Pensavo, l'altro giorno, al titolo di questo libro: Se questo è un uomo.
E' una frase molto enigmatica, la si può leggere come una domanda: Se questo è un uomo? Nel senso, sei un uomo? Oppure potremmo valutarla come un'affermazione di esserlo effettivamente, un uomo. ecc...
Ma, in questo libro, la questione è ben più complessa, perchè Levi ci chiede e si chiede se questo sia davvero un uomo, in quel preciso periodo storico e cioè la vita all'interno dei Lager nazisti.

Se questo è un uomo

Voi che vivete sicuri
nelle vostre tiepide case,
voi che trovate tornando a sera
il cibo caldo e visi amici:
Considerate se questo è un uomo
che lavora nel fango
che non conosce pace
che lotta per mezzo pane
che muore per un si o per un no.
Considerate se questa è una donna,
senza capelli e senza nome
senza più forza di ricordare
vuoti gli occhi e freddo il grembo
come una rana d'inverno.
Meditate che questo è stato:
vi comando queste parole.
Scolpitele nel vostro cuore
stando in casa andando per via,
coricandovi, alzandovi.
Ripetetele ai vostri figli.
O vi si sfaccia la casa,
la malattia vi impedisca,
i vostri nati torcano il viso da voi.

Cos'altro dire dopo queste parole? Nulla, anzi bisognerebbe informarci sempre di più, non prendere tutto per assodato, non dimenticare il passato, anzi enfatizzarlo sempre più, soprattutto ai giovani, ricordare ciò che è stato, perchè, purtroppo, tutto ciò potrebbe ripresentarsi sotto mentite spoglie e quindi la conoscenza e lo spirito critico, sono le nostre uniche "armi" perchè ciò non accada mai più.

Le idee che proclamavano non erano sempre le stesse, e in generale erano aberranti, o sciocche, o crudeli; eppure vennero osannati, e seguiti fino alla loro morte da milioni di fedeli. Bisogna ricordare che questi fedeli, e fra questi anche i diligenti esecutori di ordini disumani, non erano aguzzini nati, non erano (salve poche eccezioni) dei mostri: erano uomini qualunque. I mostri esistono, ma sono troppo pochi per essere veramente pericolosi; sono più pericolosi gli uomini comuni, i funzionari pronti a credere e ad obbedire senza discutere, come Eichmann, come Hoss comandante ad Auschwitz, come Stangl comandante di Treblinka, come i militari francesi di vent'anni dopo, massacratori in Algeria, come i militari americani di trent'anni dopo, massacratori in Vietnam.

Un libro imprescindibile, necessario come "Il diario di Anne Frank" ed altre testimonianze, perchè la memoria non svanisca nel nulla, come una comunissima nebbia in una mattinata autunnale.

Η πιο σεμνή και ουσιαστική καταγραφή της φρίκης του Ολοκαυτώματος. Δεν είναι τυχαίο που το βιβλίο διδάσκεται από τη δεκαετία του 60 σε σχολεία. Ούτε ύφος ούτε μυθοπλασία, μόνο η παράθεση της αλήθειας, με οξυδέρκεια, βάθος ψυχής και τρυφερότητα απέναντι στον άνθρωπο.

Primo Levi, químico e italiano foi capturado pelos nazis e enviado para Auschwitz. Era judeu.
Teve "sorte" de ir escapando aos fornos crematórios e sobreviver até à chegada do exército russo e consequente fuga dos alemães.
Pegando no título do livro Se Isto é Um Homem, e considerando o homem como um ser pensante que se rege por valores morais que prezam a dignidade e o respeito pelo próximo, que homens eram estes nos campos de concentração?
Que homens eram os carrascos nazis, o que lhes motivou tanto ódio e o porquê de tanta satisfação em humilhar e levar à mais profunda degradação outros seres humanos?
E os que passavam para lá do arame farpado como prisioneiros, quando perdiam a sua humanidade?
Transporto o portão, privados dos bens pessoais, cabeça rapada, despidos de roupa e dignidade, envergavam a farda andrajosa e sujeitos ao regime mais abjeto, já não eram homens, já não eram mulheres, eram invólucros que marchavam ao ritmo da brutalidade. Sem vontade, doridos e esfomeados, quantos deles mantinham vivos os valores com que entraram?
Já todos vimos imagens do estado físico dos prisioneiros para sabermos que nada do que hoje é dito é exagero. Sujeitos a uma fome extrema, todas as medidas eram aceitáveis para arranjar comida. Quem diz comida, diz uma outra camisa para tentar conter o frio, uns sapatos menos rotos, as coisas mais básicas para sobreviver até ao dia seguinte. A caridade e a justiça ficaram do lado de fora dos portões. Ao enfrentar situações desta gravidade todo o ser humano regride e torna-se amoral.

