Primo Levi

Primo Michele Levi (Italian: [ˈpriːmo ˈlɛːvi]; 31 July 1919 – 11 April 1987) was a distinguished Jewish Italian chemist, partisan, Holocaust survivor, and prolific writer. His extensive literary contributions encompassed numerous books, short story collections, essays, poems, and a novel. Among his most renowned works are If This Is a Man (Se questo è un uomo, 1947, later published in the United States as Survival in Auschwitz), which provides a poignant account of his year as a prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Nazi occupation of Poland; and The Periodic Table (1975), an acclaimed collection of largely autobiographical short stories, each titled after a chemical element central to its narrative, and recognized by the Royal Institution as the finest science book ever written.

Primo Michele Levi (Italian: [ˈpriːmoˈlɛːvi]; 31 July 1919 – 11 April 1987) was a Jewish Italian chemist, partisan, Holocaust survivor and writer. He was the author of several books, collections of short stories, essays, poems and one novel. His best-known works include: If This Is a Man (Se questo è un uomo, 1947, published as Survival in Auschwitz in the United States), his account of the year he spent as a prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland; and The Periodic Table (1975), a collection of mostly autobiographical short stories, each named after a chemical element which plays a role in each story, which the Royal Institution named the best science book ever written.

In 1987, Levi's life concluded following injuries incurred from a fall from a third-story apartment landing. While his death was officially classified as a suicide, this determination has been contested by some of his friends and associates, who suggest the incident may have been accidental.

Biography

Early Life

Primo Levi was born in 1919 into a liberal Jewish family at Corso Re Umberto 75 in Turin, Italy. His father, Cesare Levi (1878–1942), was employed by the manufacturing company Ganz, frequently traveling to Hungary, where the firm was headquartered. Cesare was noted for his extensive reading and self-education. Levi's mother, Esterina (Ester Luzzati Levi, 1895–1991), affectionately known as Rina, possessed a strong educational background, having studied at the Istituto Maria Letizia. She shared her husband's passion for reading, was a skilled pianist, and spoke fluent French. Rina and Cesare's marriage was arranged by Rina's father, Cesare Luzzati, who gifted them the apartment at Corso Re Umberto on their wedding day, a residence Primo Levi occupied for nearly his entire life.

In 1921, Levi's sister, Anna Maria, was born, and their bond endured throughout his life. He commenced his primary education in 1925 at the Felice Rignon school in Turin. As a slender and delicate child, Levi exhibited shyness and perceived himself as unattractive, yet he consistently demonstrated academic excellence. His scholastic records indicate extended absences, during which he received home instruction, initially from Emilia Glauda and subsequently from Marisa Zini, daughter of the philosopher Zino Zini. Summers were spent by the children and their mother in the Waldensian valleys southwest of Turin, where Rina leased a farmhouse. Their father, however, remained in the city, citing both his aversion to rural life and his extramarital affairs.

In September 1930, Levi gained early admission to the Massimo d'Azeglio Royal Gymnasium, entering a year ahead of the standard age. Within his class, he was notably the youngest, shortest, and most intellectually gifted student, as well as the sole Jewish pupil. Although only two classmates subjected him to antisemitic bullying, their hostility proved deeply traumatic. Following two years of attendance at the Talmud Torah school in Turin, where he acquired foundational Jewish doctrine and culture, he celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in August 1932 by singing in the local synagogue. In 1933, conforming to the societal expectation for young Italian schoolboys, Levi joined the Avanguardisti, a Fascist youth movement. He circumvented rifle drills by enrolling in the ski division, dedicating every Saturday during the season to the slopes above Turin. Despite being frequently afflicted by illnesses, particularly chest infections, during his youth, Levi maintained a strong desire for physical activity. As a teenager, he and several friends would surreptitiously access a disused sports stadium to organize athletic competitions.

In July 1934, at the age of 15, Levi successfully passed the entrance examinations for the Liceo Classico D'Azeglio, a prestigious lyceum (senior high school) renowned for its classical curriculum, and was admitted in the same year. This institution was distinguished by its anti-Fascist educators, including the philosopher Norberto Bobbio and Cesare Pavese, who would later achieve prominence as one of Italy's most celebrated novelists. Despite the presence of six other Jewish students in his class, Levi continued to experience bullying throughout his tenure at the Lyceum. His career path was decisively influenced by reading Concerning the Nature of Things by the English scientist Sir William Bragg, which inspired his decision to become a chemist.

