấp nhận của Steinlauf, tình bạn với Alberto, Thần khúc của thi hào Ý Dante và nhất là sự tốt bụng của Lorenzo - người không ngại hiểm nguy tặng thường xuyên tặng xúp và bánh mì cho Levi.

Cho dù sau Auschwitz người ta có thể phục hồi về mặt thể chất, tinh thần là một cái gì đó khó hồi phục hơn nhiều. Không phải ai cũng có thể chịu đựng được những hồi ức về quãng lịch sử đen tối đó. Bản thân con người tốt bụng Lorenzo kia đã không vượt qua nổi chứng rối loạn về tâm lý và cuối cùng chết vì thiếu sự chăm sóc bản thân vào năm 1952. Còn Levi, dù chọn cách đương đầu với quá khứ bằng cách viết sách và đi nói chuyện về Auschwitz, thì chết vào nhà riêng vào năm 1987, và cái chết nhiều bí ẩn của ông được nhiều nguồn tư liệu coi là tự sát. Dẫu sao, thì như Elie Wiesel, một tù nhân Auschwitz khác, đã nói, thực ra Primo Levi đã chết từ bốn mươi năm trước trong Auschwitz.

Với một câu chuyện u ám như thế, lẽ ra Có được là người phải là cuốn sách nặng nề và khó đọc. Nhưng thật lạ kỳ, đây lại là một page turner - một cuốn sách bắt người ta phải lật không ngừng. Sức hấp dẫn của cuốn sách không nằm ở câu chuyện mà nằm ở cách tác giả kể chuyện - đó gần như là một giọng kể phi cảm xúc, che giấu sự kinh tởm trước những gì được mô tả - và cách mà cuốn sách gợi ra những suy nghĩ, những truy vấn mênh mang trong người đọc.

(Bài đã đăng Tuổi trẻ cuối tuần)(less)

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Feb 02, 2013 Sandra rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

26 gennaio 1945 "Noi giacevamo in un mondo di morti e di larve. L'ultima traccia di civiltà era sparita intorno a noi e dentro di noi. L'opera di bestializzazione, intrapresa dai tedeschi trionfanti, era stata portata a compimento da tedeschi disfatti."

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Sep 21, 2011 Kelsey rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, world-war-2

First off, I must point out that I think it is very difficult to rate someone's personal and emotional account of an event in their life, and even more so when it was a tragedy like the holocaust. That being said, I of course rated the novel five stars, because it is not only a completely true account but it was also written brilliantly. I had the chance before I read this book to read "Man's Search for Meaning", which is another book about the experiences of a survivor of a concentration camp,...more

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Mar 10, 2012 Ryan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz is a memoir about Levi's:

good fortune to be deported to Auschwitz only in 1944, that is, after the German Government had decided, owing to the growing scarcity of labour, to lengthen the average lifespan of the prisoners destined for elimination; it conceded noticeable improvements in the camp routine and temporarily suspended killings at the whim of individuals.

Levi refuses to offer his readers a sugarcoating of what life in a concentration camp was like.

Con...more Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz is a memoir about Levi's:

good fortune to be deported to Auschwitz only in 1944, that is, after the German Government had decided, owing to the growing scarcity of labour, to lengthen the average lifespan of the prisoners destined for elimination; it conceded noticeable improvements in the camp routine and temporarily suspended killings at the whim of individuals.

Levi refuses to offer his readers a sugarcoating of what life in a concentration camp was like.

Consequently, there is little action or pacing in this book. Some readers are annoyed that Levi, who is quite clearly a talented writer, doesn't seem to have a stronger command of plot. The book can be quite monotonous in the way that it shares the day-to-day details of life in a concentration camp. Time for the prisoners stretches out and eventually loses meaning, and the action of the work at times follows suit. This is a book about the mundane details of genocide. How unfortunate for readers that it is not a little more thrilling.