Um livro relativamente pequeno que levanta questões de peso. A maioria delas continua sem resposta.

Primo Levi tinha tatuado no braço o número de identificação 174 517 e suicidou-se a 11 de Abril de 1987, 42 anos depois de ter sido libertado.

Survival in Auschwitz
n  n

A well-written, accessible testimony of day to day life in the Lager of Buna-Monowitz (Auschwitz), from January 1944 until its liberation on 27 January 1945.

The struggle with hunger, cold, tiredness and sickness becomes almost tangible while reading the many true stories which are absorbingly told.

The author's intelligent, insightful thoughts on the dehumanization caused by this constant struggle and humiliation of the Jewish prisoners, make this book a superior, timeless and mandatory read.

While Elie Wiesel's Night fixates heavily on the struggle with faith, Primo Levi's memoir felt more universal because of its focus on humanity itself.

“Auschwitz is outside of us, but it is all around us, in the air. The plague has died away, but the infection still lingers and it would be foolish to deny it. Rejection of human solidarity, obtuse and cynical indifference to the suffering of others, abdication of the intellect and of moral sense to the principle of authority, and above all, at the root of everything, a sweeping tide of cowardice, a colossal cowardice which masks itself as warring virtue, love of country and faith in an idea.”

Don't miss out on this wonderful, stirring book.

10/10

I will try not to overstate my feelings on this book.

I believe this is one of (if not THE) most important book ever written. Everyone should read this book. It details Levi's journey from his home in Turin to Buchenwald. It is absolutely beautifully written. Levi's style of writing is unlike any other I've read. It is detailed, incredibly intelligent, moving, poignant, and in some way almost detached from his experience, which makes reading about it all the more moving and painful. To hear him describe the horrors he saw and went through in such a third-person sort of way is truly heart-breaking. All of his works are amazing, but this is the one that I recommend to all of my friends. I've bought several people copies of this book, because I feel it is that important. We must never forget what happened. And we must never allow it to happen again.

"...Puesto que es difícil distinguir los profetas verdaderos de los falsos, es mejor sospechar de todo profeta; es mejor renunciar a la verdad velada, por mucho que exalte su simplicidad y esplendor, aunque la hablemos cómoda porque se adquiere gratis. Es mejor conformarse con otras verdades más modestas y menos entisiasmantes, las que se conquistan con mucho trabajo, poco a poco y sin atajos por el estudio, las discusión y el razonamiento, verdades que pueden ser demostradas y verificadas."

Ρε παιδιά τι βιβλιάρα ήταν αυτή. Πόσα χρόνια το είχα στο μυαλό μου να το διαβάσω αυτό το βιβλίο και πώς δεν είχε καθίσει μέχρι τώρα. Δεν έχω να σας πω πολλά. Είναι κάποια βιβλία που δεν μπορείς να τα κρίνεις για τη λογοτεχνική τους αξία γιατί το περιεχόμενο τους και ο λόγος ύπαρξης τους είναι πολύ πιο σημαντικός. Αν πρέπει να ξεχωρίσω ένα στοιχείο όμως και να το καταγράψω αντί κριτική�� είναι η τρομακτική ηρεμία και διαύγεια που διέπει την γραφή του Λέβι. Με γοήτευσε και με σόκαρε ταυτόχρονα. Είναι σχεδόν ασύλληπτο πως ένας άνθρωπος που έχει βιώσει την κτηνωδία σε όλο της το μέγεθος καταφέρνει ν’ αφήσει πίσω του το φυσιολογικό μένος που θα είχε κάποιος στη θέση του και να καταγράψει τα βιώματα του με έναν τρόπο τόσο νηφάλιο και ήρεμο.
Συγκλονιστικό. Να το διαβάσετε οπωσδήποτε.

