I saw this book on a shelf and was immediately drawn to the subject. It contains a medical report on conditions in Auschwitz by a doctor and former inmate --clinical, objective, and to the point.

It was interesting to read this death camp described in a calm and methodical manner, without the usual emphasis on the horrors and abuses.

Although I welcomed this fresh perspective, I couldn't help but feel an eerie undercurrent as I read the work, treating this subject as a detached lab report divided by categories and timelines. One could say it was almost 'Nazi-esque'.

Clearly not a definitive work on internment in German/Polish concentration camps, this title fills an interesting niche and should be a part of the "Holocaust Canon".

3.75 /5
Difficult to rate. As others have stated, it's a dry read bar the last two essays by Primo Levi. But then again, the main text was commissioned to be a factual report and that's how it's indeed.

A factual account of their time in Auschwitz-Monowitz and the liberation by the Russians.

What humans can and will do to eachother...

A short medical essay written by Primo Levi about the medical diseases in Auschwitz. it's a fact filled book. not much of a personal anecdote or stories.

Short and to the point.

I read this alongside Fatelessness by Kertész.

This edition ends with Primo Levi's obituaries for co-author Leonardo de Benedetti. They are short and beautiful statements of love and friendship.

"Apparently frail, he possessed a rare strength of mind which showed itself more in endurance than in action and which communicated itself invaluably to those who were close to him... In the intervals between those death sentences and temporary reprieves he remained as he was, frail but not broken by the brutal life of the Lager, mildly and calmly aware, a friend to everyone, incapable of rancor, without anguish and without fear."

This is a straight forward report written by Primo Levi & Dr.Dibenedetto on the medical status of the camp & inmates of Auschwitz, written at the request of the liberating Russian army, and stating facts that have become well-known in the years since the war, though still shocking.

When I read the report a few months ago, I gave it 3 stars. Now (November 2016) - in hindsight - I realised that I made a mistake; I therefore decided to clear my rating. This is a report, it does not narrate a story and is not meant to be entertaining. Its purpose is to present facts in an objective unbiased manner.

If one is looking for a more personal, heartrending, account of the Holocaust, one should read Primo Levi's books: 'Se questo é un uomo' (If this is a Man) and 'La Tregua'.(The Truce) and many more. Not this one.

After reading this report I felt like they were in a "country club" camp. Levi and de Benedetti were in a work camp just outside of Auschwitz. They were much better treated than the people in Auschwitz

A harrowing piece of history that should be mandatory reading in all schools. The fact that there are survivors is miraculous unto itself but after reading this report, the word survivor takes on a whole new meaning for me! Unfortunately, these atrocities go on everyday, namely Syria! Shameful how we just never learnfrom our past.

Of historical interest only. Spend your time reading his better known books.

Much of what is contained here forms the basis of "If This is a Man" though the medical input of De Benedetti makes reading it worth reading in its own right. Levi remains one of the foremost chroniclers of the Holocaust.