At times, however, these mundane details are fascinating, and I was surprised to read about how much the prisoners could tell about each other by the numbers tattooed on their arms. The posters in bathrooms that encouraged the prisoners to bathe and warned against a lack of hygiene also surprised me. At one point, Levi writes that "no one can boast of understanding the Germans."

Regardless, Survival in Auschwitz is not a Hollywood or Randian narrative about the triumph of the human spirit. It might sound ridiculous to expect such a narrative from a memoir about one prisoner's experiences in Auschwitz. Yet this expectation is suggested by the title "Survival in Auschwitz." The original title of this book was If This Is A Man, which in my opinion more accurately introduces a work in which Levi regularly refers to himself and the other prisoners as "broken" men. The title was changed to the more upbeat Survival in Auschwitz for American readers. I can't help but wonder what motivated this decision.

When Levi first arrives in Auschwitz, many of the older prisoners try to help Levi realize what Auschwitz is. They say things like "it’s not a Serchio bathing-party" and they repeatedly point out that "the only way out is through the chimney." When Levi tries to get water from an icicle, a guard knocks it from his hand. When Levi asks why, the guard replies "there is no why here." At another point, an older prisoner points to the number tattooed on Levi's arm, 174517, and asks where all of the other prisoners are. Levi speculates that they might have been transferred to other camps, which the older prisoner scoffs at. Before long, Levi witnesses the "selections" and begins to see the camp for what it is. Considering how pivotal this struggle to see the true nature of the camp is to the book, I couldn't help thinking that a title like "Survival in Auschwitz" undermines the work.

Readers looking for an inspirational story of survival should look elsewhere, perhaps to a movie like Hart's War, which reveals to us the indomitable will of American POWs in a camp, or perhaps to Defiance, a movie about refugees that hid in the forest, fought back, and were able to band together to survive the Holocaust. Levi's memoir is a contemplative reflection on the day to day details of genocide, an atrocity that was committed against Primo Levi and millions of others. It's not a Hollywood bathing party.(less)

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Mar 31, 2012 Inês rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Ninguém deve sair daqui, pois poderia levar para o mundo, juntamente com a marca gravada na carne, a terrível notícia do que, em Auschwitz, o homem teve coragem de fazer ao homem."

Nenhum livro, filme, música, ou outro qualquer formato de expressão poderá algum dia descrever exactamente o que se passou naqueles campos. Por mais que os relatos sejam minuciosos, há coisas que nem o mais corajoso e sincero dos homens é capaz de admitir que sentiu. A humilhação total, a perda de identidade, o compor...more

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Sep 19, 2009 Rita rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, memoir-autobiography, novels-set-in-other-countries

Original title ''If This Is a Man'' [Se questo e un uomo:] 1958. Levi is deservedly famous for this book, which tells us how it was to be a prisoner in Auschwitz during the final year of the war. He somehow manages to relate the shockingly inhumane conditions the prisoners lived in without making the book uncomfortable to read.

In an interview with Philip Roth at the end of my edition of the book, he mentions that he did this deliberately, aided by the more than 10 years of ''space'' between the...more

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Sep 23, 2008 Melissa Rudder rated it 4 of 5 stars

Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz tells Levi’s true story of his experience in Auschwitz from December of 1943 until its “liberation.” I apologize, but having read Elie Wiesel’s Night a week ago, I’m compelled to look at Levi’s work in comparison to Wiesel’s, though hopefully without discrediting either.

Compared with Wiesel’s very emotional, introspective memoir, Levi’s story seems to be a much more intellectual examination of life in a concentration camp. Levi’s book almost reads more like a h...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Arwen56 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biografie-diari-viaggi-storiepers