In 1937, he was summoned by the War Ministry on charges of evading conscription from the Italian Royal Navy. This occurred the day before a crucial final examination focusing on Italy's involvement in the Spanish Civil War, which incorporated a Thucydides quotation: "We have the singular merit of being brave to the utmost degree." The accusation of draft evasion, causing significant distraction and terror, led to his failure of this examination—his inaugural poor academic performance—which profoundly distressed him. To prevent his naval conscription, his father arranged for his enrollment in the Fascist militia (Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale). He maintained his membership throughout his initial year of university studies, until the enactment of the Italian Racial Laws in 1938 necessitated his expulsion. Levi subsequently documented these occurrences in his short story, Fra Diavolo on the Po.

He successfully retook and passed his final examinations, subsequently enrolling in October at the University of Turin to pursue chemistry. Among 80 applicants, he attended lectures for three months, and in February, following a successful colloquio (oral examination), he was among 20 individuals chosen to advance to the comprehensive chemistry curriculum.

Throughout Italy's liberal era and the initial decade of the Fascist regime, Jewish individuals occupied numerous public offices and achieved prominence in literature, science, and politics. In 1929, Mussolini formalized the Lateran Treaty with the Catholic Church, designating Catholicism as the state religion. This accord granted the Church considerable influence over education and public life, while categorizing other faiths as "tolerated cults." By 1936, Italy's annexation of Ethiopia and the regime's perceived expansion of its "colonial empire" propelled the issue of "race" into national discourse. Against the backdrop of these developments and the 1939 alliance with Nazi Germany, the circumstances for Italian Jews underwent a profound transformation.

In July 1938, a collective of distinguished Italian scientists and intellectuals issued the "Manifesto of Race," a document synthesizing ancient and contemporary racial and ideological antisemitic doctrines. This treatise subsequently served as the foundation for the Italian Racial Laws, enacted in October 1938. Following their implementation, Italian Jews were stripped of fundamental civil rights, public employment, and their property. Their literary works were banned, and Jewish authors were prohibited from publishing in periodicals owned by individuals classified as Aryans. While Jewish students already enrolled in academic programs were permitted to complete their studies, new Jewish applicants were denied university admission. Fortuitously, Levi had matriculated a year ahead of schedule, which allowed him to pursue his degree.

By 1939, Levi developed a profound interest in mountain hiking. His friend, Sandro Delmastro, instructed him in hiking techniques, and they frequently spent weekends exploring the mountains surrounding Turin. Levi subsequently documented this period in the "Iron" chapter of The Periodic Table: “To see Sandro in the mountains reconciled you with the world and made you forget the nightmare weighing on Europe [...] He stirred in me a new communion with earth and sky, in which my need for freedom, the fullness of my powers, and the hunger to understand things that had driven me to chemistry converged.”

In June 1940, Italy, allied with Germany, declared war on Britain and France, initiating the first Allied air raids on Turin two days thereafter. Levi persisted with his academic pursuits amidst the aerial bombardments. The family endured further hardship when his father became incapacitated by bowel cancer.

Chemistry

Due to the recently enacted racial laws and the escalating severity of Fascist policies, Levi encountered significant challenges in securing an advisor for his doctoral dissertation, which focused on the Walden inversion—a study concerning the asymmetry of the carbon atom. Ultimately, under the supervision of Dr. Nicolò Dallaporta, Levi successfully graduated in mid-1941 with distinction and full honors, having also presented supplementary theses on x-rays and electrostatic energy. Notably, his degree certificate included the annotation: "of Jewish race." The racial legislation subsequently precluded Levi from securing appropriate permanent employment post-graduation.

In December 1941, Levi received an unofficial employment offer from an Italian officer to serve as a chemist at an asbestos mine located in San Vittore. The objective of this project was to extract nickel from mining waste, a task he willingly undertook. Levi subsequently realized that successful completion of this endeavor would contribute to the German war effort, which was experiencing a scarcity of nickel for armaments production. This position necessitated Levi's use of an assumed identity and forged documents. Three months later, in March 1942, his father passed away. Levi departed from the mine in June to join Wander AG, a Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer in Milan, where he worked on a project focused on extracting an anti-diabetic compound from plant materials. He secured this position through a fellow student from Turin University, accepting the role within a Swiss company to circumvent Italy's racial legislation. It soon became evident that the project was unlikely to succeed, yet acknowledging this failure was not in anyone's immediate interest.

