داستانی واقعی !
این کتاب از زبان نویسنده داستان اسارتش را در اردوگاه کار اجباری روایت می کند و خاطره های ناگوار و تلخی که تجربه کرده است را نوشته .
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جنگ جنگ است .
دوست و دشمن نمی شناسد
نژاد و ملیت نمی شناسد
مذهب و کفر نمی شناسد
کافیست شما قدرت در دست داشته باشید و با ترفند هایی در ذهن طرفداران و مریدان خود ، عقایدتان را جا دهید ، شما برنده اید زیرا اگر امروز فرمان جنگ را بدهید عده ای جان بر کف برایتان صف خواهند کشید .
اما این کار هر کسی نیست، نیاز به هوش بالا
و ممارست دارد ، زمانی هم باید صرف شود تا از یک انسان عادی یک قاتل بسازید اما راه و رسمش همین است . همین راهی که هیتلر رفت !
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سرما ، گرسنگی ، کارهای طاقت فرسا ، خواب کم ، توالت های کثیف ،بیماری و هزاران هزاران شکنجه روحی و جسمی دیگر این کتاب بهتر بگویم آشویتس را تشکیل میدهد .
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وقتی کتاب رو میخوندم میگفتم چقدر این آلمانیا فکر میکنند چقدر حتی برای شکنجه هم برنامه هاشون دقیقه

Τα μεγάλα έργα είναι και αυτά που κατά βάση φέρουν ένα ιστορικό φορτίο, δεν είναι προϊόν μυθοπλασίας αλλά απόρροια ανθρώπινων εμπειριών και αναμνήσεων. Το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο, είναι ένα από αυτά. Καθόλου φλύαρο, αντικειμενικό, χωρίς κανένα ίχνος εμπάθειας προς τους Ναζί ή μίσους. Λόγος δυνατός, ωμός και αληθινός. Δεν έχω λόγια !

Zeer indrukwekkend boek. Primo Levi heeft dit boek geschreven tussen december 1945 en januari 1947, dus begon met zijn verslag nog geen tien maanden nadat hij de hel van het concentratiekamp had verlaten. Dat vind ik een bijna bovenmenselijke prestatie, vooral ook omdat het zo prachtig geschreven is. Ik bewonder hem zeer dat hij zijn ervaringen zonder rancune en woede heeft beschreven. Hij voelde dat, wat hij te vertellen had, niet alleen de beschrijving van zijn ervaring was en dat hij sprak namens vele miljoenen. Hij had zichzelf duidelijk de taak gesteld om de gruwelijke werkelijkheid van de kampen voor de wereld te beschrijven. Hij is in zijn missie geslaagd, want door hem weten we nu hoe het dagelijkse leven in een concentratiekamp eruit zag. Maar nooit zullen we weten hoe dat voelde, die honger en die kou waar, zo zei Levi ergens, nieuwe woorden voor zouden moeten worden uitgevonden omdat ze de lading van die normale woorden niet meer konden dekken.

What do you say about a book such as this? Other than it’s important to read it? I’m not sure.

This is Primo Levi’s eye witness account, his version of his personal experiences being a prisoner in Auschwitz during WWII. It’s not exaggerated, it’s not put into a neat narrative, with a clear beginning, middle and end. Which may be what makes it all the more powerful. He writes in a way that’s almost analytical, each chapter covers a particular subject or theme. There’s little thought given to chronology, instead he hones in on details, on people he remembers, on rules and how they were enforced. The descriptions are realistic, and almost emotionless. Almost.

This witness account is by its very nature exceptional. By surviving Primo Levi is an exception, as most others who ended up where he did died, and hence the title: this is the story of surviving in Auschwitz, not merely being there. And surviving is a different matter altogether. Surviving requires something more than simply existing.

All eye witness accounts are different. You use whatever language you have, whatever way of telling the story that makes sense to you, and you give the world a piece of lived history. You can’t criticize it from a literary perspective, it’s beyond that, you may be able to find flaws in it from a historical perspective, but you can’t judge the quality of someone’s lived experience, not when they lived through something like this. Whatever way they decide to tell it, is the way it needs to be told.

There are fascinating discussions about trauma and witness literature, because it stands outside of everything we’re used to. Can something as traumatic as Auschwitz be written about in a meaningful way? Does it have to be meaningful? Is it simply important it exists? Should someone who wasn’t there ever write about it – are they allowed?

It’s difficult and complex and there is no clear answer. If we don’t write about it, if we don’t reproduce the experiences of traumatic things – even when those who experienced them pass away – then someday we will forget about it. It’ll slip out of our cultural memory, even though books like this exists, even though someone dared bear witness. But it’s a subject where one needs to tread carefully. Because it’s about lived lives, and there are people who have to live with the memories of being there. Even after they’re gone, that will have to be respected.

So what do you say about a work such as this? Not a lot. You simply read it. You simply admire what it must have taken to write it.

And you remember how important it is to stand up against evil – whatever form it takes. It takes very little, in the end, to make a person feel less than human, and it shouldn’t happen, ever. But it did happen, it’s still happening in different shapes, and it could happen again.

I hope this book never fades away. I hope we don’t forget.