Primo Levi

The author of The Drowned and the Saved, and of two previous works about the Holocaust, Survival in Auschwitz and The Reawakening (and other works of history, poetry, and fiction), Primo Levi is an Italian-born Jew, trained as a chemist, which helps him survive Auschwitz. He is taken prisoner of the German SS, and interned in the Fossili processing camp until February 1944, when he is stuffed into a railway car with "only" 50-60 fellow prisoners, with some food laid up but no water or latrines.

Levi spends about a year in Auschwitz-Monowitz, a work camp run by the SS for IG Farben Industries, a company that values technicians. Once he passes the examination in chemistry, Levi (No. 174517) is assured a double-ration of soup per day, which is the major criterion for survival. Only once does he stand naked before the "commission" that decides who goes on working...