Primo Levi

Born in Turin to a liberal Jewish family, Levi excelled in chemistry, graduating summa cum laude from the University of Turin in 1941 despite Fascist racial laws that restricted Jewish enrollment.¹ His thesis on the optical activity of α-phenylethanol reflected a lifelong fascination with molecular structure, which he later used as a metaphor for human identity. After graduation, he found work in a nickel mine in San Vittore, where he experienced the harshness of industrial labor, an experience that would later inform his descriptions of the camp.

In 1943, Levi joined a partisan group in the Italian Alps, but was soon captured by Fascist militia and deported to Auschwitz as a Jew.² He survived 11 months in the Monowitz subcamp, where his chemistry skills earned him a position in the Buna rubber factory, sparing him from the worst of the forced labor. His survival was also due to a series of chance events, including a bout of scarlet fever that kept him in the infirmary during the evacuation marches of January 1945. He later wrote that his survival was 'a story of luck, not heroism.'

After returning to Turin, Levi wrote If This Is a Man (published in the US as Survival in Auschwitz), which was initially rejected by several publishers due to its unflinching detail and lack of sensationalism.³ It was eventually published in 1947, but only gained wide recognition after a second edition in 1958. His later works include The Truce (1963), a memoir of his journey home, and The Periodic Table (1975), a collection of stories each named after a chemical element, which the Royal Institution of Great Britain later called 'the best science book ever written.'⁴

Beyond his memoirs, Levi was a prolific essayist and poet, writing on topics from Kafka to the nature of memory. He was also an amateur ornithologist, and his poem 'The Girl-Child of Pompeii' reflects his interest in archaeology. Levi's death in 1987 was ruled a suicide, but some scholars have questioned this, noting his recent depression and the possibility of an accidental fall.⁵ His archive, held at the Centro Studi Primo Levi in Turin, contains unpublished drafts and correspondence that continue to fuel scholarly research.

Monowitz

A subcamp of Auschwitz where Levi was imprisoned, also known as Auschwitz III.

Buna

The synthetic rubber factory operated by IG Farben at Monowitz, where Levi worked as a chemist.

Fascist racial laws

Italian laws enacted in 1938 that discriminated against Jews, stripping them of citizenship and professional rights.