In July 1943, King Victor Emmanuel III removed Mussolini from power and established a new government led by Marshal Pietro Badoglio, which subsequently prepared to sign the Armistice of Cassibile with the Allied forces. Following the public announcement of the armistice on September 8, German forces occupied northern and central Italy, freed Mussolini from incarceration, and installed him as the leader of the Italian Social Republic, a client state situated in German-occupied northern Italy. Upon his return to Turin, Levi discovered his mother and sister seeking refuge at their holiday residence, 'Lo Saccarello' (literally, the Sackcloth), located in the village of Chieri in the hills surrounding Turin. The family then relocated to Saint-Vincent in the Aosta Valley, seeking concealment. As Jews, many of whom had already been interned by the authorities, they were actively pursued, prompting their move further uphill to Amay in the Col de Joux, a region known for its rebellious character and suitability for guerrilla operations.

The Italian Resistance Movement

Within the German-occupied territories, the Italian resistance movement intensified its activities. In October, Levi and several associates ascended into the Alpine foothills, establishing a partisan group with aspirations of aligning themselves with the liberal Giustizia e Libertà movement. Lacking adequate training for such an undertaking, Levi and his companions were apprehended by the Fascist militia on December 13, 1943. Presuming he would face execution as an Italian partisan, Levi admitted his Jewish identity. Consequently, he was transferred to the internment camp at Fossoli, situated near Modena.

Levi subsequently documented the conditions at Fossoli as follows:

We regularly received a food ration intended for soldiers, and by the end of January 1944, we were transported to Fossoli via a passenger train. Our living conditions within the camp were relatively favorable. There was no discussion of executions, and the general atmosphere remained quite calm. We were permitted to retain any money we possessed upon arrival and to receive funds from external sources. We rotated duties in the kitchen and performed various other services within the camp. We even established a dining room, albeit a rather rudimentary one, I must concede.

Auschwitz Concentration Camp

German forces subsequently assumed control of Fossoli, initiating the systematic deportation of Jews to concentration and extermination camps in the east. On February 21, 1944, during the second wave of transports, Levi and other prisoners were conveyed in twelve overcrowded cattle trucks to Monowitz, one of the three primary camps within the Auschwitz concentration camp complex. Levi, identified by record number 174517, endured eleven months there until the camp's liberation by the Red Army on January 27, 1945. Prior to the Soviet arrival, prisoners were categorized based on their capacity for labor. An acquaintance of Levi's remarked that ultimately, neither classification would alter their fate. This individual declared an inability to work and was immediately executed. Among the 650 Italian Jews in his transport, Levi was one of only twenty who survived the camps. The average life expectancy for a new arrival at the camp was estimated to be three to four months.

Possessing some German language proficiency from his engagement with chemical publications, Levi diligently adapted to the harsh camp environment, striving to avoid drawing attention from privileged inmates. He strategically utilized bread to compensate a more experienced Italian prisoner for German language instruction and guidance on navigating Auschwitz. Daily, he received a clandestine soup ration from Lorenzo Perrone, an Italian civilian bricklayer subjected to forced labor at Auschwitz. Levi's professional qualifications proved advantageous to the Germans, enabling him to secure an assistant position in mid-November 1944 at IG Farben's Buna Werke laboratory, which was dedicated to synthetic rubber production. This assignment spared him from arduous outdoor labor in freezing conditions, contributing significantly to his survival, alongside his practice of pilfering laboratory materials for additional food. Shortly before the Red Army's liberation of the camp, Levi contracted scarlet fever and was admitted to the camp's sanatorium. On January 18, 1945, as the Red Army advanced, the SS hastily evacuated the camp, compelling all but the critically ill into a prolonged death march away from the front lines. While this march claimed the lives of the vast majority of remaining prisoners, Levi's illness inadvertently preserved him from this fate.

Despite his liberation on January 27, 1945, Levi's return to Turin was protracted, occurring on October 19, 1945. Following a period in a Soviet camp for former concentration camp detainees, he commenced an arduous homeward journey alongside former Italian prisoners of war who had served in the Italian Army in Russia. This extensive railway voyage to Turin followed a circuitous path through Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Austria, and Germany. This challenging odyssey, particularly detailed in his 1963 work The Truce, underscored the widespread displacement of millions across European roads and trains during that era.