E cosa si può ormai dire per commentare ora questo libro, letto nell’ormai lontano 1973? Nulla. Già tutto è stato ampiamente espresso, sottolineato e sviscerato. Al massimo, posso azzardarmi a scrivere che la razionalità, la compostezza e la limpidezza espressiva gli conferiscono certamente un valore aggiunto, benché, riguardo a questa materia e ai tanti scritti che, nel tempo, ho letto a tal proposito, io resti tuttora più emotivamente affezionata e coinvolta da Tu passerai per il camino, di Vi...more E cosa si può ormai dire per commentare ora questo libro, letto nell’ormai lontano 1973? Nulla. Già tutto è stato ampiamente espresso, sottolineato e sviscerato. Al massimo, posso azzardarmi a scrivere che la razionalità, la compostezza e la limpidezza espressiva gli conferiscono certamente un valore aggiunto, benché, riguardo a questa materia e ai tanti scritti che, nel tempo, ho letto a tal proposito, io resti tuttora più emotivamente affezionata e coinvolta da Tu passerai per il camino, di Vincenzo Pappalettera. Libro che non può certo vantare una prosa altrettanto raffinata, ma che è stato il mio primo impatto, da ragazzina, con questa realtà.

Per cui … per cui, preferisco raccontarvi un episodio, o meglio, un ricordo della mia vita, che mi spiacerebbe andasse perso e che, forse, qui verrà conservato.
Quando avevo sedici o diciassette anni, ho conosciuto un sopravvissuto ai campi di concentramento. Di quale, non dirò, perché non è la mia storia, bensì la sua. Non sto a spiegarvi il perché o il per come, però di fatto per diverse estati ho pranzato regolarmente presso un ristorante che si chiamava “Al gambero rosso”. Nonostante il nome, non si trovava affatto in una località di mare, bensì in piena Pianura Padana. Vi si mangiava benissimo. Il cuoco, di origini altoatesine, era abile nel preparare qualsiasi tipo di piatto, dalla carne al pesce. Noi habitué avevamo una tavolata riservata in fondo al locale, nonché un prezzo speciale. Eravamo un gruppo alquanto eterogeneo e non sempre tutti erano presenti.

Tra questi, c’era un anziano medico chirurgo, che godeva in zona di una discreta fama professionale. Quando lo conobbi io, aveva più di ottant’anni ed esercitava ormai solo saltuariamente, in veste di consulente, per lo più a favore di amici. Era un uomo imponente, molto alto e decisamente sovrappeso. Indossava di preferenza delle ampie camicie scozzesi, con le maniche arrotolate, su pantaloni neri o grigi, retti, in genere, da bretelle rosse o verdi. Il suo amore per la buona tavola e il buon vino erano ampiamente testimoniati dalla sua stazza e dalla miriade di capillari che si intrecciavano sulle sue guance e sul suo imponente naso. Era sempre di buon umore e di battuta pronta. Attentissimo ed arguto quando si parlava di argomenti seri, era però il primo a reggere le fila quando la conversazione prendeva vie più frivole e scanzonate. Nonostante la mia, allora, giovane presenza, non ha mai moderato il linguaggio e, più di una volta, pesanti battute sono volate tra i commensali. Fu proprio lui a ideare e portare a termine una beffa ai danni di uno di noi, che sosteneva di non sopportare assolutamente l’odore dell’aceto e di riconoscerlo anche se presente in misura minima, tant’è che nessuno si sarebbe mai sognato di ordinare un’insalata quando faceva parte della tavolata, per non infastidirlo. Lui, invece, si premurò di arrivare in anticipo, cospargere il suo tovagliolo di aceto, ripiegarlo in modo che paresse intonso e restare poi ad osservarlo mentre mangiava e si puliva la bocca senza accorgersi di nulla. Rivelandogli in seguito ciò che aveva fatto.
Questo per dirvi quanto bonario e sereno paresse quest’uomo, che sapeva sempre scherzare e, di conseguenza, essere serio con intelligenza.

