Drowned And The Saved By Primo Levi Analysis

Throughout Primo Levi’s, The Drowned And The Saved, Levi reflects on his experiences during the Holocaust in an attempt to convey the tragedies suffered. In doing this, he touches upon his findings of what defines human beings. From these, he shows how the Lagers were intended to systematically strip these traits from their prisoners. Overall, he notes two central characteristics of humans: a need for distinction and the desire for power. First, on the idea of a need for distinction, Levi immediately notes a need throughout all history for separation of good and bad, a “we” and “they” mentality (Levi pg 36). This is the ideal that humans employ to simplify the chaotic nature of life and obtain a sense of self. In the Lagers, this is one …show more content…
This ultimately comes from humans being social individuals to create a social structure that is accepted by all. The Nazis remove this ideal from their prisoners too, and further manipulate this desire once the prisoners enter the Lager. They start this with the boxcars. In these boxcars, there were anywhere from fifty to one hundred and twenty people, no windows, and no bathroom (Levi pg 111). Fortunately for Levi, a woman brought a chamber pot that became a temporary toilet. Levi remarks how being made to urinate and defecate in public became a demeaning torture. Therefore it signified an intentional blow to their human dignity in an attempt to dehumanize them. The fact that they had a toilet signified a resistance to being demoralized as Levi stated, “we are not yet animals” (Levi pg 111). This was exactly the Nazi’s intention, from transport to integration to the Lager; they diminished any power the prisoners had, removing what kept them civilized. Embedding into the prisoners their low worth in the Nazi’s hierarchy. Additionally they were stripped of their power once they arrived at the Lagers. Prisoners were ordered to bring all their valuables with them for this journey; upon arrival they were stripped of everything they had including the clothes they were wearing. Levi exemplified this as a key degradation, as a naked man would ultimately feel helpless and vulnerable, “he perceives himself … as a worm … He knows he can be crushed…” (Levi pg 114). Through these core degradations and many others, the Nazi’s crushed the humanity of their prisoners making them inferior in their hierarchy. Once there, the positions of Kapos and SS were seized for their miniscule amount of power, which led to a vicious cycle of