Writing Career

1946–1960

Upon his return to Turin, Levi was nearly unrecognizable, his face swollen by malnutrition-induced edema, sporting a sparse beard, and clad in an old Red Army uniform. The subsequent months afforded him an opportunity for physical recuperation, to re-establish connections with surviving friends and family, and to seek employment. Levi grappled with profound psychological trauma stemming from his experiences. Unable to secure work in Turin, he began exploring opportunities in Milan, and during his train commutes, he commenced recounting his Auschwitz experiences to fellow passengers.

In 1946, at a Jewish New Year celebration, he encountered Lucia Morpurgo, who offered to teach him to dance, leading to Levi's romantic attachment to her. Around this period, he initiated writing poetry that explored his experiences in Auschwitz.

On January 21, 1946, Levi commenced employment at DUCO, a Du Pont Company paint factory situated outside Turin. Due to severely restricted train services, Levi resided in the factory dormitory during the week, a circumstance that provided him an undisturbed environment for writing. It was here that he began the initial draft of If This Is a Man. Daily, as memories resurfaced, he meticulously jotted notes on train tickets and various scraps of paper. By the end of February, he had compiled ten pages detailing the final ten days between the German evacuation and the Red Army's arrival. Over the subsequent ten months, the book progressively took shape in his dormitory as he transcribed his recollections each night.

The manuscript was completed on December 22, 1946. Lucia, who by then reciprocated Levi's affection, assisted him in editing the text to enhance its narrative fluidity. In January 1947, Levi began submitting the finished manuscript to various publishers. It faced rejection from Einaudi, based on Natalia Ginzburg's counsel, and in the United States, Little, Brown and Company declined it following the advice of Rabbi Joshua Liebman. This latter opinion significantly contributed to the neglect of his work in that country for four decades. The prevailing societal wounds from the war years were still too raw, and Levi lacked established literary experience to command a reputation as an author.

Ultimately, Levi secured a publisher, Franco Antonicelli, through a connection of his sister. Antonicelli, though an amateur publisher, was an active anti-Fascist and thus supported the substantive message of the book.

In late June 1947, Levi abruptly terminated his employment at DUCO and established a chemical consultancy firm with his long-time friend, Alberto Salmoni, operating from the top floor of Salmoni's parents' residence. Many of Levi's experiences from this period subsequently informed his literary works. Their primary income derived from the production and distribution of stannous chloride for mirror manufacturers, with the volatile compound transported via bicycle throughout the city. Experimental endeavors, such as the creation of lipsticks from reptile excreta and a pigmented enamel for dental application, later served as inspiration for short stories. Laboratory accidents frequently resulted in the emission of noxious odors and corrosive gases throughout the Salmoni household.

In September 1947, Levi entered into marriage with Lucia, and one month subsequent, on October 11, If This Is a Man was released, initially comprising 2,000 copies. By April 1948, as Lucia was expecting their first child, Levi concluded that a career as an independent chemist presented excessive instability. He accepted employment with Accatti's family-owned paint enterprise, operating under the trade name SIVA. In October 1948, their daughter, Lisa, was born.

Concurrently, the physical and mental well-being of his friend, Lorenzo Perrone, deteriorated. Lorenzo had served as a civilian forced laborer at Auschwitz, who, for a period of six months, selflessly provided Levi with a portion of his own rations and a piece of bread, a benevolent act that ultimately preserved Levi's life. In his memoir, Levi drew a stark contrast between Lorenzo and all other individuals within the camp—both prisoners and guards—highlighting Lorenzo's exceptional ability to maintain his humanity. After the war, Lorenzo was unable to reconcile with the traumatic memories of his experiences and subsequently succumbed to alcoholism. Levi undertook multiple journeys to assist his former friend, who was living on the streets, but in 1952, Lorenzo died. As an expression of profound gratitude for Perrone's benevolence at Auschwitz, Levi honored him by naming both of his children, Lisa Lorenza and Renzo, in his memory.

In 1950, following the demonstration of his chemical proficiency to Accatti, Levi received a promotion to Technical Director at SIVA. In his capacity as SIVA's chief chemist and technical problem-solver, Levi undertook international travel. He conducted multiple visits to Germany, meticulously cultivating relationships with prominent German industrialists and scientists. By intentionally wearing short-sleeved shirts, he ensured that his concentration camp identification number, tattooed on his arm, was visible to them.

He participated in organizations dedicated to the remembrance and documentation of the atrocities committed in the concentration camps. In 1954, he journeyed to Buchenwald to commemorate the ninth anniversary of its liberation from Nazi control. Levi conscientiously participated in numerous similar commemorative events throughout the years, sharing his personal testimonies. In July 1957, his son, Renzo, was born.

