The Black Hole of Auschwitz

by Levi, Primo; Belpoliti, Marco; Wood, Sharon

• ISBN13: 9780745632407
• ISBN10: 0745632408
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-12-30
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

The Black Hole of Auschwitz brings together Levi's writings on the Holocaust and his experiences of the concentration camp, as well as those on his own accidental status as a writer and his chosen profession of chemist. In this book Levi rails intelligently and eloquently against what he saw as the ebb of compassion and interest in the Holocaust, and the yearly assault on the veracity and moral weight of the testimonies of its survivors. For Levi, to keep writing and, through writing, to understand why the Holocaust could happen, was nothing less than a safeguard against the loss of a collective memory of the atrocities perpetrated against the Jewish people.This moving book not only reveals the care and conviction with which he wrote about the Holocaust, but also shows the range of Levi's interests and the skill, thoughtfulness and sensitivity he brought to all his subjects. The consistency and moral force of Levi's reflections and the clarity and intimacy of his style will make this book appeal to a wide readership, including those who have read and been moved by his masterpiece If This is a Man.

Author Biography

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 a Man, The Periodic Table and The Drowned and the Saved.


Marco Belpoliti is the author of L'occhio di Calvino and has edited the complete works of Primo Levi for Nuova Universale Einaudi.

Table of Contents

Through the Looking Glass: Preface to the Italian Edition	vii
Note to the Texts	xvi
PART I: THE BLACK HOLE OF AUSCHWITZ
1 Deportees. Anniversary	3	(2)
2 The Monument at Auschwitz	5	(3)
3 'Arbeit Macht Frei'	8	(1)
4 The Time of Swastikas	9	(2)
5 Preface to the German Edition of If This is a Man	11	(1)
6 Preface to the School Edition of The Truce	12	(4)
7 Resistance in the Camps	16	(5)
8 Preface to Y. Katzenelson's The Song of the Murdered Jewish People	21	(2)
9 Note to the Theatre Version of If This is a Man	23	(4)
10 Preface to L. Poliakov's Auschwitz	27	(2)
11 To the Young: Preface to If This is a Man	29	(2)
12 A Past We Thought Would Never Return	31	(3)
13 Preface to J. Presser's The Night of the Girondins	34	(3)
14 Films and Swastikas	37	(2)
15 Letter to Latanzio: 'Resign'	39	(1)
16 Women to the Slaughter	40	(4)
17 So That the SS do not Return	44	(1)
18 It began with Kristallnacht	45	(3)
19 Jean Amery, Philosopher and Suicide	48	(2)
20 But We Were There	50	(2)
21 Concentration Camp at Italy's Door	52	(4)
22 No Return to the Holocausts of the Past (Nazi Massacres, Crowds and the TV)	56	(3)
23 Images of Holocaust	59	(7)
24 Europe in Hell	66	(2)
25 Anne Frank, the Voice of History	68	(1)
26 Seekers of Lies to Deny the Holocaust	69	(2)
27 To the Visitor	71	(2)
28 You Tell Me if This is a Fortunate Jew	73	(2)
29 The Pharaoh with the Swastika	75	(3)
30 Preface to H. Langbein's People in Auschwitz	78	(3)
31 Why See These Images Again?	81	(2)
32 Preface to R. Höss's Commandant of Auschwitz	83	(7)
33 The Black Hole of Auschwitz	90	(3)
34 Preface to La vita offesa	93	(3)
35 To Our Generation	96	(5)
PART II: OTHER PEOPLE'S TRADES
36 The Writer Who is Not a Writer	101	(4)
37 Racial Intolerance	105	(16)
38 Preface to L. Caglioti's I due volti della chimica (The Two Faces of Chemistry)	121	(5)
39 We See No Other Adam in the Neighbourhood	126	(2)
40 Horseshoe Nails	128	(2)
41 Let's See How Much has Come True	130	(2)
42 Our First Ancestors were Not Animals	132	(2)
43 Collectors of Torments	134	(2)
44 Brute Force	136	(4)
45 Note to Franz Kafka's The Trial	140	(2)
46 Asymmetry and Life	142	(9)
47 Preface to Jews in Turin	151	(4)
48 Itinerary of a Jewish Writer	155	(14)
49 With the Key of Science	169	(2)
50 Preface to The Jews of Eastern Europe	171	(3)
51 What was it that Burned Up in Space?	174	(1)
52 The Plague has No Frontiers	175	(3)
53 The Community of Venice and its Ancient Cemetery	178	(3)
54 The Philosopher-Engineer and his Forbidden Dreams	181	(2)
55 Guest of Captain Nemo	183	(5)
Index of Names	188