The Grey Zone Analysis
Primo Levi was captured at the age of 24 by the Fascist Militia on December 13, 1943. Although Levi was a chemist with a degree, graduating from Turin in 1941, summa cum laude, he was treated just like all the other prisoners until his skill was proven and gave him a longer chance to survive. Because he was a Jew, he was sent to a detention camp along with the other English and American prisoners-of-war who were also “people not approved of by the new-born Fascist Republic” (Levi, 14). Later, he was boarded onto a train with many other prisoners, where they learned they were going to Auschwitz. The people appeared to just be “two groups of strange individuals… walk[ing] in squads, in rows of three…. It was all incomprehensible and mad, but
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one thing we had understood. This was the metamorphosis that awaited us. Tomorrow we would be like them” (Levi, pp 20-21). No one knew he was a chemist with a high degree, so he became a number just like the rest of the individuals. Few prisoners were given jobs above factory or hard labor, but those who were given the privilege were granted the chance to live and survive longer, possibly making it out alive.
Within Levi’s essay “The Gray Zone”, he wrote that “privileged prisoners were a minority within the Lager [camp] population; nevertheless, they represent a potent majority among survivors” (Niewyk, III, p.
117-18). Levi’s life was extended because he was given the opportunity to work in the Chemical Kommando, specifically the Kommando 98- “no more than an ordinary transport Kommando attached to the magnesium chloride workhouse” (Levi, 101). To gain the position, he had to pass an examination, which he claimed, “I can save myself if I become a Specialist, and that I will become a Specialist if I pass a chemistry examination” (Levi, 103). He saw that at his ticket out of the hard labor and in to a more privileged life. The labor was scraping magnesium chloride, with water up to the ankles that soaked into shoes, clothes and skin. The conditions were not the best but as a “specialized worker” he held the right to “new shirt and underpants and must be shaved every Wednesday and got to work in a laboratory with 65-degree heat, providing less suffrage from the hunger or cold of the winter”, a privilege not given to other prisoners (Levi, 139). Levi was very happy with these conditions and made the time pass quicker because he was in conditions only few could attain with his skill set and with passing the examination. In the end, he was still weak and still felt conquered by the forces pushed against him but because of the position he received, he could survive much longer than the
others were able to.
one thing we had understood. This was the metamorphosis that awaited us. Tomorrow we would be like them” (Levi, pp 20-21). No one knew he was a chemist with a high degree, so he became a number just like the rest of the individuals. Few prisoners were given jobs above factory or hard labor, but those who were given the privilege were granted the chance to live and survive longer, possibly making it out alive.
Within Levi’s essay “The Gray Zone”, he wrote that “privileged prisoners were a minority within the Lager [camp] population; nevertheless, they represent a potent majority among survivors” (Niewyk, III, p.
117-18). Levi’s life was extended because he was given the opportunity to work in the Chemical Kommando, specifically the Kommando 98- “no more than an ordinary transport Kommando attached to the magnesium chloride workhouse” (Levi, 101). To gain the position, he had to pass an examination, which he claimed, “I can save myself if I become a Specialist, and that I will become a Specialist if I pass a chemistry examination” (Levi, 103). He saw that at his ticket out of the hard labor and in to a more privileged life. The labor was scraping magnesium chloride, with water up to the ankles that soaked into shoes, clothes and skin. The conditions were not the best but as a “specialized worker” he held the right to “new shirt and underpants and must be shaved every Wednesday and got to work in a laboratory with 65-degree heat, providing less suffrage from the hunger or cold of the winter”, a privilege not given to other prisoners (Levi, 139). Levi was very happy with these conditions and made the time pass quicker because he was in conditions only few could attain with his skill set and with passing the examination. In the end, he was still weak and still felt conquered by the forces pushed against him but because of the position he received, he could survive much longer than the
others were able to.