Es ist das nicht Pathetische, das einfach genau Beobachtete, das die Beschreibung so eingängig macht. Es ist das Absurde der Situationen, das einen Schaudern lässt. Dabei ist vom Tod kaum die Rede, nur davon, wie ein Mensch versucht, unter unmenschlichen Bedingungen, zu überleben. Immer auf dem Grat wandernd, so zu werden, wie ihn die Nazis mit seiner Einweisung nach Auschwitz haben wollten, und eben doch nicht so zu sein.

This book is one of the best books I’ve read so far, and every day you just want to get more and more involved with Levi. As he said, this book is not only a way of stating the atrocities committed by the nazis in the WWII but also to show us the life in the Lager and how to survive, or not, in it.
And the most interesting part is something that I’ve not seen so far in books about concentration camps… He tells us about how people, when faced with such difficulties, become animals.

First you start by losing your faith, your hopes, then you make it worse by having all this so long gone memories of your friends and family back in your home town, and then you understand you’ve nothing to lose, so you stop being a person and start acting by your primal instincts of survival. They all knew they were going to die, in a matter of time, but it was better to make their last time on earth the least unpleasant possible.

So, you start to robe the miserable people in the same condition as you, because you need to find a spoon to eat, or you need a better shirt… Or the smarter ones, that robe “the system” in all possible ways in order to get more bread or soup (the currency on the Lager).
This people were living in -20ºC with only a shirt, pants and wooden shoes, working and being starved to death in this conditions. Especially now I’m disturbed about this, since I’m living in Berlin, and some days you barely want to go out because it’s -18ºC and you freeze even with clothes on.

I don’t wanna talk anymore about this; I just have to say that this book profoundly touched me and even made me want to cry at times and it’s for sure, one of the best Auschwitz testimonials ever written

Difficult to write a review of such a great book; but a book which describes such horror and depicts the depths of inhumanity our species is capable of. everyone should read this book.

This book includes the two books Survival in Auschwitz and The Reawakening by Primo Levi. The American and European publications have employed different titles. The book ends with an excellent "Afterword". This too is written by the author. I recommend this edition.

This book is quite different from other holocaust books, by its very lack of emotion. It is a clear statement of what exactly happened to the author, both in the camp (If This is a Man) and afterwards on his travels home to Turin, Italy (The Truce). In the "Afterword" the author answers questions that readers have repeatedly asked. His answers are clear, concise and right to the point. This is a perfect ending to the book since you see how the author reasons after living through the experiences described. He knew exactly where he stood on every question. His wisdom impressed me.