If This Is a Man / The Truce - Primo Levi

If This Is a Man / The Truce - Primo Levi: Essential reading (1579 words)
by fizzywizzy - written on 12.04.06 (Very useful, 724 readings)
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On the day I visited Auschwitz in September 2003 the sun was shining, flowers were in full bloom and the birds were singing sweetly overhead; it was difficult to imagine, on the surface, that this was one of the scenes of probably the most appalling event of the twentieth century, Like all the other visitors I made my way around the camp, looking at the exhibits and reading the information panels which explained what had gone on in the various buildings, urging us to think about what it would be like in that room if there were two hundred people sleeping there. It was not until I read "If this is a Man" by Primo Levi that I was really able to ...

Prisoner Number 174517  (2184 words)
by Mauri - written on 15.08.02 (Very useful, 442 readings)
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I can’t say I ‘enjoyed’ reading this book and yet it was one of the most moving and important books I have ever read. ABOUT PRIMO LEVI Primo Levi was born in Turin, Italy, on the 31st of July 1919. Levi was part of a long established Jewish Community in Piedmont, Northern Italy. Is early life was uneventful; he was a good student and eventually trained as a chemist. In 1919 another event occurred which would forever affect Primo Levi’s life, the National Socialist Party and Fascist Parties were formed in Germany and Italy respectively. In 1938 several anti-Jewish laws were passed in Italy as they had been in Germany. These began ...

If This Is a Man / The Truce - Primo Levi: a lesson for us all (313 words)
by corman - written on 02.07.01 (Very useful, 100 readings)
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If this is a man and The Truce are two books combined into one and are the autobiographies of an Italian man named Primo Levi. During the second world war he was interned by his fellow countrymen because he was jewish, and then ultimately shipped off to Auschwitz. The first book tells the story of his life in Italy and the events that led to the jewish community in his area being named and then shipped 'east'. His account of his time in Auschwitz is moving and poignant. It is truly one of the best books that I have read on the holocaust as it is a personal and touching account of one man's survival in a situation that is incomprehendible ...