THE MEMORY OF JUSTICE: PRIMO LEVI AND AUSCHWITZ
Primo Levi is a unique sort of Holocaust symbol. Having survived what he called ‘the adventure of Auschwitz,’ in 1947 he published Se questo è un uomo (translated in England as If This is A Man and is the United States as Survival in Auschwitz), his classic study of man in the face of the Holocaust....
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
1989
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| In: |
Holocaust and genocide studies
Year: 1989, Volume: 4, Issue: 1, Pages: 89-104 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Primo Levi is a unique sort of Holocaust symbol. Having survived what he called ‘the adventure of Auschwitz,’ in 1947 he published Se questo è un uomo (translated in England as If This is A Man and is the United States as Survival in Auschwitz), his classic study of man in the face of the Holocaust. Levi's scrupulously factual narrative is often so bizarre as to seem unreal. But fiction it is not. Levi does not spare us any of his momories, yet his point is that neither did memory spare him. Survivors, he says, must bear the memory of the offense in aetemum. Where is the justice in this proposition? Can memory be overcome? Is there a middle ground between oppressor and victim, and how does Levi define it?This paper details Primo Levi's concept of the ‘memory of offense’ and his views on justice. It is grounded in an analysis of his first book and his last one, I sommersi e i salvati (The Drowned and the Saved). It also avails itself of an interview Mr. Levi granted the author on 19 June 1986, in which he expounded on the themes of memory and justice, among others. Lastly, since nothing Mr. Levi wrote was purely theoretical, it briefly explores how these two main topics relate to individuals he mentions in his books and interview (such as Franz Stangl, Rudolf Hoss, Jean Améry, Liliana Cavani and Kurt Waldheim). |
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| ISSN: | 1476-7937 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Holocaust and genocide studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/hgs/4.1.89 |