Survival In Austwich

4 Pages 1103 Words

In the History of the world there have been few incidences of atrocities that equal the treatment of the Jews in Europe during World War II. It is difficult to accept the levels of systematic cruelty and terror experienced during this period. In the book Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi paints a picture with disturbing detail that is meant to serve as a reminder of the unimaginable horrors millions of men, women and children were forcefully subjected to as a result of hate.
As a Jew, Levi knew he was in danger while living in fascist Northern Italy. By 1943, the Nazis had moved south and set up holding camps around Italy to detain political prisoners and those of the Jewish nationality until they could be transported to established concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Dachau. This book depicts what happened to Levi after his arrest in 1944. Along with 650 others, he was loaded into a freight train for a four day journey without food or water and without the liberty to leave the train at anytime. Upon their arrival at the camp of Auschwitz, Poland, the first of a precession of selections took place. The German SS Soldiers separated those they deemed capable of work from those they deemed incapable, such as women, children and elderly. Only 135 of the 650 from Levi’s train were admitted into Auschwitz, the other 515 went immediately to the gas chambers. These methods of selection were to a degree, a logical means as compared to other random selections. “Later, a simpler method was adopted that involved merely opening both doors on the train. Without warning or instruction to the new arrivals, those who by chance climbed down on one side of the convoy entered the camp; the others went to the gas chamber."(20)
He was herded with the others into the camp and after being striped naked and having his head shaved, he was given an old striped uniform and the identification numbers 174517 tattooed on his arm. Levi recalled ...