Solo una volta ho visto il suo sguardo appannarsi. Sapevamo tutti, ovviamente, che era stato in un campo di concentramento, perché ebreo. Erano tempi e luoghi in cui ognuno sapeva tutto di ciascuno degli altri. Ma lui non ne aveva mai parlato, anzi, neppure accennato. Il discorso, però, era caduto sulla musica. E, allora, improvvisamente, lui raccontò …

"Ho imparato a suonare il violino da piccolo. Non per mia scelta, bensì per volere dei miei. Non avevo alcun talento, né alcuna inclinazione al riguardo, ma i rudimenti li ho appresi comunque.
E’ stato per questo motivo che un giorno mi sono trovato a suonare una stonata melodia mentre impiccavano una persona a …"

Poi si è alzato da tavola senza terminare il pasto, si è pulito un’ultima volta la bocca col tovagliolo e ha infilato il breve corridoio che portava all’uscita del ristorante. Il giorno dopo, la sua candida chioma e la sua imponente figura è tornata a rallegrare la tavolata e non ha mai più detto nulla al riguardo, almeno in mia presenza.
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Aug 11, 2012 Nicole Green rated it 4 of 5 stars

Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz was an extremely interesting book to read. It has always been fascinating, to me, to read about the accounts of those who survived the Holocaust and Levi's account was just as fascinating and touching as many of the other Holocaust memoirs that have been written.

Levi's story is one of horror and tragedy, but more than that, it is one of survival. Not only does Levi recount his time spent in the concentration camp, Auschwitz, but he also recounts the ways in whi...more

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Apr 18, 2012 Raisu rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, read-in-2012, memoirs-and-biographies, 20th-century

There's really not much to say about this book that hasn't been said already. Compared to some other Holocaust books I've read, Levi's style is very sparse, and very effective in its sparseness. The scope of the title If This Is a Man (or as it's translated to Finnish: Is This Man) is wide. It refers not only to those who run the concentration camp and send people to their deaths but those who must survive there, what it does to their humanity. And his message is not uplifting. This is not a pre...more

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Jan 01, 2012 C rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1001

An alternate title of this is 'If This Is A Man' which is on the '1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die' list. That makes this one of the very few non-fiction books on the list. I don't know why they'd only include a couple. I think they should limit the list to fiction, but this one is very worthy of being on it anyway.

Primo Levi was a Jewish man living in Italy that was sent to Auschwitz. He says he writes things in order of urgency, the order details need to go on the page. But Levi's way...more

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Oct 27, 2011 Julia Boechat Machado rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1940s, italian-literature, books-i-own, tingle-of-the-spine, history, favorites, memoirs, punch-in-the-stomach

No horror da Lager, Primo Levi encontra a humilhação, o cansaço, a fome, os prisioneiros que roubam uns dos outros, que se desumanizam, e também um operário que se arrisca para lhe dar sopa, amigos, crianças, pessoas que admira e que o espantam, pessoas que morrem de doenças banais. Levi não é ingênuo, vê tudo que lhe aconteceu e pergunta É Isso um Homem? Que não conhece paz, que luta por meio pão, que morre por um sim e por um não? E amaldiçoa as pessoas que não repetirem a história aos filhos....more

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Sep 29, 2011 Stephen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It seems a little odd on Goodreads, I didn't actually read this book in a day or so, I'd been reading it on and off for a while...it was only recently that I added it on here.

For those who don't know, this is a true story of the horrors witnessed by Primo Levi, an Italian Jew who was a prisoner of one of the German 'labour camps' in WW2.
It's honest, touching, and very well written...when you consider that it was written after his time in this hell. It was (obviously) forbidden for prisoners to k...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Dave rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: essays-personal-stories

Levi's harrowing tale about the time he spent in the Buden Camp of the Auschwitz complex before being liberated by the Red Army (his book Reawakening tells the tale from the liberation to eventual return to Italy).
I know that Levi wrote down events while in the camp on precious scraps of paper and material. These scribblings were each destroyed soon after being created (if found Levi could have been executed as a spy--even ownership of your personal narrative was forbidden, evidently). He must h...more

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Jul 09, 2011 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

