Over the last week I've read If this is a Man // The Truce and The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi; a survivor of Auschwitz. Hasn't been the most pleseant reading ... The Drowned and the Saved talks of memory and how the will and spirit of prisoners was broken; I found how he writes of himself as a witness rather than a judge intriguing. If this is a Man / The Truce was more autobiographical, as he wrote more about his time in the camp; and his journey home from the camp. Its intriguing to read how he answers the questions about how he feels towards the Germans; and whether or not they knew.
He also writes of what he witnessed and seeks to understand what enabled him to survive. The books are a reminder of the nature of evil - and as Levi says - that we can not understand it, as to understand is to contain; and "almost to justify", and to keep reminding our conscience, that this could happen again.
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