Summary Of Survival In Auschwitz

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The book Survival in Auschwitz, originally titled more evocatively as If This is a Man, shares the experiences of the author, Primo Levi as a prisoner in the Auschwitz Nazi war camp during World War II. Levi has chosen to tell his story in the form of memoir, which means he is telling the events at the camp in which he recalls them. These are not meant to be a picture-perfect list of events as history remembers them. If that was what he was shooting for he could have simply written a historical non-fiction account by citing sources, included various statistics, and speaking to others who experienced similar brutalities under the Third Reich. Such a book might have been perceived as more objective and comprehensive than Levi’s memoir. It would have most definitely been viewed in this way if he incorporated the thoughts and opinions of his leaders in the camp, or those sympathetic toward the Third Reich. Instead, he wrote a short, subjective account of events, infiltrated with his personal thoughts and opinions about what happened at the camp. He also portrays to the reader how being in this camp changed his life and other people’s …show more content…

Primo shares his fortune to have the companionship of his best friend Alberto and the chance relationship with Lorenzo, an Italian civilian worker who slipped Primo food and marketable items, and more importantly, gave him a glimpse of humankind’s ability to be good. The friendship of Alberto and goodness of Lorenzo reminded Levi that there was something outside the hellish reality of Auschwitz worth living for. Later, Levi was one of three prisoners chosen to be a specialist in the laboratory, a result of his interview earlier in the year. The lab was clean, sheltered from the cold, and he was given a full ration of food, satisfying the physical needs that could keep prisoners alive

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