Notwithstanding a favorable review by Italo Calvino published in L'Unità, only 1,500 copies of If This Is a Man were initially sold. In 1958, Einaudi, a prominent publishing house, reissued the work in a revised edition and undertook its promotion.

In 1958, Stuart Woolf, working in close collaboration with Levi, translated If This Is a Man into English. The English edition was subsequently published in the United Kingdom by Orion Press in 1959. Concurrently in 1959, Heinz Riedt produced a German translation of the book, meticulously supervised by Levi. Given Levi's fundamental objective in writing the book—to compel the German populace to acknowledge the atrocities committed in their name and to assume at least partial accountability—this particular translation held profound personal significance for him.

1961–1974

Levi commenced writing The Truce in early 1961. Its publication occurred in 1963, nearly sixteen years subsequent to his initial work, and it was awarded the inaugural Premio Campiello literary prize in the same year. This work is frequently co-published in a single volume with If This Is a Man, owing to its narrative focus on his protracted journey through Eastern Europe following his liberation from Auschwitz. Levi's literary standing was expanding, and he became a regular contributor of articles to La Stampa, a prominent Turin newspaper. He actively sought to establish a literary reputation encompassing themes beyond his experiences as an Auschwitz survivor.

In 1963, he experienced his initial significant episode of depression. During this period, he was raising two young children and held a demanding position at a factory where potential accidents carried severe repercussions. His professional engagements involved travel, and he emerged as a public personality. Nevertheless, the indelible memories of events from less than two decades prior continued to profoundly affect him. Contemporary understanding of the correlation between such trauma and depression is significantly more advanced. Physicians prescribed various medications over subsequent years; however, these exhibited inconsistent efficacy and associated side effects.

In 1964, Levi collaborated with RAI, the national broadcaster, to produce a radio play adapted from If This Is a Man. This was followed by a theatrical production in 1966.

Utilizing the pseudonym Damiano Malabaila, Levi authored two collections of science fiction short stories that delved into ethical and philosophical inquiries. These narratives posited the societal ramifications of inventions widely perceived as advantageous, yet which Levi identified as possessing profound negative implications. A significant number of these stories, originating from the volumes Storie naturali (Natural Histories, 1966) and Vizio di forma (Structural Defect, 1971), were subsequently compiled and released in English under the title The Sixth Day and Other Tales.

In 1974, Levi transitioned into semi-retirement from SIVA, a decision motivated by his desire to dedicate more time to writing. This move also allowed him to alleviate the significant managerial responsibilities associated with the paint manufacturing facility.

1975–1987

In 1975, a compilation of Levi's poetic works was released, titled L'osteria di Brema (The Bremen Beer Hall). This collection was later published in English as Shema: Collected Poems.

Levi authored two additional critically acclaimed memoirs: Lilit e altri racconti (Moments of Reprieve, 1978) and Il sistema periodico (The Periodic Table, 1975). Moments of Reprieve explores individuals Levi encountered during his incarceration. Conversely, The Periodic Table comprises primarily autobiographical short stories, alongside two fictional narratives composed in 1941 while Levi worked at the asbestos mine in San Vittore. Each story within this collection is titled after a chemical element, with its thematic content directly correlating to that element. On October 19, 2006, the Royal Institution in London recognized The Periodic Table as the preeminent science book ever written.

In 1977, at 58 years old, Levi fully retired from his part-time consultancy role at the SIVA paint factory to commit entirely to his literary pursuits. Similar to his other works, La chiave a stella (1978), released in the United States in 1986 as The Monkey Wrench and in the United Kingdom in 1987 as The Wrench, defies easy categorization. Certain critical assessments characterize it as an anthology of narratives concerning labor and laborers, presented by a narrator bearing resemblance to Levi. Conversely, other critics have identified it as a novel, formed by its interconnected stories and characters. The work is set in Togliattigrad, a Russian company town managed by Fiat, and depicts the engineer as a heroic figure essential to others. Faussone, a Piedmontese engineer, traversed the globe as a specialist in the construction of cranes and bridges. A majority of the narratives detail the resolution of industrial challenges through adept troubleshooting, with many drawing from the author's personal experiences. The foundational philosophical tenet conveyed is that professional pride is indispensable for personal fulfillment. The Wrench was awarded the Strega Prize in 1979, significantly expanding Levi's readership in Italy, although left-leaning critics expressed disappointment that the work did not address the arduous working conditions prevalent on Fiat's assembly lines.