This book is said to be one of the most important books ever written about Holocaust. What I am referring here are not the history books but the first-hand experiences written and narrated by the people who were there when the Holocaust happened. Since I read a handful of these, I can't disagree. I even think that, in some aspects, this could be the MOST important of them all.

You see, Anne Frank wrote her diary n  n at 13 while hiding in her house with her family so she was not able to include her harrowing experience in the concentration camp where she died. The writing was innocent, poignant and endearing but did not contain much. Victor Klemperer wrote his 3-volume diary n  n but a good bulk of it was his experience trying to elude the authorities as he had an "Aryan" wife so, although he was asked to live in a ghetto, he did not experience being in a concentration camp. Imre Kertesz wrote his quasi-autobiographical novel n  n telling the concentration camp experience of a 15-y/o boy, Gyorgy (George) in Auschwitz but he disavowed the strong biographical connection of the book to his life even if he was 14 when he was sent with his family to the camp. Last year, I was teary-eyed when I finished reading Elie Wiesel's n  n since it was too emotional and the writing was haunting. However, Elie Wiesel was 16 during the Holocaust so he wrote from the perspective of a teenager. What I mean is that given that the tragedy was all sad and harrowing, we already knew the perspective of a child or a teenager from Anne Frank, Kertesz and Wiesel, so I thought I also would like to have the perspective of a grown-up survivor. This now is what Victor Frankl in his clinical book n  n and Primo Levi in this book, n  n provide.

In their books, Victor Frankl and Primo Levi recounted WHAT THEY DID TO SURVIVE. I thought that this could have only been possible to come from thinking adults who are expected to be less emotional and more rational than most teenagers.

Victor Frankl says that to survive, one has to hold on to the image of yourself stepping out of the camp and going back to your life prior to the concentration camp. Everyday, you think of yourself going back to your home, job, loved ones, hobby, etc. These happy images are so powerful, they will give you reason to hope and live.

Primo Levi is more comprehensive and to-the-point. He says three: (1) organization; (2) pity and (3) theft. Levi survived using #1 as he was a summa cum laude chemistry graduate from Turin so he got lucky to be asked to work in the laboratory making synthetic rubber inside Auschwitz. But in this book, he gave examples of the prisoners who thrived using the other two or combinations or all the three.

That's the reason why I said that this could, indeed, be the MOST important book written about the Holocaust. If it happens again (God forbid), you have the tips on how to survive. Those tips come from first hand experiences of people who experienced them. I mean, well, it is nice to cry and be sad after reading a book, but it better to have something like a survival handbook too.

n   "I personaggi di queste pagine non sono uomini. La loro umanità è sepolta, o essi stessi l'hanno sepolta, sotto l'offesa subita o inflitta altrui"n

Aberrante,
inumano,
mostruoso,
incivile,
brutale,
orrido...
...quanti aggettivi scorrono nella mente del lettore!

Eppure, legge avvolto in un morbido plaid e attinge dalla scatola dei cioccolatini assaporando i privilegi ormai scontati.

"E' successo e non succederà mai più!" si sorprende a pensare.

Ma nello stesso momento in cui si formula il pensiero sullo stesso pianeta terra succede ancora.

Corpi straziati e resi inumani.

La storia ripete se stessa e il civile occidentale continua ad essere cieco e sordo permettendo che ciò accada.
Spesso l'indignazione dura giusto il tempo di girare una pagina.

