Chapter 12 "The Events of the Summer," Summary and Analysis

By August, 1944, Levi has survived five months in the camp—just short of half of his eventual entire term of imprisonment. The character of the camp has changed; numerous shipments of Hungarians, coupled with constant murder, have shifted the camp's dominant language and culture to Hungarian. News of the larger war—for example, the Allied landings at Normandy—reach the camp and circulate, though the prisoners have learned that most stories are a little fact mingled with much speculation. In August, 1944, the Russian army has advanced far enough that the inmates can routinely hear distant artillery. Occasional Russian aerial bombing of the Monowitz-Buna and other Auschwitz camps begins. The synthetic rubber manufacturing facilities are bombed, and most meaningful work ceases. The local German citizens routinely vent...