The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi
4 stars
The Drowned and the Saved was Primo Levi’s last book, published shortly before his death. The book is comprised of 8 chapters that read like short essays or meditations. The book explores the rationale behind the concentration camps during World War II and attempts to explain the mindset behind both the oppressors and the oppressed. Levi draws on his own experience as a prisoner in Auschwitz. There are chapters on memory, shame, gray zone (e.g. blurred lines between “us vs. them,” the situation of the intellectual prisoner, communication, and useless violence.

This was a wonderfully written and smart book. Levi’s speculations about various aspects central to the existence and consequences of extermination camps are fascinating. He writes in a way that is passionate, yet at the same time, he is able to reflect on what was a traumatic time in his life in a way that is intellectual rather than emotional.

I particularly appreciated the chapter on shame. He links this sense of shame to rates of suicide following liberation. I am a psychologist and I’ve worked with military Veterans including a few from WWII. I will never forget one WWII vet that I worked with who had witnessed and experienced many traumatic events during his service, but what he was most affected by was his experience of liberating one of the extermination camps. Like Levi, he talked about the differences between the movie versions of liberation as being joyful and big celebrations and his own experience seeing prisoners when he arrived at the camp. He talked about the pervasive sense of shame and anguish that preceded the immediate liberation.

The last chapter of the book is a series of excerpts from letters between Levi and German readers who responded to the first published German translation of “Survival in Auschwitz.” It is a powerful chapter that explores some of the perspectives of Germans citizens living during the time of the Holocaust.

Quotes:
The World into which one was precipitated was terrible, yes, but also indecipherable: it did not conform to any model; the enemy was all around but also inside, the “we” lost its limits, the contenders were not two, one could not discern a single frontier but rather many confused, perhaps innumerable frontiers, which stretched between each of us.
Thus the Lager, on a small scale but with amplified characteristics, reproduced the hierarchical structure of the totalitarian state, in which all power is invested from above and control from below is almost impossible.
Conceiving and organizing the squads was National Socialism’s most demonic crime. Behind the pragmatic aspect other more subtle aspects can be perceived. This institution represented an attempt to shift onto others – specifically the victims – the burden of guilt, so that they were deprived of even the solace of innocence.

A single Anne Frank excites more emotion than the myriads who suffered as she did but whose image has remained in the shadows. Perhaps it is necessary that it can be so. If we had to and were able to suffer the sufferings of everyone, we could not live.

( )

Primo Levi's "The Drowned and the Saved" is a collection of essays focused on his life as a Polish Jew who survived interment at Auschwitz and went on to write a series of books about his experiences.

Levi's essays are thought provoking as he attempts to understand why he survived and others did not; the reasons that much of a country allowed this to happen and how a traumatic event can form and individual but not define them.

I probably would have given this an even higher rating had I read Levi's "Survival in Auschwitz" first, as it contains more thorough account of his experiences (apparently) and is referred to often in "The Drowned and the Saved." Even without knowing the background material, I still found these essays to be powerful and thought provoking. ( )

This is not a novel but more of an essay The Drowned and the Saved is an attempt at an analytical approach. The problem of the fallibility of memory, the techniques used by the Nazis to break the will of prisoners, the use of language in the camps and the nature of violence are all studied. It is written by Pimo Levi, an Italian Jew who was in Auschwitz. It is well written. My Levi is an agnostic. He makes reference and quotes many works of literature such as Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain and Mazoni's The Betrothed and especially Dante. ( )

C'est arrivé et tout cela peut arriver de nouveau : c'est le noyau de ce que nous avons à dire. ' Primo Levi (1919-1987) n'examine pas son expérience des camps nazis comme un accident de l'histoire, mais comme un événement exemplaire qui permet de comprendre jusqu'où peut aller l'homme dans le rôle du bourreau ou dans celui de la victime. Quelles sont les structures d'un système autoritaire et quelles sont les techniques pour anéantir la personnalité d'un individu ? Quel rapport sera créé entre les oppresseurs et les opprimés ? Comment se crée et se construit un monstre ? Est-il possible de comprendre de l'intérieur la logique de la machine de l'extermination ? Est-il possible de se révolter contre elle ? Primo Levi ne se borne pas à décrire les aspects des camps qui restaient obscurs jusqu'aujourd'hui, mais dresse un bilan pour lutter contre l'accoutumance à la dégradation de l'humain.

The Drowned and the Saved, by Primo Levi is quite the intense and thought-provoking book. It is the kind of writing that leaves one speechless long after reading it.

Memory is fallible through the years. And, often we choose to remember what we want. No matter, Levi believes that we must remember, in order to combat the disease that ran rampant within the Nazi culture, and the Jewish inmate population. Primo Levi remembers all too well, and does not lessen his participation in being part of the “saved”. He acknowledges his acts, and remembers all the demeaning events and situations, for the future of mankind, hoping that no similar events will occur again. ( )