Remember in Survival in Auschwitz when Levi states that "the Lager was pre-eminently a gigantic biological and social experiment" (9.2)? The Jewish prisoners, along with all the other victims of the Nazi concentration camp machine, were forced to live under conditions perhaps never before seen in human history.
In one way, the book is all about the types of choices people make when placed in conditions that are beyond comprehension. Some help each other out, while others game the system and steal. Others become part of the power structure and in turn oppress their own people. Because of the conditions in the camp, as Primo tells us, the prisoners can't really be judged by the same moral and ethical standards we apply to people on the outside. Instead, much of life in the concentration camp revolves around subverting or accommodating the system to the extent possible. There's very little outright defiance as that can mean certain death.
Questions About Strategies and Choices
- What choice does Null Achtzen seem to have made? How does it affect his behavior and his attitude toward his place in the camp?
- Think about Henri and Schepsel and their strategies for survival in the Lager. How do they differ? What appears to be the moral code behind each set of behaviors?
- Even though Alberto engages in the same type of "illegal" behavior as others in the camp (stealing and selling things on the black market), Primo maintains that he was never corrupted by the camp. Why does Primo believe this?
- Where do we see Primo "working the system" to his advantage?
Chew on This
The hanged man, or "the last one," is a symbol for the impossibility of organized defiance in the Lager.
Primo seems to be uncomfortable with Henri, who manipulates all those around him. This is because he realizes Henri is the type of person he could easily become.
The choices made by the men in the camp aren't really choices, because they're made under misery and duress.