Levi (record number 174517) spent eleven months there before the camp was liberated by the Red Army on 27 January 1945.
Primo Michele Levi (; 31 July 1919 – 11 April 1987) was an Italian Jewish chemist, partisan, Holocaust survivor and writer.
His death was officially ruled a suicide, but some, after careful consideration, have suggested that the fall was accidental because he left no suicide note, there were no witnesses, and he was on medication that could have affected his blood pressure and caused him to fall accidentally. == Biography == === Early life === Levi was born in 1919 in Turin, Italy, at Corso Re Umberto 75, into a liberal Jewish family.
On their wedding day, Rina's father, Cesare Luzzati, gave Rina the apartment at Corso Re Umberto, where Primo Levi lived for almost his entire life. In 1921 Anna Maria, Levi's sister, was born; he remained close to her all her life.
In 1925 he entered the Felice Rignon primary school in Turin.
In 1929 Mussolini signed an agreement with the Catholic Church, the Lateran Treaty, which established Catholicism as the State religion, allowed the Church to influence many sectors of education and public life, and relegated other religions to the status of "tolerated cults".
His father remained in the city, partly because of his dislike of the rural life, but also because of his infidelities. In September 1930 Levi entered the Massimo d'Azeglio Royal Gymnasium a year ahead of normal entrance requirements.
In August 1932, following two years attendance also at the Talmud Torah school in Turin to pick up the elements of doctrine and culture, he sang in the local synagogue for his Bar Mitzvah.
In 1933, as was expected of all young Italian schoolboys, he joined the Avanguardisti movement for young Fascists.
In his teens, Levi and a few friends would sneak into a disused sports stadium and conduct athletic competitions. In July 1934 at the age of 14, he sat the exams for the Liceo Classico D'Azeglio, a Lyceum (sixth form or senior high school) specializing in the classics, and was admitted that year.
In 1936 Italy's conquest of Ethiopia and the expansion of what the regime regarded as the Italian "colonial empire" brought the question of "race" to the forefront.
He remained a member through his first year of university, until passage of the Italian Racial Laws of 1938 forced his expulsion.
In the context set by these events, and the 1940 alliance with Hitler's Germany, the situation of the Jews of Italy changed radically. In July 1938 a group of prominent Italian scientists and intellectuals published the "Manifesto of Race," a mixture of racial and ideological antisemitic theories from ancient and modern sources.
This treatise formed the basis for the Italian Racial Laws of October 1938.
Levi had matriculated a year earlier than scheduled enabling him to take a degree. In 1939 Levi began his love affair with hiking in the mountains.
In the context set by these events, and the 1940 alliance with Hitler's Germany, the situation of the Jews of Italy changed radically. In July 1938 a group of prominent Italian scientists and intellectuals published the "Manifesto of Race," a mixture of racial and ideological antisemitic theories from ancient and modern sources.
In June 1940 Italy declared war as an ally of Germany against Britain and France, and the first Allied air raids on Turin began two days later.
In Israel, a country formed partly by Jewish survivors who lived through horrors similar to those Levi described, many of his works were not translated and published until after his death. In March 1985 he wrote the introduction to the re-publication of the autobiography of Rudolf Höss, who was commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp from 1940 to 1943.
The racial laws prevented Levi from finding a suitable permanent job after graduation. In December 1941 Levi received an informal job offer from an Italian officer to work as a chemist, under a clandestine identity, at an asbestos mine in San Vittore.
The Periodic Table is a collection of short pieces, based in episodes from his life but including two short stories that he wrote while employed in 1941 at the asbestos mine in San Vittore.
Three months later, in March 1942, his father died.
It soon became clear that the project had no chance of succeeding, but it was in no one's interest to say so. In July 1943, King Victor Emmanuel III deposed Mussolini and appointed a new government under Marshal Pietro Badoglio, prepared to sign the Armistice of Cassibile with the Allies.
Untrained for such a venture, he and his companions were arrested by the Fascist militia on 13 December 1943.
In Israel, a country formed partly by Jewish survivors who lived through horrors similar to those Levi described, many of his works were not translated and published until after his death. In March 1985 he wrote the introduction to the re-publication of the autobiography of Rudolf Höss, who was commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp from 1940 to 1943.
On the second of these transports, on 21 February 1944, Levi and other inmates were transported in twelve cramped cattle trucks to Monowitz, one of the three main camps in the Auschwitz concentration camp complex.
Levi's professional qualifications were useful: in mid-November 1944, he secured a position as an assistant in IG Farben's Buna Werke laboratory that was intended to produce synthetic rubber.
Levi (record number 174517) spent eleven months there before the camp was liberated by the Red Army on 27 January 1945.
