The Black Hole of Auschwitz

by Primo Levi; Editor: Marco Belpoliti; Translated by: Sharon Wood

• ISBN13: 9780745632414
• ISBN10: 0745632416
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-01-01
• Publisher: Polity Pr

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

Note to the Texts

The Black Hole of Auschwitz

Deportees. Anniversary

The Monument at Auschwitz

'Arbeit Macht Frei'

The Time of Swastikas

Preface to the German Edition of If This is a Man

Preface to the School Edition of the Truce

Resistance in the Camps

Preface to Y. Katzenelson's The Song of the Murdered Jewish People

Note to the Theatre Version of If This is a Man

Preface to L.Poliakov's Auschwitz

To the Young: Preface to If This a Man

A Past We Thought Would Never Return

Preface to J. Presser's The Night of the Girondins

Films and Swastikas

Letter to Latanzio: 'Resign'

Women to the Slaughter

So That the SS do not Return

It began with Kristallnacht

Jean Am?ry, Philosopher and Suicide

But We Were There

Concentration Camp at Italy's Door

No Return to the Holocausts of the Past (Nazi.Massacres, Crowds and the TV)

Images of Holocaust

Europe in Hell

Anne Frank, the Voice of History

Seekers of Lies to Deny the Holocaust

To the Visitor

You Tell Me if This is Fortunate Jew

The Pharaoh with the Swastika

Preface to H. Langbein's People in Auschwitz

Why See These Images Again?

Preface to R. H?ss's Commadant of Aushwitz

The Black Hole of Auschwitz

Preface to La vita offesa

To Our Generation

Other People's Trades

The Writer Who is Not a Writer

Racial Intolerance

Preface to L. Caglioti's I due volti della chimica (The.Two Faces of Chemistry)

We See No Other Adam in the Neighbourhood

Horseshoe Nails

Let's See How Much has Come True

Our First Ancestors were Not Animals

Collectors of Torments

Brute Force

Note to Franz Kafka's The Trial

Asymmetry and Life

Preface to Jews in Turin

Itinerary of a Jewish Writer

With the Key of Science

Preface to The Jews of Eastern Europe

What was it that Burned Up in Space?

The Plague has No Frontiers

The Community of Venice and its Ancient Cemetery

The Philosopher-Engineer and his Forbidden Dreams

Guest of Captain Nemo

Index of Names

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