SEVENTEEN : The Story of Ten Days

Chapter 17, finally an end of the horrifying camps? Levi’s escape and his journey back to humanity? Victory against the SS? Survival considered strength? Nonsense.

Primo Levi and comrades, the seven people, had achieved success to survive the ten days. With somewhat luck and the crave for survival, they were able to find those that were essential to the survival of a human being. Through those ten days, they fought against illness and grasped survival until the Russians could finally rescue them. Following their immediate rescue, these men were served in a temporary hostpital of the russians and then sent home. Although Primo Levi had survied Auschwitz, I stronly believe that he probably had felt to some extent guilt. Because you see, the most hardest endurance in the world is to see comrades, friends and family die away one by one, untill only a handful are left while you are alone still living. Levi probably would have felt pain to see himself still struggling for life while his friends and family are sent to the crematorium.

Although many or enough prisoners had fought against the SS soldiers through rebellious activiteis, Levi couldn't even utter a single word against them. So is survival such a grace? I believe that because of survival in Auschwitz, Levi was that much tormented by his past in the present which lead him to his suicide. It is difficult to endure memories that haunt you. Levi probably couldn't even had a sound sleep due to nightmares of the camps.

Through the last chapter, I came across an article that had suggested about the title of the book. In the US version, it is adapted as 'Survival in Auschwitz'. The meaning of the orignal version was meant to be 'If this is a Man'. The latter, I believe has much more significance and impact upon the content of the book. The reason I state such a matter is because throughout the book, Levi portrays the SS soldiers and Germans as 'inhumane'. He often discusses how such a man could hit another without anger. Through the content of the book, I believe that the title of the original version goes along better.

SIXTEEN : The Last One

Chapter 16, a chapter in which the mind begins to ponder, whether the prisoners of the camp were ‘normal’ ever in their lives. A chapter in which we realize the grimness of the situation that had occurred. In which we begin to connect our lives with those unfortunate of the commodities that we are privileged with. I believe that this chapter helps those who read the book how great a situation we are bestowed upon. We often complain how ‘better’ our lives could have been, how ‘more’ we deserve until this chapter makes us realize, ‘my position isn’t even close to horrible’.

As the ‘last’ rebellious soul was executed, the pride and dignity of the prisoners, the Jews, were destroyed. Even in the presence of the ‘last one’s’ execution, the prisoners had not said anything or acted upon anything. The SS soldiers had achieved victory upon their plans for genocide. Physically, bodies of the Jews were alive and the race existed on earth, but mentally, spiritually, the Jews were dead. They were no longer of any value because they had given up their self-esteem and dignity. No more were the Jews that could achieve victory against the Germans. They had already lost to fight that had never begun.

FIFTEEN : Die drei Leute vom Labor

In chapter 15, Primo describes how 174,000 Italian Jews were first arrived at Auschwitz and how only twenty-one now survived. This tells a great deal of how many people were exterminated by the Germans during the Holocaust. It is not in terms of minor massacres but truly a mass extermination of a whole race. In this chapter, Levi mainly talks about how uncertain their future is and how they are lucky to survive throughout their duration in the camp. Then, Primo Levi is chosen one of the three to work as specialists in the Laboratory.

Inside this Laboratory, he is ensured with the survival of the cold winter and less suffering from hunger because he was not subject to physical labor. He describes how he remembers many objects and is happy to see familiar sites of when he was a free man. He states how the condition he is currently in is better than those who work in the cold how he received a book to refresh his analytical skills.

Despite the ‘good’ conditions that he received inside the labs, outside, nothing had changed. Primo Levi, by being chosen for the Laboratory was able to experience a closer form of humanity because of the treatment that was different from the ‘outside’ but on the other hand, others were still fighting against death and were in constant fear of selections. This shows to me how there can be such a difference in condition despite that they are still in the same concentration camps.

Although Levi was in better situations, he was not all relieved of potential stress. One thing that had tormented him in the lab was the presence of women. He had noticed that in the camp, physical appearance had not mattered but inside the lab, the girls showed their disgust for the prisoners that worked inside the lab. He noticed how the ‘girls’ would not answer to the questions he had and how they would deliberately show their hatred towards them. Ironically, I thought that his type of stress was only caused on the outside of the barbed wires. In a sense, maybe Levi might have felt like a free man when he had to take sense of how he looked.

Mostly, I think this chapter should be considered a transition. From this chapter and on, I believe that Levi will go through changes that will benefit his survival in Auschwitz. As being selected for the Lab, also in the later chapters, I believe that Primo Levi will finally escape from ‘hell on earth’ and become a free man.

FOURTEEN : Kraus

Diligent workers are noticed by the society no doubt. The universal law in the world is that hard workers achieve higher goals. And as a result we come to the conclusion that hard work equals acknowledgment from those around us. In Auschwitz, everything is nothing. Prisoners aren’t acknowledged by how hard they work or how good their relationships are. No matter how hard they try, Jews are considered as Jews. That was how the Germans functioned. Stubborn indeed. This was the strength of propaganda. It destroys personal opinions and strength for objective critical views. The only factor that mattered in the concentration camps was whether you were worth manual labor. Humans are products in Auschwitz. If they find no use for the prisoners, they are exterminated. Kraus was a fool. He worked hard for nothing. Although it is heartbreaking to acknowledge this fact, Kraus was a fool for working hard in Auschwitz. No matter how hard he worked, he will nonetheless be a subject for execution.

