Survival in Auschwitz

As told by Primo Levi

By: Courtney Novotny,

Russel Thomas, Brian Briggs

Primo Levi
Born in 1919; died in 1987
Arrested during the Second World War as a member of the anti

Fascist resistance
Primo Levi was a chemist.
Levi was betrayed by one of his own number and was deported to a
Nazi concentration camp.
He spent 10 months at Auschwitz.
He was left behind at the camp because he had fallen to scarlet
fever.
He retired in 1977 and continued to write until his death on April 11,
1987.

The Journey
Primo Levi was captured by the Fascist Militia on December
13, 1943, at the age of 24.
He was Italian-Jewish.
He was then sent to a detention camp called Fossoli.
When roll was called at the camp, for every person that
wasnt there, ten were killed.
The weather was very intense and cold.
The SS Army forced all the young men off the train and
grouped them together.
All their watches and money were taken by the SS.

On The Bottom

At Fossoli, he was given nothing to drink and no showers for four

days.
When the men were taken off the train, they were forced to take off
their clothes and separate them into two piles.
Then their heads were shaved.
They were kept in big groups and forced to shower together while
standing in two inches of cold water.
After this harsh treatment, they were given clothes and shoes and
put to work.
The men were tattooed with numbers, their way of getting food.

Initiation

Slept very poorly

The conditions of the barracks were poor.

At the time, bread was the only source of

money and trade.
The washroom had mud-covered floors and
undrinkable water.
On the wall in the washroom, Survival in
Auschwitz was written.
While Levi was at the camp, he had to
translate the Italian for the other prisoners.

Ka-Be

While he was in the camp, he tried to avoid work as much as possible, but it
didnt always work.
The prisoners were made to carry cast-iron supports on their shoulders.
Levi was made to walk at the front of the line and carry the supports, which
was most of the support weight; this was very unsafe.
His ankle was cut by one of the supports and little could be done to heal the
wound.
Taken to the infirmary called Krankenbau (Ka-Be) for the wound.
There were two clinics, Medical and Surgical.
He was then examined and kept in a room with many others.
Kept in Ka-Be for twenty days
The wounds on his feet, even after being at Ka-Be, still remained unhealed.

Our Nights
As the winter season came, the amount of sleep
that the prisoners were allowed increased.
Less daylight for work

Had to share a bunk with another prisoner

Very little room

All prisoners dreamed of eating and telling their

families about their suffering.
Often woke up to use the latrine
When it overflowed, the prisoners had to empty it.
Spilled it on themselves

The Work

Manual labor

Moved a cast-iron cylinder through mud and

snow

The Nazis took advantage of the most physically fit

Jews and used them for the war effort.

Created a smooth path

Moved the cylinder using levers

Went to the latrine as a way of resting

One hour lunch break

Ate soup within a few minutes

Slept for the rest of the hour

A Good Day

When winter was over, all the prisoners were

ecstatic.

Few clothes

Felt more hungry when they didnt have to

worry about the cold
Spoiled soup that civilian workers discarded
was found

The Kapo of Primos Kommando allowed a prisoner

to fetch it for the rest of the Kommando

Civilians soup was much better than the prisoners
Enough for larger rations than usual

This Side of Good and Evil

Prisoners and civilians bartered goods.

Bread, soup, vegetables, tobacco, shirts, gold

teeth, spoons, brooms, shoe polish
Traded within the camp, also smuggled in and
out of Buna

Theft and trade accepted by both SS and

civilians

SS punished those who traded within the camp

Civilians punished those who traded in Buna

Punished by both SS and civilians

Jews sent to coal mines, civilians lived with

Jewish prisoners for several months

The Drowned and the Saved

The

weakest were called musselmen.

No useful connections or secrets

Those

who were clever were respected.

Had good jobs, extra rations

Became cruel when given power

Prisoners

gave up morals and beliefs in

order to fight to live.

The Drowned and the Saved

Schepschel

Alfred L.

Impressed the SS by being neat and disciplined

Given an easy job

Elias

Stole and bartered goods

Sang and danced for non-Jewish prisoners for extra rations
Tried to appear vicious in order to get a better job

Physically extremely strong

Worked harder than most prisoners
Given skilled work

Henri

Used pity to get goods from the English prisoners-of-war

and people in high positions in the camp

Chemical Examination

Primo was assigned to the

Chemical Kommando.

Carried sacks of chemicals to

warehouses

Took a chemistry examination

Wanted to work in a laboratory

Did not find out the results for a long
time

The Canto of Ulysses

Primo was given the job of bringing lunch to

his commando with another prisoner, Jean.
Opportunity

for a slow walk with no burden

Recited parts of The Divine Comedy

Think

of your breed; for brutish ignorance

Your mettle was not made; you were made men,
To follow after knowledge and excellence (qtd. in
Levi 113).
Opportunity to remember his humanity
Felt that it related to his experience

October 1944
It became colder.
Levi had survived for a relatively long
time.
He became a bit more self-confident.
He spoke of words like fear and
hunger, but said they were free
words, words of a free man.
He survived another death selection.

Kraus

This chapter took place in November 1944.

The rain made the men bitter and cold.
Levi commented that the only way to escape
the rain and the death of life is to touch the
electric fence or throw oneself under the train
as it moved.
Levi complained of how Kraus, a new
prisoner, has not learned to work slowly.
Kraus was scolded by the chain leader for it.

Die drei Leute vom Labor

Levi finally lost track of time and could not

remember how long he had been in the camp.
He said that when he came to the camp, there
were 96 men, but by the October selection, there
were 29, and after the selection, 21.
Levi was selected for laboratory detail, and he
was happy to see that he would not be cold that
winter.
He started to steal petrol and to sell it on the
camps black market for more rations to split with
his friend Alberto.

The Last One

Levi worked in the laboratory for most of the

winter and walked back to camp with his friend
Alberto. They discussed random things of little
importance.
The one thing that was important to them was
that their friend Lorenzo was getting many pints of
soup each day and needed a way to carry it.
They traded rations with a tin smith in camp to
make a zinc pot, and then transported the soup.
They also became better friends with their hut
mates as the season went on.
They witnessed the public execution of a man who
had connections to the rebels who blew up a gas
chamber in another camp.

The Story of Ten Days

Levi contracted scarlet fever and was sent to Ka-Be.

He got a bunk of his own and was in a room with twelve other sick men. He was
supposed to have been there for forty days.
When the barber came, he received news of something happening out west, but
he was not sure what it was.
That day, the prisoners were told that they were being evacuated by the
Germans and would have to march twelve miles, most likely to their deaths.
Alberto and Levi shared goodbyes and Alberto left while Levi was stuck in the
hospital.
Levi and the other patients in his room were left for dead when the others left.
They cooked potatoes and tried to survive.
They ventured into the SS camp for supplies and found soup and beer.
While they were at the SS camp, some SS came back and killed eighteen
Frenchmen in the mess hall.
They found a cache of potatoes outside of the camp, and were not starving to
death anymore.
The Russians finally came and the prisoners were rescued.

Works Cited
Bauer, Jerry. Levi. 12 Sep 2004
<http://www.inch.com/%7Eari/levi1/html>
Levi, Primo. Survival in Auschwitz. New York:
Touchstone, 1958.
Penhall, Susan. The electrified border fence at
Auschwitz. 12 Sep 2004 <http://www.web.
ukonline.co.uk/auschwitzpoland/gallery.htm>