Auschwitz Testimonies

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.

"One of the most important and gifted writers of our time."—Italo Calvino"The triumph of human identity and worth over the pathology of human destruction glows virtually everywhere in Levi's writing.... Time and time again we are moved by his narratives of how men refuse erasure."—Toni Morrison"Primo Levi's poise was one of the greatest achievements in the history of the human spirit. His writing restored the honor of humanism after Auschwitz."—Leon Wieseltier"Whether as witness or imaginative artist, Levi stands high among the truly essential European writers of the past century."—Michael Dirda, Washington Post"Their unvarnished testimony speaks volumes about the weight of responsibility felt by survivors such as Levi to ensure that the world never forgot the 'insane dream of building a thousand-year empire upon millions of corpses and slaves'."—The Sydney Morning Herald"Levi writes of unspeakable things with charity, clarity and objectivity."—Sunday Times"The publication of Auschwitz Testimonies may go some way to fulfil Levi's 40-year post-war odyssey to bear witness to 'the history of today, whose violence is the child of that violence which, by sheer chance, we managed to survive'."—The Morning Star

• Figures ixTranslator’s Note xJudith WoolfIntroduction: Bare Witness 1Robert S.C. Gordon1: Report on the Sanitary and Medical Organization of the Monowitz Concentration Camp for Jews (Auschwitz Ð Upper Silesia) 1945-6 19Leonardo De Benedetti and Primo Levi2: Record by Dr. Primo Levi, registration no. 174517 survivor of Monowitz-Buna 1945 45Primo Levi3: Deposition circa 1946 49Primo Levi4: Deposition on Monowitz 1946? 52Leonardo De Benedetti5: Statement for the Höss Trial 1947 57Primo Levi6: Deposition for the Höss Trial 1947 60Leonardo De Benedetti7: Testimony for a fellow prisoner 1953 64Primo Levi8: Anniversary 1955 67Primo Levi9: Denunciation against Dr. Joseph Mengele circa 1959 70Leonardo De Benedetti10: Letter to a Fascist’s daughter who wants to know the truth 1959 75Primo Levi11: Miracle in Turin 1959 78Primo Levi12: The time of the swastikas 1960 80Primo Levi13: Deposition for the Eichmann Trial 1960 83Primo Levi14: Testimony for Eichmann 1961 87Primo Levi15: Deportation and extermination of the Jews 1961 93Primo Levi16: Statement for the Bosshammer Trial 1965 101Primo Levi17: The deportation of the Jews 1966 103Primo Levi18: Questionnaire for the Bosshammer Trial 1970 107Leonardo De Benedetti19: Questionnaire for the Bosshammer Trial 1970 115Primo Levi20: Deposition for the Bosshammer Trial 1971 121Primo Levi21: The Europe of the Lagers 1973 129Primo Levi22: This was Auschwitz 1975 135Primo Levi23: Political deportees 1975 139Primo Levi24: Draft of a text for the interior of the Italian Block at Auschwitz 1978 144Primo Levi25: A secret defence committee at Auschwitz 1979 147Primo Levi26: That train to Auschwitz 1979 150Primo Levi27: In memory of a good man 1983 154Primo Levi28: To our generationÉ 1986 157Primo LeviAPPENDIX: The train to Auschwitz 1971 160Primo Levi and Leonardo De BenedettiAfterword: A Witness and the Truth 164Fabio Levi and Domenico ScarpaAcknowledgements 192