Relatório científico e histórico cuja leitura, profundamente dolorosa, nos ajuda a dissecar, com precisão cirurgia, um momento negro da história da humanidade em pleno século XX.

An understandably dry read for the most part the main body of this text is comprised of a report by Dr. Leonardo de Benedetti, compiled for the Soviet Army, on medical conditions in the Monowitz (Auschwitz III) concentration camp. Having said that, however, it must be noted that this is a factual text, a document, a report, and yet I couldn't say that the book is any less interesting than, say, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, a fictionalised account of a Siberian gulag that its author in theory had freedom to add more interesting detail to. As medical reports go, it must be said, I suspect you'd be hard pressed to find many that would be of greater interest. The report's heavy use of medical terminology combined with the gaps in the attached glossary made the book a harder read than I expected and certainly disrupted, for me, any momentum the book might have garnered but, again, this is entirely forgivable when mainstream publication of the text was never its intended aim.

The book's intro and outro are the parts most clearly written by Primo Levi, my reason for purchasing the book, and these parts are undeniably tough to read. Through clear, uncompromising prose Levi recounts the annihilation on arrival at the camp of the vast majority of the survivors of his intake's train journey to Auschwitz-Birkenau; he tells of the cruelty within the camp, most surprisingly the cruelty visited on prisoners by prisoners; he tells of the bizarre collection of circumstances that allowed those liberated by the Soviets to remain in the camp and he comments on what he understands to have happened to those who were deemed fit enough for the death march that took place from the camp heading for the heart of the Reich's territory.

Auschwitz Report is probably primarily a book for Primo Levi completionists and those with a heavy interest in either history, medicine, or both but I'm certainly happier for having actually read it rather than leaving my curiosity along with the book on the shelf in Waterstones.

A must for Holocaust readers. A report on the medical conditions in Auschwitz written right after the aftermath. I've read a lot of books on the topic but this one stands out. It's an objective report on how terrible the conditions were. It gives you another insight of the concentration camps. I read it in one hour!

Given that the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the camp is almost upon us, figured this would be as good a time to read this short, but poignant work. Written by two survivors and collected relatively soon after their liberation, this work offers insight into how Auschwitz operated. Even today, the horror of the camps is still hard to comprehend, but this work offers some technical/medical details as well as an overview of life there. There are numerous accounts of life at the camp, but there are so many more tales that died there, and the intent was for none of the internees to ever survive. You take all of these stories to heart and hope that we can learn. Enough to never repeat? That would be the goal, but sadly, too many don’t seem to take that lesson to heart. Still, it is worth the time to read and learn, and a concise volume such as this is a good start.

It's a report; my expectations were a bit too high. The subject matter wasn't groundbreaking, either - not to me, at least.

It's impossible to "rate" or "review" a work like this, but Primo Levi's cool, calm, and dispassionate reporting on the procedures and medical "care" provided at the Monowitz work camp of Auschwitz - with recurring patients eventually transferred to Birkenau and murdered in the gas chambers there - stands as essential reading.

Levi and his companion, Dr. Leonardo de Benedetti, not only survived the camp but later chronicled the experience in this clinical work. The emotional remove of the authors sets this work apart as one of the most clear-eyed accountings of the horrors perpetrated by industrial-era mass murder.

The emotion that comes into play is only in two separately appended documents, both remembrances Levi wrote to commemorate his lifelong friend Benedetti after his death in 1983. But it provides a spark of humanity that the two managed to keep alive both in the camp and for the rest of their lives.

Levi laat in het boek zien hoe het met de hygiëne en ziekte behandelingen is gesteld in het werkkamp Monowitz. Monowitz is een dochterkamp van Auschwitz waar vele overwegend mannen zijn omgekomen door slechte behandeling. Er wordt weinig tot niets gedaan aan hygiëne en ziektes omdat er geen middelen ervoor beschikbaar zijn. Op verzoek van Leonardo de Benedetti schreef Levi deze rapportage voor de Russen.
Zowel De Benedetti als Levi hebben in dit kamp gezeten en weten zowel aan de kant als zieke en aan de kant van genezer hoe moeilijk het in het kamp was. Het boek is een verhaal uit de eerste hand waarbij het vooral een rapportage is om hard neer te zetten wat de waarheid is.