First published in 1958, Survival in Auschwitz documents Primo Levi’s life from December 1943 until January 1945 focusing on his experiences as a prisoner in Auschwitz. In the work’s preface he suggests it “adds nothing to what is already known…on the disturbing question of the death camps.” (Levi 9) To explain his decision to write, Levi speaks poignantly of camp conditions. “The need to tell our story to ‘the rest’, to make ‘the rest’ participate in it, had taken on for us [the prisoners], the...more First published in 1958, Survival in Auschwitz documents Primo Levi’s life from December 1943 until January 1945 focusing on his experiences as a prisoner in Auschwitz. In the work’s preface he suggests it “adds nothing to what is already known…on the disturbing question of the death camps.” (Levi 9) To explain his decision to write, Levi speaks poignantly of camp conditions. “The need to tell our story to ‘the rest’, to make ‘the rest’ participate in it, had taken on for us [the prisoners], the character of an immediate and violent impulse.” (9) Levi has a deeply personal intention for writing: telling his experiences provides an alternative to the interior destruction he feared would ensue if his story remained untold. The very structure of Survival in Auschwitz reflects this cathartic purpose. He explains that unlike most memoirs, which are written chronologically, his story was written “in order of urgency.” (10) With the personal forces of urgency as a guide, he composed a work that can be divided into three distinct sections. The three-part structure of Survival in Auschwitz makes the book difficult to categorize in a genre yet this challenge to classification is one of its strengths. After Auschwitz, where he was stripped of individuality, Levi’s work allows him to express his individuality through words and form, furthering his liberation from constricting structures.
The first section, the chapters “The Journey” through “This Side of Good and Evil,” unfolds chronologically. Levi writes of his capture in Italy, the journey to the camp, and he provides detailed descriptions of the camp. In an early discussion of the camp he describes the sign above the camp door that cruelly states “Arbeit Macht Frei.” The stories he will tell of the Lager challenge this claim of freedom. He labels the camp differently writing, “This is hell. Today, in our times, hell must be like this.” (22) This Dantean description is jolting to a reader because Auschwitz is a real place. In the stories of this first section, Levi describes life in this hell with poor rations, insufficient medical care, and the quick stripping of inmates’ humanity. The section’s final chapter “This Side of Good and Evil” foreshadows the structural shift in the work. Levi addresses his readers directly and invites them “to contemplate the possible meaning in the Lager of the words ‘good’ and ‘evil’, ‘just’ and ‘unjust’.” (86) His purpose in the next section is to provide examples to facilitate these meditations.
From the chapters “The Drowned and the Saved” to “The Last One” Levi’s story is much more episodic than chronologic. Each chapter contains Levi’s musings on humanity interspersed with illustrative stories. On the first page of “The Drowned and the Saved,” immediately after asking his readers to consider the categories of ‘good’ and ‘evil,’ he challenges these comfortable labels, suggesting that in the camp these categories are not relevant. Instead, the categories of “the saved” and “the drowned” are the only pertinent ones in Auschwitz. In this second section Levi forces the reader to consider new categories for evaluating individuals and the possible effects of casting aside morality. He recounts the story of four different men who were liberated from Auschwitz. The varying paths Schepschel, Alfred L., Elias, and Henri took to survive “show in how many ways it was possible to reach salvation.” (92) One especially striking example from these four is the story of Elias who stood barely five-feet tall and whom Levi describes as “naturally and innocently a thief.” (97) Despite this traditionally amoral behavior, Levi concludes that Elias is “in the first place… a survivor.” (97) Elias, governed by the drive to be saved and not drowned, survives.
However, after careful and repeated consideration, Levi eventually reveals his own uneasy position on the possibility of living only for survival and the relevant categories of saved and drowned. He details an episode where an older Jewish man thanks God because he is not going to the gas chambers and has been “saved.” Levi writes of his disgust at Kuhn’s prayers because Kuhn’s safety comes at the expense of another young man’s life and therefore cannot be a morally just event. Levi states, “If I was God, I would spit at Kuhn’s prayer,” (130) implying that there are times when the drive to survive is insufficient moral justification.
Although Levi began the second division of his work by explaining that the only relevant distinction in Auschwitz was “the saved” and “the drowned” he reveals that these stand outside the moral code he still holds even in the camp— he has not abandoned the ideas of ‘just’ and ‘unjust’ and as he strives for them he stands in opposition to the Nazi atrocities and the prisoners, too, who operate under the code of “saved” and “drowned.”
The third section of the work is one chapter, “The Story of Ten Days,” written mainly in a diary form. Immediately before shifting to diary format Levi writes that these days were “the ten days outside both world and time.” (156) However, for the reader, his description of these ten days are those most strongly situated within a temporal space because they are dated. Levi has managed to retroactively situate his memories of his path toward freedom in the traditional chronological structures of human life — an act that demonstrates how writing was liberating.
Despite its many strengths, there are times when Levi’s work takes on an awkward didactic tone. Levi is most effective when he mixes his philosophical musings with concrete examples as support. Levi suggests as a universal truth that the certainty of death is an insurmountable obstacle for humans’ quest for true joy or happiness (17). This freestanding claim is out of place in the book, which, elsewhere, provides detailed proofs of Levi’s philosophical opinions by way of real examples from the Lager. Instances of unsupported philosophical views prove a shortcoming in a book otherwise filled with compelling stories illuminating Levi’s views on humanity.
Similarly, Levi’s attempts to illustrate general truths, rather than individual experience are a weak spot. When the train first arrives at the camp he writes, “…Everybody said farewell to life through his neighbor. We had no more fear.” (19) If Levi claimed he had no fear it would be more believable but his claim here is too grandiose and the stoicism seems a hollow façade. The power of Survival in Auschwitz lies in its innovation. The reader need not learn drastically new information about concentration camps to find value in the work. Levi’s work is moving when it tells of his own experience, and becomes powerful when he uses these experiences to challenge or support ideas on humanity. His admission in the preface that his work will add little to the understanding of concentration camps as a whole does not negate that various stories of individuals in the camps are as important as stories of the camps.
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Aug 28, 2010 Agnes Mack rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was one of the most difficult books I've ever read. Not in it's word usage or general prose style, but reading about this man's experience in Auschwitz and knowing that it was real . . . I had a really hard time getting through it.

