Chapter 17 "The Story of Ten Days," Summary and Analysis

The final chapter of the autobiography is organized much like a journal covering the ten days leading up to January 27, 1944. Each day is considered in some detail and the chapter is the longest within the text, comprising about thirteen percent of the total pages of the autobiography.

Levi contracts scarlet fever and is sent to the infectious diseases ward of the Ka-Be—it is essentially a death sentence. He is bunked with a dozen other men in a tiny room; they all suffer from a variety of highly-contagious diseases and receive relatively little medical treatment. Those who recover are sent back to work; most die or are selected and murdered. While he passes the hours, Levi hears the constantly sound of the artillery of the approaching Soviet army...