In 1984, Levi released what is considered his sole novel, If Not Now, When?—or potentially his second, depending on whether The Monkey Wrench is classified as such. This work chronicles the experiences of a Jewish partisan group operating behind German lines during World War II, as they endeavor to survive and persist in their resistance against the occupying forces. Their ultimate objective is to reach Palestine to contribute to the establishment of a Jewish national homeland. The partisan unit first traverses Poland, then German territory, where the remaining members are formally recognized as displaced persons within Allied-held areas. Ultimately, they successfully arrive in Italy, continuing their journey toward Palestine. The novel garnered both the Premio Campiello and the Premio Viareggio.

This particular book drew inspiration from events occurring during Levi's train journey home following his liberation from the concentration camp, a journey detailed in The Truce. During one segment of this voyage, a group of Zionists attached their transport to the refugee train. Levi noted their remarkable strength, determination, organizational prowess, and clear sense of mission.

Levi emerged as a prominent literary figure in Italy, with his works subsequently translated into numerous languages. Notably, The Truce was adopted as a standard text in Italian educational curricula. In 1985, he undertook a 20-day speaking engagement tour in the United States. Despite being accompanied by Lucia, the journey proved to be exceptionally arduous for him.

Soviet censors initially rejected his early works due to their depiction of Soviet soldiers as unheroic, slovenly, and disorderly. Similarly, in Israel, a nation significantly shaped by Jewish survivors who experienced atrocities akin to those detailed by Levi, a substantial portion of his oeuvre remained untranslated and unpublished until his posthumous recognition.

In March 1985, Levi authored the introduction for the reissued autobiography of Rudolf Höss, who served as commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp from 1940 to 1943. Within this introduction, Levi characterized the text as "filled with evil" and described the act of reading it as "agony."

Also in 1985, a collection of his essays, initially serialized in La Stampa, was published under the title L'altrui mestiere (Other People's Trades). Levi habitually composed these pieces, accumulating them before releasing them to La Stampa at an approximate weekly frequency. The thematic scope of these essays encompassed diverse subjects, from literary critiques and philosophical reflections on natural phenomena to original short fiction.

The year 1986 marked the publication of Levi's seminal work, I sommersi e i salvati (The Drowned and the Saved). In this volume, Levi endeavors to analyze the motivations behind human conduct at Auschwitz and to explore the differential survival rates among prisoners. Consistent with his characteristic approach, he refrains from explicit judgment, instead presenting empirical evidence and posing critical inquiries. For instance, a specific essay delves into his concept of "the grey zone," referring to Jewish prisoners who performed tasks for the Germans and maintained order among other inmates. He specifically interrogated the factors that could compel an individual, such as a concert violinist, to adopt the role of a ruthless taskmaster.

Also in 1986, a compilation of short stories, previously featured in La Stampa, was collected and released as Racconti e saggi; a selection of these narratives subsequently appeared in the English-language volume The Mirror Maker.

Upon his death in April 1987, Levi was engaged in the composition of an additional essay collection titled The Double Bond, structured as epistolary communications addressed to "La Signorina". These essays are characterized by their deeply personal nature, with an estimated five to six manuscript chapters currently extant. Carole Angier, in her biographical account of Levi, details her efforts to locate some of these compositions. She further noted that other essays, entrusted by Levi to close friends, were being withheld from public access and potentially faced destruction.

Posthumous Publications

In March 2007, Harper's Magazine featured an English translation of Levi's narrative "Knall", which describes a hypothetical weapon lethal at close proximity but innocuous beyond a meter. This story, initially published in his 1971 collection Vizio di forma, received its inaugural English publication through Harper's.

A Tranquil Star, a compilation of seventeen stories rendered into English by Ann Goldstein and Alessandra Bastagli, was released in April 2007.

In 2015, Penguin Books issued The Complete Works of Primo Levi, edited by Ann Goldstein. This publication marked the inaugural comprehensive English translation of Levi's entire literary oeuvre.

Death

On April 11, 1987, Levi died following a fall from the interior landing of his third-story apartment in Turin to the ground floor. The official coroner's report classified his death as a suicide. While three of his biographers—Angier, Thomson, and Anissimov—concurred with this finding, other authors, including at least one personal acquaintance, have disputed this conclusion.

