When is a memoir not really a memoir? This is one of the philosophical questions that arises within Levi's third discourse on his experiences at the infamous death camp Auschwitz during World War II. Levi's first two memoirs were written when the events were barely a year or two in his past; memories were fresh, feelings were heightened, and many of his fellow survivors were still able to contribute to his memoir.
This, his third study of his time at the camp, was written decades after the publication of his memoirs and also decades after the war. The book was in many ways a response to what Levi saw as an upsurge in Holocaust Deniers; people who deny that the Holocaust actually happened, and denounce all survivor testimony to the contrary. This led Levi to wonder whether or not memory was actually an efficient method of documenting events as they happened, because his memory of events was different to his work unit's memory, to the guards' memories and to the memories those who perished in the camps might have had had they survived. Levi then goes on to suggest that the only memories that truly sum up the death camp experience are those of the men and women who were murdered. Only they had experienced the death camp in its truest sense, because those who had survived were still living and it was therefore not a "death" camp for them.
Levi also wonders whether the separation of time can change the way in which prisoners might view each other. Whilst he was in the camp, Levi shared the same hatred of the men who worked with the Nazi guards and helped to govern their fellow prisoners. The men were reviled, not respected and generally regarded as collaborators. Each of the prisoners could see no circumstance under which he would commit the same travesty. However, with some forty years of time separating him from his time in the camp, Levi begins to see the men in a different light. He wonders if he would have been strong enough to refuse the role had he been summoned for it. In reality, if a man refused to do what the guards told him to do, including accepting the role of policing their own, they would be killed. In a situation of survival of the fittest, where there is essentially a "kill or be killed" mentality permeating the camp, could any man really be blamed for doing whatever it took to stay alive?
The letters section at the end of the book also demonstrates Levi's reasoning for revisiting his time in Auschwitz. Many of the Germans writing to him seem to feel an element of guilt for what happened, but many also seem to be in denial about the existence of the Holocaust at all. This is the key difference between Levi's first two books and his last one; the first two books were written for those who knew that Auschwitz existed, and who were interested in his experiences. The final book was written with deniers in mind, wanting to show that his experiences were real, no matter how much time had gone by.