De twee sterren die ik geef, is omdat het niet echt een verhaal is. Er zit wel een tijdslijn in, maar het is waargebeurd. Daarnaast is het soms lastig te volgen over wie Levi het heeft of waar hij het precies over heeft. Het is een 'technische' rapportage. En terecht overigens. Maar het is voor mij niet volledig. Het zijn ervaringen en daar ben ik me bewust van maar het maakt er niet makkelijker op. Er is weinig achtergrond over de auteur en De Benedetti, maar wel een kijk op een periode in Monowitz.
Een echte recensie over dit boek is te lastig om te vertellen.
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Over Primo Levi zijn een paar belangrijke dingen te vertellen. Hij is geboren in Turijn in 1919. Zijn ouders, Cesare en Ester zijn belezen en Ester speelt piano. Cesare werkt bijeen manufacture firma in Hongarije en was daar dan ook vaak. De familie Levi was een middelklasse Joods gezin die niet het geloof uitoefende behalve op feestdagen. Primo wist op jonge leeftijd al dat hij scheikundige wilde worden en ging uiteindelijk studeren aan de Universiteit van Turijn waar hij een proefschrift schreef. Wegens de opkomst van het antisemitisme werd hem geen baan aangeboden en werd het steeds lastiger om ergens een aanstelling te krijgen.
In 1940 kreeg Primo te horen dat zijn vader darmkanker had. En terwijl de oorlog uitbrak moest Primo ook nog onderduiken.
In 1942 ging Primo in het verzet en sloot zich in 1943 aan bij de Partizanen. Door een infiltrant werd datzelfde jaar de groep opgepakt. Toen men erachter kwam dat Primo Joods was, werd hij naar de doorgangskamp Fossoli gebracht. Vandaar uit werd hij als Joodse verzetstrijder doorgestuurd naar Auschwitz, waar hij in 1945 als 1 van de 5 overlevende de werkkamp Monowitz verliet. Hij was een bruikbare Jood doordat hij scheikundige was. Dat redde zijn leven.
In 1947 schreef hij voor het eerst over zijn ervaringen van de oorlog in Se questo è un umo (Is dit een mens?). Daarna schreef Primo nog meer boeken.
Over het genoemde boek is hieronder meer te vinden:
http://www.humanistischecanon.nl/ausc...
Op Goodreads is deze site:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Meer informatie is helaas vooral te vinden op wikileaks en andere sites die ik persoonlijk niet ken:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primo_Levi
http://www.inch.com/~ari/levi1.html
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©1946 Giulio Einaudi Editore
©2008 Nederlandse vertaling J.M. Meulenhoff b.v. Amsterdam
©2008 Inleiding Jacq Vogelaar en J.M. Meulenhoff b.v.
Oorspronkelijke titel: Rapporto sull'organizzazione igienico-Sanitaria del campo di concentrramento per ebrei di Monowitz (Auschwitz-Alta Silesia)
Vormgeving omslag: Suzan Beijer
Vormgeving binnenwerk: Ceevan Wee, Amsterdam
Afbeelding Voorzijde: Alberto Giacometti L'Homme que marche 1950 ©2007 beeldrecht Amsterdam

ISBN: 978.90.2908.120.7
94 pagina's; Hardcover

Whew

So hard to believe this really happened. Man is the most evil thing in this universe. Just mind blowing that such atrocities happened.

It's ridiculous to rate this book. The main part was fact-filled - just bare bones and it was so horrible, but at the same time so empty of emotions that any rating would seem crazy.

However however Primo Levi wrote a gorgeous little ending on Leonardo De Benedetti, with whom he wrote that book. And that was worth a million stars.

A fascinating medical account of the Monowitz Concentration Camp, co-written by Primo Levi shortly after his return to Italy, and published in a medical journal. It reveals, in a readable scientific way, the bleak health conditions of the camp's inmates.

An illuminating look into the experiences of the Holocaust as a primary source - this was compiled in the year following the liberation of the camps and as such the detail here is comprehensive, especially in regards to health and medicine in Auschwitz - as an introduction to Levi's work it makes me want to explore how else he elucidates his experiences, especially as he wrote his most famous book almost straight after

A sobering read, timely given the 79th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. This book, really a clinical report of the situation in the camp, should be read by anyone who doubts what happened there.