Which 1947 memoir by Primo Levi recounts his imprisonment at Auschwitz?
Answer
If This Is a Man
Answer
If This Is a Man
If This Is a Man is Primo Levi’s 1947 memoir recounting his imprisonment at Auschwitz.
Levi, an Italian Jewish chemist and writer, was arrested by Fascist authorities in December 1943 and deported to Auschwitz in February 1944. He survived the Monowitz labor camp, part of the Auschwitz complex, and was liberated in January 1945. His memoir examines imprisonment, forced labor, hunger, moral choices, and the struggle to preserve human identity.
The book was first published in Italy in 1947 under the title Se questo è un uomo. Its English title is If This Is a Man; in the United States, it has also been published as Survival in Auschwitz. The later companion memoir The Truce describes Levi’s long journey home after liberation.
It is distinct from Elie Wiesel’s Night, another major Holocaust memoir, and from Anne Frank’s diary, which describes hiding in Amsterdam but not imprisonment in a concentration camp.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026