Βιβλίο σταθμός στην εξιστόρηση του Ολοκαυτώματος μέσα από τα μάτια του συγγραφέα Πρίμο Λέβι ο οποίος ωμά, χωρίς να εκβιάζει συναισθήματα αλλά με τη λογική και τον ορθολογισμό ενός επιστήμονα καταθέτει όλη τη θηριωδία που έζησε στο Άουσβιτς.
Όπως πολύ σωστά γράφει στο τέλος ο στόχος του δεν είναι να μας βοηθήσει να καταλάβουμε, γιατί καταλαβαίνω σημαίνει μπαίνω στην θέση του θύτη και δικαιολογώ τις πράξεις του. Είναι προτιμητέο αυτές οι πράξεις να μείνουν για μας ακατανόητες γιατί αυτές οι πράξεις δεν είναι ανθρώπινες Αντιθέτως το ναζιστικό μισός στερείται λογικής. είναι ένα μίσος ξένο προς εμάς, δεν προσιδιάζει στον άνθρωπο. Δεν μπορούμε να το κατανοήσουμε αλλά μπορούμε και πρέπει να καταλάβουμε πως γεννιέται και να επαγρυπνούμε.
« Ο Πανβιτς είναι ψηλός ξανθός, αδύνατος, εχει τα μαλλιά, τα μάτια και τη μύτη ακριβώς όπως πρέπει να τα έχουν όλοι Γερμανοί, και κάθεται τρομακτικός πίσω από ένα πολύπλοκο γραφείο. Εγώ, ο Haftling 174517, στέκομαι όρθιος στο γραφείο του, γραφείο αυθεντικό, πεντακάθαρο και τακτοποιημένο, τόσο που νομίζω ότι θα άφηνα ένα λεκέ όπου θα τύχαινε να ακουμπήσω.
Όταν τελείωσε το γράψιμο, σήκωσε τα μάτια και με κοίταξε. Από εκείνη την ημέρα σκέφτηκα πολλές φορές και με πολλούς τρόπους τον doctor Πανβιτς. Αναρωτήθηκα ποια να ήταν η ψυχοσύνθεσή του και πως γεμίζει το χρόνο του, έξω από τον πολυμερισμό και την Ινδόγερμανική του συνείδηση, και πιο πολύ όταν έγινα ξανά ελεύθερος άνθρωπος, επιθυμούσα να τον ξαναδώ, όχι από εκδίκηση, αλλά μόνο για να ικανοποιήσω μια ανθρώπινη περιέργεια μου.
Γιατί εκείνο το βλέμμα δεν ανταλλάχτηκε ανάμεσα σε δύο ανθρώπους. Εάν μπορούσα να εξηγήσω σε βάθος τη φύση αυτού του βλέμματος, που αντάλλαξαν σαν μέσα από το γυάλινο χώρισμα ενός ενυδρείου δύο υπάρξεις που κατοικούν σε διαφορετικούς κόσμους, θα μπορούσα ίσως και να εξηγήσω την ουσία της παραφροσύνης του Γ´ Ράιχ»

Έχει έννοια να διαβάζεις ογδόντα χρόνια μετά για το Αουσβιτς; Κι όμως έχει γιατί η παγκόσμια ιστορία ΄χει καταγραφεί κυρίως από τις μαύρες στιγμές της. Μαθαίνουμε; Ελπίζουμε μετά τα όσα πέρασε η ανθρωπότητα στον Β΄ Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο να μας έχουν διδάξει την αποφυγή τέτοιων καταστάσεων που μηδενίζεται η ανθρώπινη υπόσταση. Υπό την έννοια αυτή πρόκειται για ένα αριστούργημα που η αξία του δεν είναι μόνο η ψυχρή καταγραφή της ζωής στο Αουσβιτς αλλά το επίμετρο του συγγραφέα και η συνέντευξη του όπου εκεί ξεδιπλώνονται οι προβληματισμοί του συγγραφέα. Το γεγονός ότι το βιβλίο έχει εισαχθεί στην Ιταλική εκπαίδευση λέει πολλά.

In 1943 Primo Levi was a chemist, was an Italian Jew, captured and sent to Auschwitz. This is his story, his telling of the day to day trials, horrors for the ten months he spent in the camp.

There can be no way to read these stories without feeling anguish and horror. He tells this horror in a way that almost feels devoid of emotion. Very analytical. He also tells us the day to day events of his work camp that he calls a lager, a camp where questions are not answered, where one learns not to ask. Where there is no tomorrow. Of the finishing number of people that come and go as new people arrive and others are selected to go to the ovens. He explains the psychogical state of becoming less than, beaten down, hope finished, just focusing on the here and now. Not enough food, not enough warmth, not enough of anything but work and more work from sunrise to sunset. He tells of the camp liberation by the Russians and how he was one of the lucky few still alive.

Just horrific