Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi

Memoirs are a favorite of mine, simply because they not only tell the story of an individual, but often tell the story of many individuals. In Levi's memoir Survival in Auschwitz, he tells a chilling tale about his time in this concentration camp, and the moral/psychological/physiological struggles that he and many of the people he met there were facing. He not only gives an account of the way he and others were treated in Auschwitz, but he also gives his readers a look into the mind of someone facing systematic dehumanization, and what it takes to keep what makes you human alive.

Every facet of this book is wonderful. I drank up his words and his anecdotes. His strong spirit, and the spirits of many others, was so evident in every word of this memoir. Many memoirs about the Holocaust and other genocides are heavily focused on the inhuman behavior of the "bad guys", but Levi focused more on the psychological effect that the Nazi's system of dehumanization had on human beings. He connects the problems that the prisoners in concentration camps were facing to broader, common problems that are faced by humans every day; those of relationships, maintaining morality, and keeping up the human side of oneself. It was a new interpretation of the Holocaust that was really insightful. (Note: I am in no way downplaying the inhumanity and horrors of the Holocaust, nor was Levi. That isn't at all what I'm saying!)

I observed while reading this memoir that Levi never disguised the feelings of despair and lost hope that he and other prisoners felt. He never claimed that hope was what got him through his time there; in fact, he wrote often about how there was no hope, and that feeling any kind of hope was a death sentence. This was interesting to me, as I had never heard this perspective before. He claimed that remaining human, resisting the Nazi's efforts to strip them of their humanity, and retaining morality was much, much more important than hope.

A good example of the interesting way in which Levi writes is that he describes using a classic literary passage in order to teach someone Italian. He writes that he was so, so angry with himself when he couldn't remember every word exactly from this passage, because it felt as though this connection to an art form (literature) was a piece of his humanity that he just could not lose. This really touched me, because as you probably already know, literature is near and dear to my heart. This memoir is full of moments like this, and it will bring tears to your eyes as he describes the struggle to remain a human being.

Overall, Survival in Auschwitz gives its readers a very different perspective on the Holocaust. I liked Levi's subtle cuts at the Nazi's dehumanization tactics, his heart-warming anecdotes, and the way he described the relationships he formed in Auschwitz. His spirit shines through, and you can really tell that he wrote this memoir in order to keep the memory of everyone who suffered this atrocity alive. He told the stories of those who were not able to tell their own, and that is a beautiful, incredible, human thing. I highly recommend this memoir to everyone. Not just history buffs, not just lovers-of-memoirs, but everyone.

I recommend Survival in Auschwitz 10/10.