Survival In Auschwitz And The Drowned And The Saved Analysis

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A crucial concept developed throughout Survival in Auschwitz and The Drowned and the Saved is the process of “the demolition of a man” through useless acts of violence. In order for the Nazis to control and murder without regard or guilt, they had to diminish men into subhumans. Those who entered the camps were stripped of their dignity and humanity, devoid of any personal identity. Men and women were reduced to numbers in a system that required absolute submission, which placed them in an environment where they had to struggle to survive and were pitted against their fellow prisoners. The purpose of the camps were not merely a place for physical extermination, but a mental one as well. Primo Levi exposes these small and large acts of deprivation and destruction within his two texts in order for readers to become aware of the affects such a system has on human beings, as well as the danger unleashed by a totalitarian system.
Levi immediately introduces the Nazi’s process of useless violence within the first chapter of Survival in Auschwitz. Placed in a detention camp in Italy, a group of Germans arrive to inspect the camp. They begin to make a public scene condemning the quality of the camp, and even going so far as to say an infirmary will be opened soon. Of course, this is a playful act done by the Germans to instill false hope amongst the Jews, who would be sent away the next day. (SA, 14) In The Drowned and the Saved, Levi mentions how they are told to “bring along gold and jewels, and above all woolen clothing and furs,” which again was useless because their possessions would never be returned to them once they arrived at their destination. (DS 110) Instead, this was just an easy ploy to bring riches into the Reich. As they p...

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...rocedure for the Nazi regime’s extermination camps and “Final Solution.” In order for the assailants to perform their duties they had to reduce their victims to nothing, so in the end they would be “less burdened by guilt.” (DS, 126) Levi provides readers with the Nazi’s process of destruction and explains how their totalitarian system was accountable for the propagation of this level of brutality. It is mentioned that “all of them, teachers and pupils, became progressively removed from reality as little by little their morality came unglued.” (DS, 107) Here we see why it was so important to perform such useless acts of violence, because we are not conditioned to such mass killings. Both Levi’s writings, Survival in Auschwitz and The Drowned and the Saved provide an insight into life in the Lager, and the dehumanization that ultimately destroyed millions of people.

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