This was the story of Primo Levi, a man who lived in Auschwitz and managed to survive. As I was reading this, I kept thinking about how strange the human's want to survive is. If I were in his position, I am not sure that I would continue fighting. I'm not sure I...more This was one of the most difficult books I've ever read. Not in it's word usage or general prose style, but reading about this man's experience in Auschwitz and knowing that it was real . . . I had a really hard time getting through it.

This was the story of Primo Levi, a man who lived in Auschwitz and managed to survive. As I was reading this, I kept thinking about how strange the human's want to survive is. If I were in his position, I am not sure that I would continue fighting. I'm not sure I could keep working 18 hours a day, eating one scrap of bread, 1/2 a pint of soup and sleeping on the ground. I'm not sure I would prefer being beaten to being killed. I think I'd prefer they just shoot me. Primo, on the other hand, never gives up - though he does lose hope.

I flagged so much of this book. I both want everyone I know to read this book immediately, and also for no one I know to ever read this book. I am going to just pick a passage at random because I can't go through and read everything I've marked. It's too much and it makes me too sad.

"For human nature is such that grief and pain - even simultaneously suffered - do not add up as a whole in our consciousness, but hide, the lesser behind the greater, according to a definite law of perspective. It is providential and is our means of surviving in the camp. And this is the reason why so often in free life one hears it said that man is never content. In fact it is not a question of human incapacity for a state of absolute happiness, but o an ever-insufficient knowledge of the complex nature of the state of unhappiness; so that the single name of the major cause is given to all its causes, which are composite and set out in an order of urgency. And if the most immediate cause of stress comes to an end, you are grievously amazed to see that another lies behind; and in reality a whole series of others.
...
At sunset, the siren of the Feierabend sounds, the end of work; and as we are all satiated, at least for a few hours, no quarrels arise, we feel good, the Kapo feels no urge to hit us, and we are able to think of our mothers and wives, which usually does not happen. For a few hours, we can be unhappy in the manner of free men."

