Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz Essay

The words inscribed above the Auschwitz concentration camp read; "Arbeit Macht Frei,” meaning, “work brings freedom.” These deceiving words gave unsuspecting prisoners hope that they could get out of the most destructive concentration camp during the entire Holocaust. This concentration camp would kill over one million people. Auschwitz will be fully analyzed, starting with the early stages of Auschwitz, then the Jews and the horrors of Auschwitz, and finally the final days of Auschwitz. The events that took place at Auschwitz concentration camp were horrifying and led to the death of millions.

Primo Levi was taking from his detention center, Germans invaded and took over from there he was sent to a concentration camp concentration were he had no voice which was called Buna. At Buna they took his personal belongings such as his shoes and clothes. To make sure everyone looked the same they made everyone cut of any strand of hair from their bodies, from top to bottom and to also be sure they

Auschwitz was one of the most infamous and largest concentration camp known during World War II. It was located in the southwestern part of Poland commanded by Rudolf Höss. Auschwitz was first opened on June 14, 1940, much later than most of the other camps. It was in Auschwitz that the lives of so many were taken by methods of the gas chamber, crematoriums, and even from starvation and disease. These methods took "several hundreds and sometimes more than a thousand" lives a day. The majority of the lives killed were those of Jews although Gypsies, Yugoslavs, Poles, and many others of different ethnic backgrounds as well. The things most known about Auschwitz are the process people went through when entering the camp and

In 1940 Auschwitz was established in the suburbs of Oswiecim. Oswiecim is a Polish city that was annexed to the Third Reich by the Nazis. Auschwitz was established because there were too many Polish people in the local prisons. In 1942 Auschwitz became a death camp and it was the largest known. (http://auschwitz.org/, n.d.) The camp was expanded throughout its existence, this resulted in Auschwitz consisting of three camps. The three camps were Main Camp, Birkenau, and Monowitz. Main Camp was known as Auschwitz I, Birkenau was known as Auschwitz II, and Monowitz was known as Auschwitz III. (Preisler, n.d.) Auschwitz was liberated in 1945. “Historians and analysts estimate the number of people murdered at Auschwitz somewhere between 2.1 million

Primo Levi was one of these survivors. In Survival in Auschwitz, Levi struggles to articulate the atrocities that occurred in Auschwitz while simultaneously admitting the impossibility of such an undertaking. As he confesses in his book, “…our language lacks words to express this offence, the demolition of a man.” A scientist by trade, Levi speaks of his time in Auschwitz in bare, almost clinical terms. Two popular critiques have arisen from this approach: the first, that Levi does not explore his emotions, and the second, that he does not court readers. I’d argue, however, that it is this very boundary built between author and reader that makes Levi’s testimony so effective.

As said by Audrey Hepburn; “Living is like tearing through a museum, not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering - because you can’t take it in all at once.” In Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, the Holocaust took place in an order of layers. As time passed, the extremity was increased each chapter he succumbed to. Elie expresses raw emotion in his memoir, Night, and leaves you in a complete, utter state of wonder and sadness. Not only this, but remembering and cherishing the importance of all the emotions from this time in history. In Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, the theme of remembering is present before the Holocaust and in today’s society.

Obviously nothing justifies the heinous treatment of Jews in concentration camps, but Levi gives us reasons why he believed the SS were able to treat Jews in this way. He believed that the prisoner’s appearance after a few days, “dirty and repugnant,” could have been a source of the terrible treatment; it is much easier to oppress those who look almost inhuman. Levi also believed the treatment was just another way to prove racial superiority. The ability to completely suppress and

From the first few lines of the novel, it is immediately apparent that even Levi is aware of how lucky he is. He begins his book with the phrase “It was my 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” (Levi 9). This means that if he was captured prior to 1944, his story may have not even been told. Life in Monowitz was certainly not easy, so one can only imagine the conditions that existed before the Nazi war machine

As the world around the authors begins to collapse, they are faced with evil and the uncertainty of whether to face the events with optimism or pessimism. Levi begins his experience on a more negative note as he describes what it's like to be on the bottom. “I have learnt that I am haftling. My number is 174517,” (page 27). Levi has lost hope in his own identity. He isn't optimistic or pessimistic, he is indifferent because he feels he is no longer a man, but a property of the Nazis. Levi also demonstrates negativity during his stay at Ka-Be. As he sits and watches the Jews do their usual morning ritual and march he describes how the Germans

