Primo Levi, born in 1919, was an Italian Jew who trained as a chemist prior to the war. Because of his expertise, he was put to work at Buna-Monowitz (Auschwitz III). This poem was written nearly a year after the liberation of Auschwitz. After the war, Levi continued to work as a chemist and author. He died in 1987.

Levi, Primo. The Collected Poems of Primo Levi. Trans. Ruth Feldman and Brian Swann. Boston: Faber and Faber, 1988.

Torn feet and cursed earth,The long line in the gray morning.The Buna smokes from a thousand chimneys,A day like every other day awaits us.The whistles terrible at dawn:You multitudes with dead faces,On the monotonous horror of the mudAnother day of suffering is born.Tired companion, I see you in my heart.I read your eyes, sad friend.In your breast you carry cold, hunger, nothing.You have broken whats left of the courage within you.Colorless one, you were a strong man,A woman walked at your side.Empty companion who no longer has a name,Forsaken man who can no longer weep,So poor you no longer grieve,So tired you no longer fear.Spent once-strong man.If we were to meet againUp there in the world, sweet beneath the sun,With what kind of face would we confront each other?

28 December 1945

Overview

At Buna, Eliezer and his father endure routine humiliations and randomviolence. At one point, a Kapos assistant tries to take Eliezers shoes.Sometime later, a Kapo demands the gold crown on his tooth. On yetanother occasion, Eliezer is beaten for no reason at all. At the same time,his father is finding it harder and harder to keep up. Eliezer is tornbetween anger at him for not knowing how to march and his love for theman. More and more, Eliezer feels he is becoming a starved stomach.Although a public hanging troubles him briefly, he and the other men aretoo hungry to think much beyond their dinner. Then a child and twoadult prisoners are hanged for hiding weapons. Watching the boy slowlydie, a prisoner asks, For God's sake, where is God? Eliezer, deeplymoved by the hanging, hears a voice answer, Where He is? This is where -hanging here from this gallows. (page 65)Section 4

Give examples of the ways Eliezers relationship with his father is changing. What is prompting those changes?

How do the changes in his relationship with his father affect the wayEliezer sees himself as an individual? The way he views his father?

What does Eliezer mean when he refers to his father as his weakpoint? Is love a human weakness?

Consider Elies relationship with his father.

How do words like soup and bread take on new meaning for Eliezer?Why does he describe himself as a starved stomach? What did itmean to see bread and soup as ones whole life? (page 52)

Eliezer describes two hangings in this section. He tells the reader thathe witnessed many others. Yet he chose to write only about these two. Why are these two hangings so important to him? How do they differ from the others?

Reread pg 61 63. Why did the soup taste better than ever?Reread pg 63 65. Why did the soup [taste] of corpses?

Consider how the process of dehumanization affects Eliezer and his fellow prisoners.

Why do you think the Germans chose to hang a few prisoners inpublic at a time when they are murdering thousands each day in thecrematoriums?

When the young boy is hanged, a prisoner asks, For God's sake,where is God? Eliezer hears a voice answer, Where He is? Thisis where-hanging here on this gallows. What does this statementmean? Consider how the process of dehumanization affects Eliezer and his fellow prisoners.

What does the word resistance mean to you?Consider the meaning of the word resistance at Auschwitz. Some insist that armed resistance is the only form of legitimate resistance. Can you resist without the physical means of defeating your opposition? Others stress the idea that resistance requires organization. Does resistance need a unified plan in order to be effective?Still others argue that resistance is more about the will to live and the power of hope than it is about either weapons or organization. Do you agree? Why or why not?

Are the following examples of resistance? If so, who are what are they resisting?Consider the meaning of the word resistance at Auschwitz. I refused to give him my shoes. They were all I had left (48). Eliezers refusal to let the dentist remove his gold crown (51 52).

The French girls decision to speak in German to Eliezer after he is beaten (53).

Elies sacrifice of his gold crown to protect his father (54-56).

The prisoners choice to die for soup (59 60).

The prisoners who attempted to stockpile weapons, for which they were later hanged

Consider the behaviour of other inmates from Wiesels perspective.Elie Wiesel said the following of cruel or violent inmates:

No one has the right to judge them, especially not those who did notexperience Auschwitz or Buchenwald. The sages of our Traditionstate point-blank: Do not judge your fellow-man until you stand inhis place. In other words, in the same situation, would I have actedas he did? Sometimes doubt grips me. Suppose I had spent noteleven months but eleven years in a concentration camp. Am I sure Iwould have kept my hands clean? No, I am not, and no one can be.

Wiesel, Elie. All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs. New York: Knopf, 1995.

Consider the behaviour of other inmates from Wiesels perspective.Wiesel writes that he prefers to remember the kindness and compassion of his fellow prisoners rather than those who were cruel or violent.

Assignment: Identify examples found thus far in the book. Add this to your Learning Log

In what way are all of these people victims?

Acts of Kindness and Compassion Acts of Cruelty and Violence

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