In this memoir, Levi begins his story in Italy 1943 with his capture by “the Fascist Militia on 13 December” (Levi, 1979 p.19) after a short stint as a novice partisan in the mountains. With the benefit of hindsight he reflects that at this time, still relatively young and naive he has yet to learn the cruel lessons of life, “I had not been taught the doctrine I was later to learn so hurriedly in the Lager: that man is bound to pursue his own ends by all possible means, while he who errs but once pays dearly”(Levi, 1979 p.19).

Thrown into a concentration camp by the Italian Fascists for his Jewish heritage, it is the arrival of the German SS that signals his descent into hell. Herded like animals into converted cattle wagons, Levi joined 650 other men, women and children on a trip that would ultimately end with the deaths of the majority of those on board, ind

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