During the Holocaust, millions of people died- but that does not tell the full story. The conditions which the prisoners of the concentration camps were forced to live through are inconceivable. Surviving prisoners have since expressed their experiences in different ways. There have also been later generations who have attempted to recapture this tragic time period; however, it is highly unlikely that they have experienced anything like the camps in their lives, which is detrimental in terms of building a believable story. Primo Levi, author and victim of Auschwitz, wrote Survival in Auschwitz to inform others of the horrific events and conditions that he was forced to live through in his journey to survival. Conversely, Roberto Benigni, Italian …show more content…
Levi combines his natural writing gifts with his experience in Auschwitz to inform the audience of what he has to overcome in order to survive. In the second chapter, he explains the loss of his own identity when he “learn[s] that [he] is a Häftling” and that “[his] number is 174517” (Levi 22). His new numerical identity symbolizes the German’s dehumanization of their prisoners. From this, readers realize how much was taken away from him, and the strength that he needs to retain his true self. This causes them to think about what it takes to survive. In this way, they can connect with Levi and apply it in their own lives. To highlight this required perseverance, he states that his “only purpose is to reach the spring” and that “[a]t the moment [he cares] about nothing else” (Levi 79). Unlike Benigni, Levi focuses on what he needs to achieve his one goal. The real objective in the camps was solely to survive, rather than to win a large tank like it was a fun game. Levi sets checkpoints for himself throughout the text, and did not care about anything but his pursuit to reach them. He creates an incentive for his readers to improve upon themselves step-by-step. They also need to be informed of what he actually went through to reach his checkpoints; the real events inspire them into thinking that anything is possible. Both Levi and his fellow prisoners are on the verge of collapsing at any moment; in the last chapter, few remain in the camps, and he describes the alive prisoners as “ragged, decrepit, skeleton-like patients at all able to move dragged themselves everywhere on the frozen soil, like an invasion of worms” (Levi 188). Using adjectives such as ragged, decrepit, and skeleton-like, he paints a portrait in the minds of his readers of the real problems that the prisoners faced, rather than turning