On 18 January 1945, the SS hurriedly evacuated the camp as the Red Army approached, forcing all but the gravely ill on a long death march to a site further from the front, which resulted in the deaths of the vast majority of the remaining prisoners on the march.
Levi's illness spared him this fate. Although liberated on 27 January 1945, Levi did not reach Turin until 19 October 1945.
In later writings, he noted the millions of displaced people on the roads and trains throughout Europe in that period. === Writing career === ==== 1946–1960 ==== Levi was almost unrecognisable on his return to Turin.
On his train journeys, he began to tell people he met stories about his time at Auschwitz. At a Jewish New Year party in 1946, he met Lucia Morpurgo, who offered to teach him to dance.
At about this time, he started writing poetry about his experiences in Auschwitz. On 21 January 1946 he started work at DUCO, a Du Pont Company paint factory outside Turin.
For the next ten months, the book took shape in his dormitory as he typed up his recollections each night. On 22 December 1946, the manuscript was complete.
In January 1947, Levi was taking the finished manuscript around to publishers.
Antonicelli was an amateur publisher, but as an active anti-Fascist, he supported the idea of the book. At the end of June 1947, Levi suddenly left DUCO and teamed up with an old friend Alberto Salmoni to run a chemical consultancy from the top floor of Salmoni's parents' house.
Accidents in their laboratory filled the Salmoni house with unpleasant smells and corrosive gases. In September 1947, Levi married Lucia and a month later, on 11 October, If This Is a Man was published with a print run of 2,000 copies.
In April 1948, with Lucia pregnant with their first child, Levi decided that the life of an independent chemist was too precarious.
In October 1948, his daughter Lisa was born. During this period, his friend Lorenzo Perrone's physical and psychological health declined.
In gratitude for his kindness in Auschwitz, Levi named both of his children, Lisa Lorenza and Renzo, after him. In 1950, having demonstrated his chemical talents to Accatti, Levi was promoted to Technical Director at SIVA.
Levi made several trips to rescue his old friend from the streets, but in 1952 Lorenzo died.
In 1954 he visited Buchenwald to mark the ninth anniversary of the camp's liberation from the Nazis.
In July 1957, his son Renzo was born, almost certainly named after his saviour Lorenzo Perrone. Despite a positive review by Italo Calvino in L'Unità, only 1,500 copies of If This Is a Man were sold.
In 1958 Einaudi, a major publisher, published it in a revised form and promoted it. In 1958 Stuart Woolf, in close collaboration with Levi, translated If This Is a Man into English, and it was published in the UK in 1959 by Orion Press.
In 1958 Einaudi, a major publisher, published it in a revised form and promoted it. In 1958 Stuart Woolf, in close collaboration with Levi, translated If This Is a Man into English, and it was published in the UK in 1959 by Orion Press.
Also in 1959 Heinz Riedt, also under close supervision by Levi, translated it into German.
As one of Levi's primary reasons for writing the book was to get the German people to realise what had been done in their name, and to accept at least partial responsibility, this translation was perhaps the most significant to him. ==== 1961–1974 ==== Levi began writing The Truce early in 1961; it was published in 1963, almost 16 years after his first book.
As one of Levi's primary reasons for writing the book was to get the German people to realise what had been done in their name, and to accept at least partial responsibility, this translation was perhaps the most significant to him. ==== 1961–1974 ==== Levi began writing The Truce early in 1961; it was published in 1963, almost 16 years after his first book.
He worked to gain a reputation as a writer about subjects other than surviving Auschwitz. In 1963, he suffered his first major bout of depression.
Doctors prescribed several different drugs over the years, but these had variable efficacy and side effects. In 1964 Levi collaborated on a radio play based upon If This Is a Man with the state broadcaster RAI, and in 1966 with a theatre production. He published two volumes of science fiction short stories under the pen name of Damiano Malabaila, which explored ethical and philosophical questions.
Doctors prescribed several different drugs over the years, but these had variable efficacy and side effects. In 1964 Levi collaborated on a radio play based upon If This Is a Man with the state broadcaster RAI, and in 1966 with a theatre production. He published two volumes of science fiction short stories under the pen name of Damiano Malabaila, which explored ethical and philosophical questions.
Many of the stories from the two books Storie naturali (Natural Histories, 1966) and Vizio di forma (Structural Defect, 1971) were later collected and published in English as The Sixth Day and Other Tales. In 1974 Levi arranged to go into semi-retirement from SIVA in order to have more time to write.
Many of the stories from the two books Storie naturali (Natural Histories, 1966) and Vizio di forma (Structural Defect, 1971) were later collected and published in English as The Sixth Day and Other Tales. In 1974 Levi arranged to go into semi-retirement from SIVA in order to have more time to write.
