Summary Of Survival In Auschwitz By Primo Levi

The most common connection between Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz and Gulag Voices edited by Anne Applebaum is the fact that these memoirs are from people who survived, and were both mentally and physically capable of surviving these horrendous camps. Applebaum states that, “the writers [of these books] survived, and all of them emerged both physically and mentally intact.” This is an important fact, because these writers are writing, on some level, on behalf of those who perished in the camps. Aside from the similarities of the survivors, there are multiple similarities between the Nazi Concentration camps and the Soviet Gulags. From the inmates’ treatment on their journey to the camps, to their initial treatment within the camp walls, …show more content…
It was common knowledge for the result of the would-be-prisoners’ train journey means: death. Many of the prisoners mourn the night before departure. The next day, the Jewish prisoners are crowded into a freight train like animals. On the train, the prisoners learn they're going to Auschwitz. The people on the train are cold, hungry, and above all, thirsty. After many days, the train comes to a stop, and the prisoners are ordered out by German officers. This experience is vastly contrasted by Elena Glinka’s travel experience. Glinka and the other women were rounded up and moved onto a ship, where they travelled to a camp. From there, her experience in the camp was completely different from Primo Levi’s. The knowledge of women in the camp completely altered her perception of the camp at the onset.
Some prisoners are told to go one way, and some another—selected on the basis of age, gender and health. Very quickly, all of the healthy, able men are rounded up. The women, children and old men disappear. All the prisoners have to strip naked, and their belongings are swept into a big pile. Men in striped uniforms enter, and shave off the prisoners' hair. Waiting, waiting, waiting. And more waiting. Many hours pass as the prisoners wait, naked, in a shower room with two inches of cold water covering the …show more content…
There's a big factory that produces a certain type of rubber called Buna. So, that's also the name of the camp. Suddenly, the showers turn on, and after the prisoners are all drenched, they are ushered out of the shower-room into the cold and given ragged clothing and worn-out shoes. Primo learns he is a prisoner (häftling), and is tattooed with his prisoner number on his arm. (how numbers explained who you were, etc). The prisoners must show this number to get food and drink. There's also a back-breaking work schedule for the prisoners. Basically, during all daylight hours, the prisoners are forced into hard labor building the rubber