A short book in which Levi recalls individuals (or rather, characters) he encountered both during his incarceration at Auschwitz or later. If there is a linking theme it may be that these are portraits of courage, individuality and resilience.

Moments of reprieve. A dozen or so stories about individuals who stood out against the cruel backdrop of Auschwitz. These individuals offered Levi moments of reprieve in the camp. Or maybe the writer's process offered Levi moments of reprieve later in his life when Auschwitz was haunting him.

These accounts offer a written history of real individuals who would've otherwise been forgotten by time. I hope that each of these stories finds its place behind a name at Yad Vashem's Hall of Names.

"Pensavo anche alla essenziale ambiguità dei messaggi che ognuno di noi si lascia dietro, dalla nascita alla morte, ed alla nostra incapacità profonda di ricostruire una persona attraverso di essi, l’uomo che vive a partire dall’uomo che scrive: chiunque scriva, anche se solo sui muri, scrive in un codice che è solo suo, e che gli altri non conoscono; anche chi parla. Trasmettere in chiaro, esprimere, esprimersi e rendersi espliciti, è di pochi: alcuni potrebbero e non vogliono, altri vorrebbero e non sanno, la maggior parte non vogliono né sanno." (Decodificazione, p. 228)

Moments of Reprieve : A Memoir of Auschwitz (Twentieth Century Classics) by Primo Levi (1995)

在兽性和人性交织的灰色地带，人性的光辉永远无法被掩埋。

In the horror of Auschwitz occasional moments of something like grace and humanity.

Primo Levi wrote about the horror and pain of his time in Auschwitz in his book 'If This is a Man'. In this short book, however, he remembers the moments of grace, friendship and generosity. He talks about the astonishing characters like the 'juggler' who was able to maintain his agency and personal and idiosyncratic way of being in spite of the terror and death around him. The young Roma man who, in spite of his youth, was able to run rings round the guards and smuggle contraband into the camp and for whom Primo Levi writes letters to his family who, of course, never receive them.

Hunger haunts Primo Levi and all the other prisoners throughout the book. The daily ration was calculated to be just under the calorific value needed to keep a human going who was doing hard physical labour and so, in order to survive, they had to steal, the punishment for which was death.

One day parcels arrive from home with food for the prisoners. This had never happened before and would never happen again. Primo Levi opened the box and realised that he now had a big problem. How to keep the food for himself and his friend. They found ingenious ways of sewing biscuits into secret pockets in the lining of their clothes but soon realised that they would be found out. They used the food to buy good favour as an investment for the future. Primo Levi cashed in his credit one day when he was particularly hungry and was given half a bowl full of soup that was frozen solid. He ate the soup and as a result contracted scarlet fever which nearly killed him.

However, by a twist of fate, it was this illness that saved his life. All the healthier prisoners were marched out of the camp by their captors as the Allies approached and most of them died on the way. Primo Levi was left behind and, although weak, survived his illness, was rescued by the Allied troops and made it back to civilian life in his native Italy.

Those are just a few of the moments of reprieve in this touching and disturbing little book. Primo Levi maintains an ironic equilibrium throughout and his prose style is urbane and direct. He never lets us forget the horror of Auschwitz and never tries to make sense of his experiences. The moments of reprieve he remembers are few, fleeting and set in an ocean of pain, drudgery, starvation and oppression.

I've been wanting to sink my teeth into Levi for a long time now and I finally have. And a beautiful book to be my 75th of the year, the book that marks the end and successful completion of my target.

I was absorbed completely in this. He is a gifted writer and as a survivor of the Holocaust, how can you not have the upmost respect for him? Levi is thoughtful and each of the characters and stories he tells in this seem so deeply moving and powerful that I am sure I will not forget this book, or any of his others when I come to read them. I agree with Calvino - Levi is vitally important.

Interesting to read about the presence of humanity in the Holocaust. Standouts were of the story about Rumkowski and Lorenzo (in my opinion)

4.5/5

Changed my life this one gave me deep calm also horrific also deffo written by a man but ye shifted something in me

I'm reading up on the Holocaust, this was very approachable.