The Italian Jewish chemist and author, Primo Levi [1919 – 1987], was a notable survivor of Auschwitz whose powerful writing was second to none when it came to describing his experiences. If you haven’t yet read any of his books, it’s time to add them to your list. He was liberated from the concentration camp by Russia’s Red Army in January 1945 but was not able to return to Italy until four months later. His journey took him through Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Austria, and Germany and he did not arrive in Turin until 19th October, 1945.
“You who live safe
In your warm houses,
You who find warm food
And friendly faces when you return home.
Consider if this is a man
Who works in mud,
Who knows no peace,
Who fights for a crust of bread,
Who dies by a yes or no.
Consider if this is a woman
Without hair, without name,
Without the strength to remember,
Empty are her eyes, cold her womb,
Like a frog in winter.
Never forget that this has happened.
Remember these words.
Engrave them in your hearts,
When at home or in the street,
When lying down, when getting up.
Repeat them to your children.
Or may your houses be destroyed,
May illness strike you down,
May your offspring turn their faces from you.”
― Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz
“Even in this place one can survive, and therefore one must want to survive, to tell the story, to bear witness; and that to survive we must force ourselves to save at least the skeleton, the scaffolding, the form of civilization. We are slaves, deprived of every right, exposed to every insult, condemned to certain death, but we still possess one power, and we must defend it with all our strength for it is the last — the power to refuse our consent.”
― Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz
Powerful writing from personal experience. Every person who denies the Holocaust should read this and hang their heads in shame.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Quite.
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You are right to suggest the reading of this book. Primo Levi succeeds in depicting the horror and the humiliation of the concentration camp in such a way, that will ever be stuck in the mind of the reader.
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I just wish they hadn’t changed its original title.
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Uhmm, “If this is a man” or ” What kind of man is this”, do these faithful translation really work in Emglish just like in Italian?
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If this is a man works for me as ‘what kind of man is this’ or even ‘how can such men exist – it suggests these and more. If they really want to make it clear for those who don’t get it, it would work much better with the original title and Surviving Auschwitz as the subtitle. But what do I know – you’re the Italian!
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That would be a good compromise, you are right.
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