Language:
German
Year of publication:
2000
Titel der Quelle:
Sinn und Form
Angaben zur Quelle:
52,2 (2000) 149-165
Keywords:
Levi, Primo,
;
Levi, Primo.
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Personal narratives
Abstract:
Recalls that Levi's "If This Is a Man" was at first rejected by publishers and readers in Italy partly because it did not fit into the Marxist ideology of the immediate postwar years. In East Germany in the early 1980s, its publication was prevented by the Committee of Anti-Fascist Resistance Fighters and the Ministry of Culture, because of Levi's observations that political prisoners oppressed and exploited their less privileged comrades no less than did criminal prisoners, "a monstrous accusation." Despite the efforts of Meinert, lector for Italian in the Aufbau Verlag, and warm recommendations of outside lectors, the book could not be published. Remarks that Levi himself, unlike the Committee, recognized the legitimacy of varying individual experiences of the Holocaust. Pp. 166-194 contain the texts of documents: official correspondence, a letter by Levi expressing his understanding of the situation, and a postscript by Fred Wander, a survivor of Buchenwald, that was meant to be printed with the book and that combined appreciation of Levi's work with reservations meant to appease the regime.
Note:
Pp 166-194 contain documentation on the prohibition of publication of Primo Levi's two major books in the DDR.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
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