Customer Reviews

Survival In Auschwitz

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"We had learnt of our destination with relief. Auschwitz: a name without significance for us at the time, but it at least implied some place on this earth"

Primo Levi's memoir, Survival in Auschwitz, is a moving account of one young man's struggle for survival in the notorious Polish concentration camp. Levi employs a unique narrative structure, emphasizing the power of words both thematically and stylistically. Levi is only twenty-five when he enters the camp, and his storytelling does much to reveal the devastating impact that concentration camps had on the psyche and on the spirit. Levi confronts the harsh reality of what life in Auschwitz means, and how different it is from any form of civilization. In clear contrast to the camp's dehumanizing effects on its victims, Levi uses language to stir the hearts of his readers. In a kind of dictionary of suffering, he gives the reader the terms of his old existence: Buna, where young men labor in a factory that will never produce synthetic rubber; Ka-Be, the infirmary where Levi is granted a few weeks' rest to recover from a foot injury, and Selekcja, the Polish word for "selection," that seals the fate of those marked for the crematorium. Many readers wishing to learn more about the Holocaust or concentration camps will find Levi's work powerful and enriching. Perhaps more importantly, these readers will continue to ask Levi's questions in today's society.

Following the Auschwitz anniversary, I decided to read a lot more about the holocaust than I knew. Survival in Auschwitz by primo Levi was one of the books I read and loved. I consider it to be one of the most well-written, touching and compelling memoirs about the holocaust. Promo Levi is an excellent writer, with deep, lucid and compelling prose and insightful writing style. This book is one of the most influential books of my life.

After reading this book, I can't imagine any person not honestly feeling for humanity, and becoming compassionate no matter what the circumstance is. This well-depicted book is a recommendation for those interested in the plight of mankind in wars and other man-made and natural disasters. Read it and you will rave and pass it on to your friends.

This is a well recommended Holocaust book along with PERIODIC TABLE, DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE, NIGHT

Certain reviewers are calling this a "Polish" concentration camp. This was a "German" concentration camp built in "German-occupied" Poland. Poland did not put anyone in concentration camps. Poland was the ONLY country who fought the Germans from the beginning of WWII to the end.

A haunting tale of survival. Primo Levi's memoir, Survival in Auschwitz, is a moving account of one young man's struggle for survival in the notorious Polish concentration camp. Levi employs a unique narrative structure, emphasizing the power of words both thematically and stylistically. Levi is only twenty-five when he enters the camp, and his storytelling does much to reveal the devastating impact that concentration camps had on the psyche and on the spirit. Levi confronts the harsh reality of what life in Auschwitz means, and how different it is from any form of civilization. "Here the struggle to survive is without respite," he writes, "because everyone is desperately and ferociously alone" (88). One of the evil images that haunts Levi will haunt readers as well: "an emaciated man, with head dropped and shoulders curved, on whose face and in whose eyes not a trace of a thought is to be seen" (90).

In clear contrast to the camp's dehumanizing effects on its victims, Levi uses language to stir the hearts of his readers. In a kind of dictionary of suffering, he gives the reader the terms of his old existence: Buna, where young men labor in a factory that will never produce synthetic rubber; Ka-Be, the infirmary where Levi is granted a few weeks' rest to recover from a foot injury, and Selekcja, the Polish word for "selection," that seals the fate of those marked for the crematorium. Because the camp contains Jews and other prisoners from all parts of Europe, facility with multiple languages represents a survival tool as well as a mark of education. Levi tells the success story of young man, Henri, who is able to cultivate many contacts because he speaks four languages. In one of the book's most heart-stirring passages, Levi attempts to translate Dante's canto of Ulysses into French in an effort to increase a friend's understanding of his heritage and the remnants of his humanity (112).

As Levi notes in the foreword, his narrative is not strictly chronological-the main events are in 1944, but Levi does not give dates to events until the last few days in camp, after the Germans have evacuated. In one chapter, Levi has to ask himself, "How many months have gone by since we entered the camp?" Eventually he asks the more sobering question, "how many of us will be alive at the new year?" (136).

That Levi can begin to keep track of time after the camp's liquidation signifies his return to a life where the future is more than another day of deprivation and suffering. At one point, Levi notes that the camp term for "never," is morgen früh, German for tomorrow morning (133). Though Levi's book is powerful for the factual events it recounts, the questions it raises leave the most lasting impact. Survival in Auschwitz asks what makes a human, what it takes to destroy that humanity, and humanity is recovered. Many readers wishing to learn more about the Holocaust or concentration camps will find Levi's work powerful and enriching. Perhaps more importantly, these readers will continue to ask Levi's questions in today's society.
I also recommend 'The Quest' by Giorgio Kostantinos.

