A Discussion on Primo Levi and the Holocaust

Jordan Kreager

What are sonderkommandos?

As Primo Levi writes, the sonderkommando is that of a ‘privileged prisoner’ because they would be in charge of maintaining productivity in the gas chambers and death lines. In exchange for more rations and ultimately a longer lifespan, Jews would facilitate the extermination process directly towards other Jews, and usually unknowing of their own gloomed fates that await them. The instillation of this workforce must have been a method of many different tactics of dehumanization by the Nazis as they forced Jewish detainees to guide their own people through the death line, which entailed removal of hair, leading them into the gas chambers, burning of their bodies, and removal of any gold teeth found. This process seems to cover its own tracks, preventing the exposure of these acts of brutality which would explain why sonderkommandos eventually would be exterminated as well. A hierarchical ordering of the prisoners within Auschwitz likely instilled a false sense of hope for survival in these ‘laborers’ and possibly prevented revolts from occurring. Levi supports this claim on page 51, “The SS ‘psychologists’ noticed their recruitment was easier if one drew them from among the journey, bereft of resistance, at the crucial moment of stepping off the train, when every new arrival truly felt on the threshold of darkness and terror of an unearthly place.”

The grey zone?

The ‘grey zone’ is a phrase used by Primo Levi which is used to illustrate the collaboration of certain prisoners with their captors, pitting Jewish prisoners against each other within the walls of their confines. The color grey often facilitates notions of neutrality in popular culture, but can imply more of a disputable claim, as we see in the phrase ‘morally grey’ which is usually subject to debate. Levi clearly demonstrates that passing judgment on the sonderkommandos is unjustified because the experiences faced by the ‘privileged’ prior to detainment were likely very excruciatingly hard to adapt to and psychological damage was probably exponentially increasing as their fate became clearer through the long hours of each and every day. Survival is an instinct and Auschwitz, like all Nazi camps, stripped prisoners of everything they could through dehumanization, and then eventually cut their ties to survival. People cannot think clearly in these conditions, and while it is hard to hear or read about, it is important to understand that the tyrants in charge are responsible for these events. To pass judgment on a concentration camp death laborer completely fuels the fire of dehumanization, as it attempts to reroute the focus understanding of what has actually occurred.

An explanation of “we, the survivors, are not the true witnesses”

In the chapter entitled Shame, Levi explains that the survivors should not be referred to as synonymous to witnesses. On page 86, Levi associates this to TS Elliot’s ‘partial shelter,’ “...we were not able to see. The ocean of pain, past and present, surrounded us, and its level rose from year to year until it almost submerged us. It was useless to close one’s eyes or turn one’s back to it because it was all around, in every direction, all the way to the horizon.” The application of TS Elliot helps provide a clear perspective of where Levi is coming from, as witnessing an event again can bring up notions of neutrality within an event. On page 84, he writes simply, “They are the rule. We are the exception.” Here Levi explains that people who have a significant voice are complete witnesses, whereas the people deprived of all liberties, specifically including the lack of option in regard to witnessing or spectating the events happening all around them, cannot be minimalized to just that of a witness.