Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11415 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02-19
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 187 pages

Synopsis
The author describes his twenty month ordeal in the Nazi death camp.

Customer Reviews

Buy 'If This Is A Man' Instead
A great work, but 'Survival in Auschwitz' is just the American name for 'If This Is A Man', which is published in Britain together with 'The Truce'. Amazon has it, it's better value as well as a better title.

One of the best Holocaust memoirs
There has been much great literature written by holocaust survivors, and this one is just about as good as any.

Primo Levi describes in "Survival in Auschwitz" the scheme by which those who could were able to maintain some sort of existance. Those unable to work are gassed, shot or beaten to death. Those who manage to survive are those who find ways to make themselves useful, without actual serioius exertion on the meagre rations. The lifeblood of the camp is "organising" - a black market where a stolen bar of soap is traded for a slice of bread; a potato for a scarf.

One difference between Levi and other Holocaust memoirs, is that he does not rely on an emotional appeal. He produces a trully excellent and insightful disposition of the the psychology of genocide. The emotional effects stems from Levis astute analysis, rather than being explicity given, an as such and as such are probably actually more effective.

It is a strange aspect of holocaust literatre, that in describing such terrible events they can engender such positive feelings in the reader. The way that those such as Levi can survive the horrors and somehow come out the other end as full human beings is inspiring to us all.

a hard read
this book was a below average read,iv read much better books than this onthe concentration camps.i found this book very hard to stay interested in and found alot of times my mind would wander off and get bored of this book so i didnt bother finishing it.so i wouldnt recommend this book