* * * *

It was affecting, moving and devastating. I don't know what else to say about it. (less)

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Jan 11, 2010 Oscar rated it 4 of 5 stars

As its title would suggest, Primo Levi’s text focuses on the story of his survival while living in one of the concentration camps at Auschwitz. While the subject is obviously difficult to read, Levi attempts to tell his story in a very direct and objective manner that discusses his experiences, his ongoing fear, and ultimately, his feelings of hopelessness. One of the scenes that stands out, for example, has Levi discussing that unlike some of the other camp members, he quickly stops caring for...more

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May 06, 2013 Ludieke rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Primo Levi schreef twee jaar nadat hij bevrijd werd uit Auschwitz dit relaas. Het is even gruwelijk als poëtisch. Gruwelijk omdat het een verslag is van wat hij meemaakte en poëtisch omdat het zo beeldend wordt beschreven dat je bijna gaat geloven dat het fictie is terwijl je weet dat een mens die het niet aan den lijve heeft ondervonden dit niet verzinnen kan.

Het meest beklemmende deel van dit boek vond ik de laatste maanden, toen de nazi's in de gaten kregen dat ze de strijd aan het verliezen...more

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Jun 10, 2012 David Withun rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, biography

In his book Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi uses the phrase “the demolition of man” to refer to the process by which the Nazis attempted to, and largely succeeded in, stripping the inmates of the concentration camps of their humanity.1 This powerful phrase accurately summarizes the process of dehumanization concocted by the Nazi concentration camp authorities; theirs was a process of demolition that began immediately upon arrival in the camp and ended, for approximately 6 million Jews and an a...more

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Sep 06, 2011 Susan Emmet rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Having long been fascinated by Primo Levi (and his disputed suicide years after his liberation from Auschwitz), I was drawn to "If This Is A Man." Read about him, as well as read "The Periodic Table" and interviews. This is an incredible book, published in 1959, I think, with his wife Lucia's help in editing. It does need more editing.
An Italian "half-Jew," Levi was deported to A. in 1944 and spent 10 or 11 months in the camp. He was 25, a trained chemist.
His description of the variety of enslav...more

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Apr 16, 2011 Georgiana 1792 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classici

Ho letto questo romanzo ascoltandolo contemporaneamente dalla voce di Valentina Carnelutti.
http://www.radio.rai.it/radio3/terzo_...
Mi ha aiutata a non restare paralizzata leggendo degli orrori del campo di sterminio di Auschwitz, ma allo stesso tempo grazie alla voce atona della lettrice ho colto perfettamente l'atmosfera di orrore, di morte, di impotenza che hanno provato milioni di ebrei... Agghiacciante.

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Dec 15, 2008 DebbieK rated it 5 of 5 stars

Searing account of life in Monowitz, aka Auschwitz III. What makes this book remarkable is not so much the style—though much of the description is, indeed, beautifully crafted—but the sheer will it must have taken to write it. Most survivors, at least most that I'm aware of, could only cope by refusing to talk about their experiences.

Still, some topics seem too painful to broach, even for Levi. Not only does he omit his family, he also, as much as possible, excludes himself from the book. “Surv...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Hanneke added it · review of another edition

Zeer indrukwekkend boek. Primo Levi heeft dit boek geschreven tussen december 1945 en januari 1947, dus begon met zijn verslag nog geen tien maanden nadat hij de hel van het concentratiekamp had verlaten. Dat vind ik een bijna bovenmenselijke prestatie, vooral ook omdat het zo prachtig geschreven is. Ik bewonder hem zeer dat hij zijn ervaringen zonder rancune en woede heeft beschreven. Hij voelde dat, wat hij te vertellen had, niet alleen de beschrijving van zijn ervaring was en dat hij sprak na...more

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May 31, 2013 Dhanaraj Rajan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, literature, italian-lit, history

I would also like to say along with many others that it is one of the important books specially relating to Auschwitz.
The life in the infamous concentration camp is narrated by who is counted among the few luckiest ones to survive the camp-life. Primo Levi was there for a year. But then his observations and narrations are very clear and vivid that the reader can imagine the hard life within the barbed wires. It is not an elaborate book. It is a straight forward book with just 180 pages. But then...more

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Jul 28, 2012 Terri Lynn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, nonfiction, sociology-and-culture, biography-autobiography

Primo Levi's cold words burn a hole in the heart. Levi, an Italian chemist and Jew, was imprisoned in Auschwitz during the last months of its cruel life.