It originally appeared in his 1971 book Vizio di forma, but was published in English for the first time by Harper's. A Tranquil Star, a collection of seventeen stories translated into English by Ann Goldstein and Alessandra Bastagli was published in April 2007. In 2015, Penguin published The Complete Works of Primo Levi, ed.
Many of the stories from the two books Storie naturali (Natural Histories, 1966) and Vizio di forma (Structural Defect, 1971) were later collected and published in English as The Sixth Day and Other Tales. In 1974 Levi arranged to go into semi-retirement from SIVA in order to have more time to write.
He also wanted to escape the burden of responsibility for managing the paint plant. ==== 1975–1987 ==== In 1975 a collection of Levi's poetry was published under the title L'osteria di Brema (The Bremen Beer Hall).
It was published in English as Shema: Collected Poems. He wrote two other highly praised memoirs, Lilit e altri racconti (Moments of Reprieve, 1978) and Il sistema periodico (The Periodic Table, 1975).
At London's Royal Institution on 19 October 2006, The Periodic Table was voted onto the shortlist for the best science book ever written. In 1977 at the age of 58, Levi retired as a part-time consultant at the SIVA paint factory to devote himself full-time to writing.
It was published in English as Shema: Collected Poems. He wrote two other highly praised memoirs, Lilit e altri racconti (Moments of Reprieve, 1978) and Il sistema periodico (The Periodic Table, 1975).
The Wrench won the Strega Prize in 1979.
Most of the stories involve the solution of industrial problems by the use of troubleshooting skills; many stories come from the author's personal experience. In 1984 Levi published his only novel, If Not Now, When?— or his second novel, if The Monkey Wrench is counted.
In 1985, he flew to the United States for a 20-day speaking tour.
In Israel, a country formed partly by Jewish survivors who lived through horrors similar to those Levi described, many of his works were not translated and published until after his death. In March 1985 he wrote the introduction to the re-publication of the autobiography of Rudolf Höss, who was commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp from 1940 to 1943.
and reading it is agony." Also in 1985 a volume of his essays, previously published in La Stampa, was published under the title L'altrui mestiere (Other People's Trades).
Like all his books, La chiave a stella (1978), published in the US in 1986 as The Monkey Wrench and in the UK in 1987 as The Wrench, is difficult to categorize.
The essays ranged from book reviews and ponderings about strange things in nature, to fictional short stories. In 1986 his book I sommersi e i salvati (The Drowned and the Saved), was published.
He questioned, what made a concert violinist behave as a callous taskmaster? Also in 1986 another collection of short stories, previously published in La Stampa, was assembled and published as Racconti e saggi (some of which were published in the English volume The Mirror Maker). At the time of his death in April 1987, Levi was working on another selection of essays called The Double Bond, which took the form of letters to "La Signorina".
Primo Michele Levi (; 31 July 1919 – 11 April 1987) was an Italian Jewish chemist, partisan, Holocaust survivor and writer.
His best-known works include If This Is a Man (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), linked to qualities of the elements, which the Royal Institution named the best science book ever written. Levi died in 1987 from injuries sustained in a fall from a third-story apartment landing.
Like all his books, La chiave a stella (1978), published in the US in 1986 as The Monkey Wrench and in the UK in 1987 as The Wrench, is difficult to categorize.
He questioned, what made a concert violinist behave as a callous taskmaster? Also in 1986 another collection of short stories, previously published in La Stampa, was assembled and published as Racconti e saggi (some of which were published in the English volume The Mirror Maker). At the time of his death in April 1987, Levi was working on another selection of essays called The Double Bond, which took the form of letters to "La Signorina".
This is the first time that Levi's entire oeuvre has been translated into English. === Death === Levi died on 11 April 1987 after a fall from the interior landing of his third-story apartment in Turin to the ground floor below.
At London's Royal Institution on 19 October 2006, The Periodic Table was voted onto the shortlist for the best science book ever written. In 1977 at the age of 58, Levi retired as a part-time consultant at the SIVA paint factory to devote himself full-time to writing.
She wrote that others were being kept from public view by Levi's close friends, to whom he gave them, and they may have been destroyed. In March 2007 Harper's Magazine published an English translation of Levi's story "Knall", about a fictitious weapon that is fatal at close range but harmless more than a meter away.
It originally appeared in his 1971 book Vizio di forma, but was published in English for the first time by Harper's. A Tranquil Star, a collection of seventeen stories translated into English by Ann Goldstein and Alessandra Bastagli was published in April 2007. In 2015, Penguin published The Complete Works of Primo Levi, ed.
It originally appeared in his 1971 book Vizio di forma, but was published in English for the first time by Harper's. A Tranquil Star, a collection of seventeen stories translated into English by Ann Goldstein and Alessandra Bastagli was published in April 2007. In 2015, Penguin published The Complete Works of Primo Levi, ed.
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