Essay Questions

Why were some of the prisoners working with the Nazis against their fellow prisoners?

This comes down to the principle of survival of the fittest; the Nazis did not offer prisoners a job out of benevolence but out of necessity because of the sheer number of prisoners in relation to the number of guards and commanders that were present. One of the things that the Nazis like to utilize the most was hierarchy, dividing and conquering by raising some men up over others completely randomly. These men would be given privileges, perks, and more food, making them highly unpopular within the prisoner ranks.

The reason for their compliance was fear; if they refused to work with the Nazis, they would be immediately killed, and there would be someone else to take their place. The more pragmatic among them realized that working for the Nazis might keep them safe until liberation, which was their goal. These were also the men who dealt the best with their experiences after liberation, feeling less guilt about their survival than their fellows.

What does Levi feel to be the chief problems with memory?

Memory and trauma are entwined from Levi's perspective. He wrote his first two autobiographies about Auschwitz only a few years after the liberation and the end of the war. The memories still felt alive and everything was still fresh in his mind. He penned this book forty years after his experiences in the death camp, which made him more reflective. He is no longer still living in the memory, but looking back at it.

He also notes that since the Nazis destroyed most of the physical evidence of the Holocaust, memories are really the only way of proving that the atrocities really happened. Therefore, the memories of prisoners, guards, and those who fell in between working for the guards are the only documentary proof of the Holocaust. Even though all of these memories are essentially subjective and different, they still make up the most complete historical picture. He also observes that the only people whose experiences of the death camps really told the truth about the events there are those who were killed, and so it is the responsibility of survivors to speak their truth for them.