I'm not a fan of Holocaust narrative, mostly because I've read and been forced to read in school many of this type of novel. Primo's memoir, however, sticks in my mind unlike any other. What makes Survival in Auschwitz, aka If This Is A Man, unique is the complete objectivity he writes with. He records only fact, expressing no emotion whatsoever. The effect is unsentimental and wholly horrific. His role is a recorder of events for posterity, and asks the reader to judge for his/herself the morality of what took place in the camp, not only the actions of the Nazi guards but also the prisoners themselves. He lets the reader decide whether he retained his humanity in the face of complete dehuminization. If all you know of the Holocaust is contained in Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl, it might benefit you to pick this one up.

Survival In Auschwitz is a memoir of Primo Levi's experience at the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. It is a deeply personal story which gives the reader a close look at what daily life was like in the camps. Millions of Jews were treated like animals, given insufficient amounts of food to eat, and worked to death in these camps. Everyone should read this book so that nothing like this ever happens again. We are all lucky that #174517 lived to tell his story. He wrote this book for us, and we should thank him by reading it.

Reading Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi was one of the most dificult experiences of my life. With each turn of the page came a new horror, I found it dififult to read more then a chapter at a time, and yet with horrific fascination I was also unable to put down the book. His stories of human nature rock the reader in a way that is unfathomable to someone who has never read a novel of this type. His original title "If this were a man" is far more descriptive then Survival in Auschwitz, and the reader will be shocked by the tales he tells.

Primo Levi's memoir, Survival in Auschwitz, is a moving account of one young man's struggle for survival in the notorious Polish concentration camp. Levi employs a unique narrative structure, emphasizing the power of words both thematically and stylistically. Levi is only twenty-five when he enters the camp, and his storytelling does much to reveal the devastating impact that concentration camps had on the psyche and on the spirit.

Levi confronts the harsh reality of what life in Auschwitz means, and how different it is from any form of civilization. "Here the struggle to survive is without respite," he writes, "because everyone is desperately and ferociously alone" (88). One of the evil images that haunts Levi will haunt readers as well: "an emaciated man, with head dropped and shoulders curved, on whose face and in whose eyes not a trace of a thought is to be seen" (90).

In clear contrast to the camp's dehumanizing effects on its victims, Levi uses language to stir the hearts of his readers. In a kind of dictionary of suffering, he gives the reader the terms of his old existence: Buna, where young men labor in a factory that will never produce synthetic rubber; Ka-Be, the infirmary where Levi is granted a few weeks' rest to recover from a foot injury, and Selekcja, the Polish word for "selection," that seals the fate of those marked for the crematorium. Because the camp contains Jews and other prisoners from all parts of Europe, facility with multiple languages represents a survival tool as well as a mark of education. Levi tells the success story of young man, Henri, who is able to cultivate many contacts because he speaks four languages. In one of the book's most heart-stirring passages, Levi attempts to translate Dante's canto of Ulysses into French in an effort to increase a friend's understanding of his heritage and the remnants of his humanity (112).

As Levi notes in the foreword, his narrative is not strictly chronological-the main events are in 1944, but Levi does not give dates to events until the last few days in camp, after the Germans have evacuated. In one chapter, Levi has to ask himself, "How many months have gone by since we entered the camp?" Eventually he asks the more sobering question, "how many of us will be alive at the new year?" (136). That Levi can begin to keep track of time after the camp's liquidation signifies his return to a life where the future is more than another day of deprivation and suffering. At one point, Levi notes that the camp term for "never," is morgen früh, German for tomorrow morning (133).

Though Levi's book is powerful for the factual events it recounts, the questions it raises leave the most lasting impact. Survival in Auschwitz asks what makes a human, what it takes to destroy that humanity, and humanity is recovered. Many readers wishing to learn more about the Holocaust or concentration camps will find Levi's work powerful and enriching. Perhaps more importantly, these readers will continue to ask Levi's questions in today's society.

Because this is one of the most important books of the 20th Century, it grieves me that the publisher couldn't even bother to check for spelling and typographical errors (e.g., recieve, openely). It's also too bad that the title had to be changed from IF THIS IS A MAN, because the original title better sums up the subject. The writer was a great man! I feel privileged to read his account of how men were willfully denuded by their captors of everything that makes one human. No one may fairly judge those who did whatever it took, merely to be able to go on breathing. I am thankful for Levi's courage in writing this book; all we have to hold on to is the truth.

What makes this book such a good read for those who are interested in the Holocoust or the experiences of those who lived through it is the simple, yet highly charged, narritive of Primo Levi. He does not overgrandize his experience, chooising instead to tell his story in simple, straightforward prose that's carefully structured to just tell the story and let the gravity of the events evoke the emotions of the reader, rather than trying to use highly stylized language to evoke emotion that might trivialize the events at hand. It is this simplicity of language combined with efficient, yet gripping, storytelling that make this a captivating read about the Hollocaust.