In Auschwitz, everything is nothing

Diligence acknowledges nothing

Indolence acknowledges nothing

Kindness acknowledges nothing

Evilness acknowledges nothing

Strength acknowledges nothing

Weakness acknowledges nothing

Existence acknowledges DEATH

THIRTEEN : October 1944

Chapter 13 is the result of an ignorant human being creating propaganda for his people to believe a false truth and an ignorant race that was naive enough to believe this propaganda. Many of us debate upon the matter of how evil Hitler and the German race were and how the selections for the crematorium or the gas chambers were inhumane. WE ALSO LIKE TO CONVERSE WITH EACH OTHER HOW SELECTIONS WOULD HAVE BEEN TO THOSE INDIVIDUALS WHO WERE SUBJECT TO IT AND HOW IT WOULD HAVE FELT TO BE CHOSEN FOR DEATH. But the matter of fact is, how stupid we are to think that we are not subject to selections. What more is stupid is to proudly state that we ‘understand’ how much fear these people would have felt if chosen for death. Are you sure you truly understand? Personally, I think that no matter how hard I try to understand, I wouldn’t NEVER be close to the fear that was felt by the prisoners. So it is truly a idiotic action to say that we understand.

Above, I stated that it was stupid to think that we are exceptions from selections. But in fact, our society is always based on selections. We are selected and categorized into types of human beings. Although we always debate upon the selective system in the concentrations camps, we too, are destined to be selected. Take for instance, college applications, some are selected and some are not, and this selection may often affect our future. So in truth, it is hilarious for us to discuss the fear of death because for the time being we won’t feel what the prisoners felt and for us to discuss how cruel selections are because we are living in a selection based society.

TWELVE : The Events of the Summer

It is indeed shocking to view how many different qualities were present in those who were retained inside the concentration camps. Most of these qualities that appeared in the men were often hard to even imagine about. Primo Levi had done a great deal of portraying what the men had felt so that the readers could somewhat easily understand the circumstances that these people were in.

Some of the traits that intrigued me was that the men, after their duration in the concentration camps began to lose will to live, had thought that hope would only be a hindrance to their survival, and that they lost self identification.

In chapter 12, Primo Levi especially speaks about how people began to forget who they were as a free man and how difficult it was to remember how the outside of the barbed wire was functioning. During this process, Primo Levi states a man who helped him and maybe, the sole factor of influencing himself to survive Auschwitz. He mentions Lorenzo, someone that had helped in supporting Primo with extra food and equipment, stating that a good deed should be done without a want for recognition or praise.

Through this man, Primo was able to ‘rethink’ that he too was a man. He began to realize how the environment of the camp had influenced him to think that he was no longer a human being but an animal inferior to the Germans. Undeniably, I believe that through a constant repeat of action, the human brain will able to believe anything or forget anything. This was the case for the prisoners in the concentration camps. Through constant degrading actions from the Germans, the prisoners lost their identity as a free man.

The reason this impacted me with great deal was because there was a similar case with the North Koreans. Some time ago, their leader, Kim Jung-IL had brainwashed his people that he was great leader and an absolute being. This was done by constant repeated speeches and therefore, before the people could develop individual opinions on their leader, they began to believe what they were told to believe.

It is hard to acknowledge what had happened in Auschwitz. What is more difficult to acknowledge is that these prisoners had lived without hope or self-identity.

ELEVEN : The Canto of Ulysses

This particular chapter was the most difficult for me to understand thoroughly. As a result, I had to think deeply while reading to analyze and understand what Primo Levi was portraying through this chapter. Then, I came to realize why Primo Levi would use the Canto of Ulysses in part of his story of survival in a concentration camp. In the chapter before, he already stated that he was ripped of not only his possessions, but also those of his pride and hopes. Ironically, this chapter depicts something more than suffering from physical labor and hunger. The content of the chapter gives off a different aura than the others and in turn impacts the reader in a different way.

Mainly, the chapter discusses about the days after the examination where there was no specific job related to chemistry but rather similar to what was done before. It also states about different comrades and how they would rest when there was no guard to watch the prisoners’ work and how they had the advantage of working out of the sun. But halfway through the chapter, Primo Levi has the chance to leave the worksite to retrieve rations for the day with Jean.

From this moment on, he describes how they were able to have a decent conversation of life in the past and find many qualities that were similar as well as different. And during this time, Primo Levi begins to teach Jean Italian. Throughout this period, Primo states how different two languages can be and that it is somewhat difficult to translate one language to the other perfectly. He states that during the process of translation, perfect words could not be found because of the fact that some meanings are just not the same even though the word might be similar. What I mean by this is that even though the meaning of the word might be same, the feeling to what the word gives off can vary.

This case is evident in languages around the world. As in English, “apple of my eye” may mean to cherish something above everything else, but translated into Korean; it doesn’t make sense that there is an apple to an eye.

Different qualities are often hard to overcome. It is inevitable to avoid these disagreements between cultures and languages. There are some phrases that might impact someone in one language but may mean nothing in another. I think Primo Levi had felt this way trying to teach Jean a language and phrase that meant something powerful in Italian and yet not that powerful in French.