During his later years, Levi reportedly suffered from depression. Contributing factors likely encompassed the burden of caring for his elderly mother and mother-in-law, with whom he resided, alongside persistent traumatic memories. Elio Toaff, the chief rabbi of Rome, stated that Levi contacted him by telephone for the first time approximately ten minutes prior to the incident. Levi reportedly expressed an inability to observe his mother, who was afflicted with cancer, without being reminded of the faces of individuals lying on benches in Auschwitz. At the time, Nobel laureate and fellow Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel remarked, "Primo Levi died at Auschwitz forty years later."

However, several of Levi's friends and colleagues presented alternative explanations. Diego Gambetta, an Oxford sociologist, observed that Levi had not left a suicide note or any other indication of suicidal ideation. Evidence and witness accounts indicated that he had both immediate and long-term plans at the time of his death. Days prior, he had reported dizziness to his physician, a symptom attributed to a surgical procedure performed three weeks earlier. Following an inspection of the apartment complex, Gambetta posited that Levi's fall was an accidental loss of balance. Rita Levi-Montalcini, a Nobel laureate and close acquaintance of Levi, concurred, stating that as a chemical engineer, he would likely have chosen a more definitive method of self-harm than an accidental fall down a narrow stairwell, which carried the risk of paralysis.

Legacy

Holocaust Writing

Although Levi frequently received the designation "Holocaust writer," a label he personally disfavored, his works are widely regarded as foundational contributions to the literature of the Holocaust. These writings have significantly enhanced both the collective memory and comprehension of that horrific period. Philip Roth lauded Levi as an individual who "set out systematically to remember the German hell on earth, steadfastly to think it through, and then to render it comprehensible in lucid, unpretentious prose." Similarly, Martin Amis acknowledged Levi's influence in the composition of his novel, The Zone of Interest, describing Levi as "the visionary of the Holocaust, its presiding spirit and the most perceptive of all writers on this subject."

Posthumous Honors

• In 1995, a consortium of five health and human rights organizations founded the Primo Levi Center in Paris, dedicated to offering services for survivors of torture. The center's nomenclature honors Levi, whose name is considered "synonymous with the refusal of inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment."
• The Primo Levi Center, a non-profit entity focused on the historical and cultural study of Italian Jewry, was inaugurated in New York City in 2003.
• In 2008, the City of Turin, in collaboration with various partners, established the International Primo Levi Studies Center, an institution dedicated to the preservation and advancement of Levi's legacy.
• Since 2017, the Primo Levi Prize has been jointly conferred by the German Chemical Society and the Italian Chemical Society, recognizing chemists for their dedication to human rights.
• The centenary of Levi's birth was observed globally in 2019, with commemorations held in nations such as the United States, Portugal, and Italy.
• The former SIVA factory has been repurposed as the Museo della Chimica, a chemistry museum designed for children. Levi's erstwhile office within this facility now features an exhibition detailing his life.

In Popular Culture

• The 1999 publication, Till My Tale is Told: Women's Memoirs of the Gulag, derives its title from a segment of a Coleridge quatrain, which Levi cited in his work The Drowned and the Saved.
• Christopher Hitchens's compilation of atheist writings, The Portable Atheist, is dedicated to Levi's memory, honoring him as one "who had the moral fortitude to refuse false consolation even while enduring the 'selection' process in Auschwitz." This dedication incorporates a quotation from Levi's The Drowned and the Saved, where he states, "I too entered the Lager as a nonbeliever, and as a nonbeliever I was liberated and have lived to this day."
• A quotation attributed to Levi is featured on the album sleeve of Gold Against the Soul, the second release by the Welsh rock ensemble Manic Street Preachers. This excerpt originates from Levi's poem, "Song of Those Who Died in Vain."
• Illusionist David Blaine bears Primo Levi's Auschwitz camp identification number, 174517, as a tattoo on his left forearm.
• Within Lavie Tidhar's novel, A Man Lies Dreaming, the central character encounters Levi and Ka-Tzetnik in Auschwitz, observing their discourse on the appropriate methodology for narrating the Holocaust. Levi proposes an "accurate and dispassionate" approach, whereas Ka-Tzetnik champions "the language of [...] pulp."
• During the pilot episode of Black Earth Rising, Kate Ashby, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, attends a therapy session to address her survivor's guilt and a previous suicide attempt. She informs her therapist that she has completed the Primo Levi book assigned to her and asserts that should she decide to attempt suicide again, she would "take a leaf out of Mr Levi's book and jump straight out the window."
• The concluding track on Peter Hammill's album The Noise is titled "Primo on the Parapet."

