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Overview

In 1945, soon after the liberation of Auschwitz, Soviet authorities in control of the Kattowitz (Katowice) camp in Poland asked Primo Levi and his fellow captive Leonardo De Benedetti to compile a detailed report on the sanitary conditions they witnessed in Auschwitz. The result was an extraordinary testimony and one of the first accounts of the extermination camps ever written. Their report, published in a medical journal in 1946, marked the beginnings of Levi’s life-long work as writer, analyst and witness.

In the subsequent four decades, Levi never ceased to recount his experiences in Auschwitz in a wide variety of texts, many of which are assembled together here for the first time, alongside other testimony from De Benedetti. From early research into the fate of their companions to the deposition written for Eichmann’s trial, Auschwitz Testimonies is a rich mosaic of documents, memories and critical reflections of great historic and human value.

Underpinned by his characteristically clear language, rigorous method and deep psychological insight, this collection of testimonies, reports and analyses reaffirms Primo Levi’s position as one of the most important chroniclers of the Holocaust. 


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781509513376
Publisher: Polity Press
Publication date: 11/29/2017
Pages: 220
Sales rank: 611,648
Product dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Primo Levi (1919-87) was born and lived his entire life in or near Turin, with the exception of the years 1944-45, when he was captured as an anti-Fascist partisan, deported to Auschwitz, and then released into war-torn Europe. He was the author of such acclaimed works as If This is a Man, The Periodic Table and The Drowned and the Saved.

Leonardo De Benedetti (1898-1983), also a native of Turin, was captured and deported to Auschwitz in the same year as Levi. After liberation, he resumed his work as a physician.

Table of Contents

Figures ix

Translator's Note Judith Woolf x

Introduction: Bare Witness Robert S. C. Gordon 1

1 Report on the Sanitary and Medical Organization of the Monowitz Concentration Camp for Jews (Auschwitz - Upper Silesia) 1945-6 Leonardo De Benedetti Primo Levi 19

2 Record by Dr Primo Levi, Registration No. 174517, Survivor of Monowitz-Buna 1945 Primo Levi 45

3 Deposition circa 1946 Primo Levi 49

4 Deposition on Monowitz 1946? Leonardo De Benedetti 52

5 Statement for the Höss Trial 1947 Primo Levi 57

6 Deposition for the Höss Trial 1947 Leonardo De Benedetti 60

7 Testimony for a Fellow Prisoner 1953 Primo Levi 64

8 Anniversary 1955 Primo Levi 67

9 Denunciation against Dr Joseph Mengele circa 1959 Leonardo De Benedetti 70

10 Letter to a Fascist's Daughter Who Wants to Know the Truth 1959 Primo Levi 75

11 Miracle in Turin 1959 Primo Levi 78

12 The Time of the Swastikas 1960 Primo Levi 80

13 Deposition for the Eichmann Trial 1960 Primo Levi 83

14 Testimony for Eichmann 1961 Primo Levi 87

15 Deportation and Extermination of the Jews 1961 Primo Levi 93

16 Statement for the Bosshammer Trial 1965 Primo Levi 101

17 The Deportation of the Jews 1966 Primo Levi 103

18 Questionnaire for the Bosshammer Trial 1970 Leonardo De Benedetti 107

19 Questionnaire for the Bosshammer Trial 1970 Primo Levi 115

20 Deposition for the Bosshammer Trial 1971 Primo Levi 121

21 The Europe of the Lagers 1973 Primo Levi 129

22 This Was Auschwitz 1975 Primo Levi 135

23 Political Deportees 1975 Primo Levi 139

24 Draft of a Text for the Interior of the Italian Block at Auschwitz 1978 Primo Levi 144

25 A Secret Defence Committee at Auschwitz 1979 Primo Levi 147

26 That Train to Auschwitz 1979 Primo Levi 150

27 In Memory of a Good Man 1983 Primo Levi 154

28 To Our Generation… 1986 Primo Levi 157

Appendix: The Train to Auschwitz 1971 Primo Levi Leonardo De Benedetti 160

Afterword: A Witness and the Truth Fabio Levi Domenico Scarpa 164

Acknowledgements 192

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