The reason I describe his words as cold is that this book has the feeling of being written by a man left so numb by his experiences, he has lost all feeling and passion. There is no hot fury, no raging, no ranting, only cool dispassionate descriptions of the horrors as if being told by someone seeing them from a hidden place deep within himself...more Primo Levi's cold words burn a hole in the heart. Levi, an Italian chemist and Jew, was imprisoned in Auschwitz during the last months of its cruel life.

The reason I describe his words as cold is that this book has the feeling of being written by a man left so numb by his experiences, he has lost all feeling and passion. There is no hot fury, no raging, no ranting, only cool dispassionate descriptions of the horrors as if being told by someone seeing them from a hidden place deep within himself so far from the surface even a telescope could not make it be visible. There is the feel that I have seen from victims of child abuse who go to a safer place inside themselves to "watch" the abuse and try to maintain their thread of sanity.

This has the effect of making the book even more devastating. I am almost paralyzed by anger, rage, and horror to the point I can hardly describe the conditions in that camp and what it did to the human core of those imprisoned there as well as their captors.

Imagine being in a place where you are a number. They take your clothes and your shoes and you must find your own spoon and bowl to use. Where you are expected to do a full day's hard labor in the knee deep snow in freezing weather without a coat and only fueled by a breakfast of bread and lunch and dinner consisting only of watery soup. A place where prisoners are pitted against one another and would gladly steal from you just to try to survive.

Mornings mean rushing to wash in dirty water after a run through snow and ice. A bit of bread and off to work. Show weakness and you will wind up in the gassing chambers of the crematorium. Dystentery, scarlet fever, diptheria, whooping cough and other nasty diseases are rampant. Two sleep to a tiny cot/bunk. Going to the ka-be (hospital) means the poorest of health care. There is no privacy in camp, no humanity, just animal survival and the cruel abuse of the masters.

These things and more Primo Levi lived through and survived but don't pity him. He was just there for the last year of it. Others lived though it longer and saw their wives, children, mothers/grandmothers leave them for the ovens the first day upon arrival.

How do human beings ever justify to themselves the treatment of others this way? What do you have to tell yourself to make this acceptable to yourself? When do you stop being truly human and become a monster capable of inflicting this sort of misery and abuse on others?

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Jan 20, 2013 Matthew rated it 5 of 5 stars

I find it disheartening to think that the title of this book was so obviously changed when translated, and that the change was, no doubt, a simple means to a more swallow-able advertisement. Survival in Auschwitz certainly seems quite more readable. It does not, however, bring you the harrowing feeling of the original Italian title, the title that Levi himself chose: Se questo è un uomo -- If This is a Man.

Levi's testimony of the Holocaust is indispensable. Admittedly I have not read many others...more

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About Primo Levi

Primo Michele Levi was a Jewish Italian chemist, Holocaust survivor and author of memoirs, short stories, poems, and novels.

He is best known for his work on the Holocaust, and in particular his account of the year he spent as a prisoner in Auschwitz, the infamous death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. If This Is a Man (published in the United States as Survival in Auschwitz) has been described as one...more

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Quotes from Survival in Auschwitz

“I am constantly amazed by man's inhumanity to man.” — 67 people liked it

“Sooner or later in life everyone discovers that perfect happiness is unrealizable, but there are few who pause to consider the antithesis: that perfect unhappiness is equally unattainable. The obstacles preventing the realization of both these extreme states are of the same nature: they derive from our human condition which is opposed to everything infinite.” — 36 people liked it

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