Oral history interview with Primo Levi

Oral History | Digitized | RG Number: RG-50.148.0006

Overview

Interview Summary: Primo Levi (1919-1987) describes the history of antisemitism in Italy; experiencing almost no antisemitism until 1943; the ghettos in Italy that existed until 1848; antisemitism in his childhood; the racial legislation introduced in Italy after Mussolini met with Hitler in 1938; studying chemistry at the University of Turin then working as a chemist for two years; going with his mother and sister to the mountains outside Turin; meeting with non-Jewish friends and trying to start a partisan group; being caught in December 1943; being interrogated and declaring himself a Jew; being sent to the internment camp at Fossoli and the conditions there; being sent after a month to Auschwitz and the journey there; entering the camp and the selection process; being sent to Monowitz labor camp; the conditions and his work there; his memories of hunger in the camp; the mental states of the inmates and the social dynamics in the camp; the disorientation caused by not comprehending the numerous languages in the camp and the importance of learning German; hearing the Russians approach in December 1944; going to the infirmary after contracting scarlet fever and avoiding the death march out of the camp; the bombing of the camp; staying alive during the 10 days after the Germans left and before the Russians arrived; receiving a meat ration after the arrival of the Russians; and the collaboration he experienced upon liberation and how human relations changed.
Interviewee: Primo Levi
Date: interview: 1972
Credit Line: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, purchased from the Imperial War Museum Collection
Biography: Primo Levi was born on July 31, 1919 in Turin, Italy, son of Cesare Levi and Ester Luzzati Levi. His sister Anna Maria was born in 1921. As a child, Levi had a basic Jewish religious education, and was Bar Mitzvahed at age 13. He became passionate about chemistry at age 14, focusing his high school studies on science. In October 1937, he enrolled as a chemistry student at the University of Turin, graduating cum laude in July 1941. His diploma noted that he was "of the Jewish race." In July 1942, Levi moved to Milan to work at Wander, a Swiss drug company, and then in November he and his friends made contact with members of an anti-Fascist organization and joined the clandestine Action Party. The following summer, after the fall of the Fascist government and the German invasion of Italy, Levi quit his job and joined a partisan group in Valle d'Aosta in the Alps. On December 13, 1943, Levi was arrested near Brusson with others and taken to the Fossoli transit camp. In February 1944, the Germans took over operation of Fossoli, and Levi was sent on transport to Auschwitz, with approximately 650 others prisoners. Only 95 men and 29 women from this transport were selected for labor, all the others were immediately killed in the gas chambers. Levi was tattooed with prisoner number 174517 and sent to Monowitz. During that time, he met and befriended Lorenzo Perrone who was working as a mason for an Italian company that had moved to Auschwitz. Perrone helped Levi by providing him with extra rations, and other goods. Levi credited Perrone with saving his life, and Perrone was recognized in 1998 as Righteous Among the Nations for his actions. Levi was sick with scarlet fever when the Germans evacuated the camp as the Russian army advanced on the camp in early 1945, and he was liberated by the Russian Army on January 27, 1945. Levi lived in a Soviet transit camp in Katowice, Poland for several months and then after some time in a camp in Belarus, he and other Italian former prisoners were repatriated back to Italy. He returned to his family home in October 1945. In 1946, after beginning work as a chemist at a paint factory outside of Turin, Levi began writing what would become "If This Is a Man," which was titled "Survival in Auschwitz" in later English editions. The book was published in Italy in 1947, and he had a continued career as both a chemist and award winning author of multiple novels, short stories, and autobiographical works. Levi married Lucia Morpurgo in 1946, they had two children Lisa and Renzo. Levi died in Turin on April 11, 1987, and his death was ruled suicide by Italian authorities.

Physical Details

Language: English
Extent: 1 sound cassette : analog.

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Conditions on Access: There are no known restrictions on access to this material. Museum staff are currently unable to copy, digitize, and/or photograph collection materials on behalf of researchers. Researchers are encouraged to plan a research visit to consult collection materials themselves.
Conditions on Use: Restrictions on use. Permission to copy and/or use recordings in any production must be granted by the Imperial War Museums.

Keywords & Subjects

Topical Term: Antisemitism--Italy. Concentration camp inmates--Selection process. Concentration camps--Psychological aspects. Forced labor. Hiding places--Italy. Holocaust survivors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Italy--Personal narratives. Jewish ghettos--Italy. Jews--Italy. Jews--Legal status, laws, etc.--Italy. Jews--Persecutions--Italy. Scarlatina. World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Liberation. World War, 1939-1945--Conscript labor. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Italy. World War, 1939-1945--Jewish resistance--Italy. Men--Personal narratives.
Geographic Name: Italy--History--1922-1945. Italy. Oświęcim (Poland) Turin (Italy)
Personal Name: Levi, Primo--Interviews.
Corporate Name: Auschwitz (Concentration camp) Fossoli di Carpi (Concentration camp) Monowitz (Concentration camp)

Administrative Notes

Holder of Originals: Imperial War Museum
Legal Status: Permanent Collection
Provenance: The interview was conducted by Thames Television for the "World at War" Television Series. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum acquired a copy of the interview with Primo Levi from the Imperial War Museum in February 1995.
Special Collection: The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive

Record last modified:: 2023-11-16 08:17:12
This page:: http://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn510176

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