The survivors were so used to living and sleeping with corpses that they too felt that their own soul was no longer with them. It was very difficult for Jews to recuperate from the racial purification attempts of the Holocaust, but those who showed hope and perseverance through theses grueling times were able to regain their life and self worth. Throughout Levi’s reawakening, he met very extraordinary people, many of whom are survivors of the Holocaust just like him. These people can be seen as a symbol in Levi’s reawakening helping him establish new life after liberation. Jews are deeply hated amongst the European nation and Levi encounters three authority figures they guide him with rules that he must abide in order to escape detestation. During a walk along the churches of Cracow, Levi came across the first authority figure, a priest. They carried the most “extravagant and chaotic conversation in Latin.” (Levi, 50) At the end of their encounter the priest advises Levi not to speak German in public. The second authority figure that Levi encountered was a lawyer traveling through Treblinka. He was a Polish man but he could speak German as well. Like the priest, he also advised Levi not to speak German in public. A police officer, the third figure of authority in Levi’s reawakening, showed compassion towards Levi and offered him “a night in warmth, in jail.”

Primo Levi, in his novel Survival in Auschwitz (2008), illustrates the atrocities inflicted upon the prisoners of the concentration camp by the Schutzstaffel, through dehumanization. Levi describes “the denial of humanness” constantly forced upon the prisoners through similes, metaphors, and imagery of animalistic and mechanistic dehumanization (“Dehumanization”). He makes his readers aware of the cruel reality in the concentration camp in order to help them examine the psychological effects dehumanization has not only on those dehumanized, but also on those who dehumanize. He establishes an earnest and reflective tone with his audience yearning to grasp the reality of genocide.

Reading the novel Survival in Auschwitz by author Primo Levi leads one to wonder whether his survival is attributed to his indefinite will to survive or a very subservient streak of luck. Throughout the novel, he is time and again spared from the fate that supposedly lies ahead of all inhabitants of the death camp at Auschwitz. Whether it was falling ill at the most convenient times or coming in contact with prisoners who had a compassionate, albeit uncommon, disposition, it would seem as though the Gods were always smiling upon him. Although throughout the novel primo is characterized as a very willing and competent individual, one can not say that his personality or his training as a chemist

The first quote that stands out in Primo Levi’s book is in chapter one, “The Journey”. In this chapter, Primo Levi is describing his arrival. An important quote from this chapter is when Primo Levi says “They walked in squads, in rows of three, with an odd, embarrassed step, head dangling in front, arms rigid. On their heads they wore comic berets and were all dressed in long striped overcoats, which even by night and from a distance looked filthy and in rags. They walked in a large circle around us, never drawing near, and in silence began to busy themselves with our luggage and to climb in and out of the empty wagons” (Levi 20). Primo Levi is describing his arrival at Auschwitz. The importance of this quote is of the picture Primo Levi puts in the reader’s mind. Primo Levi does a great job describing in emotional detail of what his arrival was like. In the next paragraph, Primo Levi says “We looked at each other without a word. It was all incomprehensible and mad. But one thing we had understood. This was the metamorphosis that awaited us. Tomorrow we would be like them” (Levi 21). This quote stands out because it shows the realization Primo Levi had while watching the poor, lifeless Auschwitz prisoners work. By watching the prisoners, Primo Levi had fully acknowledged that this is the life that awaits him the next day. This is important for Primo Levi because by understanding what the future holds for him in Auschwitz, he can better prepare himself for survival in Auschwitz.

The prisoners in Auschwitz were treated very poorly and the world came crashing down on them even before they were brought there. When Levi was informed that he was going to be going to Auschwitz from Turin, Italy he did not know what to expect but he did not expect this. He said, "dancing before my eyes I see the spaghetti which we had just cooked, Vanda, Luciana, and I, at the sorting-camp when we suddenly heard the news that we would leave for here the following day; and were eating it and we stopped" (74). He was not aware that he would not be able to eat like this ever in the camp and was almost convinced that he would never eat like that again period. He thought about this in one of the rare moments that he had a chance to think about his past life that was very depressing for anyone to think about. They all thought they would be stuck there forever which it seemed liked already.

Survival in Auschwitz tells of the horrifying and inhuman conditions of life in the Auschwitz death camp as personally witnessed and experienced by the author, Primo Levi. Levi is an Italian Jew and chemist, who at the age of twenty-five, was arrested with an Italian resistance group and sent to the Nazi Auschwitz death camp in Poland in the end of 1943. For ten terrible months, Levi endured the cruel and inhuman death camp where men slaved away until it was time for them to die. Levi thoroughly presents the hopeless existence of the prisoners in Auschwitz, whose most basic human rights were stripped away, when in Chapter 2 he states, "Imagine now a man who is deprived of everyone he loves, and at the same time of his house, his habits,