Survival In Auschwitz : If This Is a Man
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4.5 • 141 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
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?"
Customer Reviews
If this were a man
Primo Levi's sober memoir provides a stark reminder of how inhuman humanity can be when engaging with the other. This is not the account given by Elie Wiesel- a familial-centric struggle for survival. Rather, this is the story of a marginalized man among the marginalized- as he did not speak German prior to entering the lager. Levi's ability to remain removed from his experiences provides a sharp relief for those who have never read on this topic, and leads the reader to experience their own set of emotions- as opposed to emulating those of the author. Levi provides haunting incite into the systematic destruction- not just murder- of millions. "To destroy a man is difficult, almost as difficult as to create one: it has not been easy, nor quick, but you Germans have succeeded. Here we are, docile under your gaze; from our side you have nothing more to fear; no acts of violence, no words of defiance, not even a look of judgement." Haunting, concise and at points clinical, Levi- as Vergil to Dante- leads the reader though the depths of depravity and despair.
Deep, Raw
A special book, a must read.
"Better take out all those so-called problems,
Better put 'um in quotations."
Great Read
Tells of a great story of how a man fights to live and ultimately it's title Survival In Auschwitz. Can not describe in my own words the feelings gained for this book but I would say read it for yourself and you will appreciate life much, much more.