Views

Nazi Death Camps Versus Soviet Gulags

Levi emphatically rejected historical revisionist perspectives within German historiography that arose during the Historikerstreit, exemplified by the scholarship of figures such as Andreas Hillgruber and Ernst Nolte, who posited equivalences between Nazism and Stalinism. He contested the notion that the labor camp system described in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago and the Nazi Lager (German: Konzentrationslager) were comparable. Levi asserted that the mortality rate in Stalin's gulags reached a maximum of 30%, whereas in the extermination camps, he estimated it to be between 90% and 98%.

Levi contended that the Nazi death camps and the attempted extermination of Jews constituted a historically unparalleled atrocity, given that their objective was the total eradication of a racial group by another that perceived itself as superior. He observed its highly organized and mechanized nature, which included the profound dehumanization of Jews, extending to the use of their ashes for constructing pathways.

In an appendix to If This Is a Man, Levi articulated that the objectives of the Nazi extermination camps differed fundamentally from those of Stalin's gulags, despite acknowledging it as a "lugubrious comparison between two models of hell." The primary aim of the Lager was the systematic extermination of the Jewish population in Europe, a process from which individuals could not opt out by renouncing Judaism, as the Nazis defined Jews by race rather than religion. Prior to World War II, Levi, like many Jewish intellectuals in Turin, had not been religiously observant; however, the implementation of Italian racial laws and the experience of Nazi camps profoundly solidified his Jewish identity. A vast majority of the numerous children deported to these camps were systematically murdered.

German people

Biographer Ian Thomson asserts that Levi deliberately omitted any positive encounters with Germans who offered assistance from If This Is a Man, instead incorporating "collective condemnations, coloured by the author's rage, of the German people." Levi's perspective on Germans subsequently evolved through his friendship with Hety Schmitt-Maas, a German woman. Both she and her father had faced professional and academic repercussions, respectively, due to their anti-Nazi convictions. Their correspondence, spanning 17 years until Schmitt-Maas's death in 1983, frequently centered on "their shared hatred of Nazism."

Approximately four decades following the publication of If This Is A Man, Levi articulated that he harbored no hatred for the German populace, reasoning that such animosity towards an entire ethnic group would mirror Nazi ideology. However, he explicitly stated that he did not forgive "the culprits." Levi contended that while the German population was generally aware of the concentration camps, they remained ignorant of the full scope of the atrocities committed within them, asserting that "most Germans didn’t know because they didn’t want to know. Because, indeed, they wanted not to know."

Works

Adaptations

• Simon Sargon composed the song cycle Shema: 5 Poems of Primo Levi in 1987, setting five of Levi's poems—Shema, 25 Febbraio 1944, Il canto del corvo, Cantare, and Congedo—to music. Megan Marie Hart performed this work in 2021 at the inaugural event of the festival year 1700 Jahre jüdisches Leben in Deutschland, which commemorated the earliest documented presence of Jewish communities in the region now constituting Germany.
• The 1997 film La Tregua (The Truce), featuring John Turturro, is an adaptation of Levi's 1963 memoir of the identical title, chronicling his arduous return journey alongside other displaced individuals following his liberation from Auschwitz.
• In 2004, Antony Sher adapted If This Is a Man into a one-man stage production titled Primo. A televised rendition of this production aired on BBC Four in the UK on September 20, 2007.

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Angier, Carole (2002). The Double Bond: Primo Levi: A Biography. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-016587-6.Anissimov, Myriam (1999). Primo Levi: Tragedy of an Optimist. New York: Overlook. ISBN 978-0-87951-806-6.Gordon, Robert (2007). The Cambridge Companion to Primo Levi. Cambridge: Cambridge. ISBN 978-0-521-60461-1.Thomson, Ian (2002). Primo Levi. London: Hutchison. ISBN 978-0-09-178531-4.Vincenti, Fiora (1981). Primo Levi. Mursia.Bulletin of Bibliography, Vol. 50, No. 3 (September 1993), pp. 213–221.

• Announcement of The Complete Works of Primo Levi
• International Primo Levi Studies Center
• "Primo Levi's journeys of peace": an article in the TLS by Clive Sinclair, 11 July 2007
• Primo Levi page by the Operatist who composed in honor of Levi
• Motola, Gabriel (Spring 1995). "Primo Levi, The Art of Fiction No. 140." The Paris Review, Spring 1995 (134).
• Gabriel Motola (Spring 1995). "Primo Levi, The Art of Fiction No. 140". The Paris Review. Spring 1995 (134).The Periodic Table of Videos. University of Nottingham.Source: TORIma Academy Archive