8,9 & 10 "This Side of Good and Evil", " The Drowned and the Saved", " Chemical Examination"

• Engels
• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)
• GCSE

Goals for today 

We will consider happiness and unhappiness in "A Good Day " 

You will consider syntactical choices in Levi's descriptions 

Background information about Buna Werke

We will consider morals in the Lager 

"A Good Day" - The purpose of life

The conviction that life has a purpose is rooted in every fibre of man, it is a property of the human substance. Free men give many names to this purpose, and think and talk a lot about its nature, But for us the question is simpler. 

     Today, in this place, our only purpose is to reach the spring. 

"A Good Day" - Does life have a purpose? 

Many religions, scientists and philosophers have sought to answer this question. What do you think - discuss. 

• ​To reproduce to pass on our DNA?​
  
• To live well and be happy?​
  
• To worship God?​
  
• To learn everything we can about the universe?​
  
• To seek out and enjoy pleasure?​
  
• To share your gifts and talents with others?​
  
• No, not really?​
  

Happiness and unhappiness

Consider the purpose of this extract and the stylistic choices Levi makes to convey that message. Write a short response using evidence in your class notebook

"...in free life one hears, it is said that man is never content. In fact it is not a question of a human incapacity for a state of absolute happiness, but of an ever-insufficient knowledge of the complex nature of the state of unhappiness; so that the single name of the major cause is given to all its causes, which are composite and set out in an order of urgency. And if the most immediate cause of stress comes to an end, you are grievously amazed to see that another one lies behind; and in reality a whole series of others. 

      So that as soon as the cold, which throughout the winter had seemed our only enemy, had ceased, we became aware of our hunger

"This Side of Good and Evil"

In Auschwitz, none of the ideas or concepts of the old world are applicable – philosophical or religious explanations for life are pointless. Survival through to the Spring is their only goal – no other viewpoint matters.

The Greek Jews of Salonica (Thessaloniki) 

The Greek Jews are the most raucous in the camp and their complex behaviour is why they have survived three years when most prisoners only survive a few months:

“tenacious, thieving, wise, ferocious and united, so determined”

'Kombinacja' economics in the Lager

Look carefully at the last sentence in this extract. 

How is it constructed? Why is it constructed in that way? 

Discuss in your group

Speculations of this kind establish a tie between the internal economy of the Lager and the economic life of the outside world: the accidental failure of the distribution of tobacco among the civilian population in Crakow, overcoming the barrier of barbed wire which segregates us from human society, had an immediate repercussion in camp, provoking a notable rise in the quotation of Mahorca, and consequently of the prize-coupon."

Colon usage

Main clause -Subject, verb, object

participle phrase 

Conjunction 

Comma usage 

Speculations of this kind establish a tie between the internal economy of the Lager and the economic life of the outside world: the accidental failure of the distribution of tobacco among the civilian population in Crakow, overcoming the barrier of barbed wire which segregates us from human society, had an immediate repercussion in camp, provoking a notable rise in the quotation of Mahorca, and consequently of the prize-coupon."

Purpose: to convey the complexity of the Lager’s economy.

How: The punctuation marks and syntactical choices help to clarify the relationships between different parts of the sentence, guiding the reader through the layered information.

Why: The sentence structure emphasises the immediate and tangible impact of external economic changes on the Lager. The sentence structure emphasises the interconnectedness between the internal and external economics despite physical separation. The sentence structure emphasises the complexities of the economic structure of the Lager and the importance of cause and effect. 

Write one paragraph discussing the purpose of this sentence and the choices Levi makes to convey that purpose. 

Levi employs complex syntactical choices in this sentence to reflect the complex structure of the black market economy in the Lager . The sentence begins with a main clause, "Speculations of this kind establish a tie between the internal economy of the Lager and the economic life of the outside world," which introduces the general idea of interconnected economies. The colon then acts as a bridge to a specific example, indicating that what follows will elaborate on this connection. The clause "the accidental failure of the distribution of tobacco among the civilian population in Crakow" sets up the cause, while the phrase "overcoming the barrier of barbed wire which segregates us from human society" emphasizes the overcoming of physical and metaphorical separation. The immediate repercussion in the camp is detailed, showing the direct impact on the camp’s black market economy, with commas used to break down the complex information into digestible parts for the reader. This structure underscores the intricate and immediate connections between external events and the Lager’s internal economy, enhanced by precise punctuation that clarifies the relationships within the sentence.

Buna Werke - Monowitz 

A factory six to seven kilometres outside Auschwitz that was intended to produce synthetic rubber – it never produced anything. It was constructed by the prisoners and the “bricks…were   cemented by hate; hate and discord”

Notice again the Tower of Babel reference; confusion exists even among the Germans who cannot make the rubber that they need for supplies:

“the insane dream of grandeur of our masters”

“the confusion of languages”

“in defiance of heaven”

IG Farben officials came to an agreement with the SS commanders at Auschwitz to hire slave labour at 3 to 4 Marks per day. 

A black market in Auschwitz

Despite it being forbidden, there is a thriving black market operating within the camp which is a reminder of normality outside the camp. 

Everything can be bought, sold or traded, for something else.

We must admire the prisoners’ resourcefulness and entrepreneurial spirit, but there is something pathetic and distasteful about it too – some prisoners even scam new arrivals out of their gold fillings

Yet, we cannot really judge. Levi’s keen observations that the morality of the outside world is not applicable in the camps.

Levi argues that morality is not fixed but based on one’s circumstances – you do what you need to do to survive.

Levi invites us to consider: how we would have behaved? 

Are morals a luxury? 

• It is easy to be “good” and make “good choices” when you are well fed, educated, warm and safe – but if we are in danger in these areas, then doesn’t morality have to bend a little?
  
• Or are there certain standards and rules we should hold onto no matter what? If morality is relative then surely every evil is permissible?
  
• Consider the title of this chapter " This Drowned and the Saved". How does it reflect some of these philosophical ideas that Levi is considering?  
  

"The Drowned and the Saved"  -What is a man like? 

Considering events so far, argue both sides.

Use examples and your historical or contextual knowledge to support your arguments.

Is it possible to come to any conclusion one way or the other?

Brutal	Kind
Egotistical	Selfless
Stupid	Generous

Discuss in your groups

The camps as an experiment in human nature

Levi suggests that, besides their obvious purpose, the camps were also a “gigantic biological and social experiment”

What would happen if you put “thousands of individuals, differing in age, condition, origin, language, culture and customs…within barbed wire”?

Yet each person in the Lager is “desperately and ferociously alone” and responsible for their own survival, with no safety net.

Levi observes that the Lager is the best controlled experiment ever to determine what is “essential…to the conduct of the human animal in the struggle for life”

It turns out that, in order to survive, you must be ruthless and ambitious. Only “martyrs and saints” do not compromise their morality.

In this chapter Levi explores these aspects of human nature. 

The drowned 

“The drowned form the backbone of the camp, an anonymous mass, continually renewed and always identical, of non men who march and labour in silence, the divine spark dead within them, already too empty to really suffer…”

Levi reflects that if he could wrap all the evils of the Holocaust into one single image, it would be the picture of “an emaciated man, head dropped and shoulders curved, on whose face and in whose eyes not a trace of thought is to be seen.”

The saved 

Levi explores how some of the 'saved' ensured their survival. 

Schepschel
Alfred L
Elias
Henri

Make notes in your class notebook on each man and how they become “the saved”:

What do they do to survive?

What is their attitude?

How do they behave with others?

Goals for today 

Summative assessment date and content 

Sentence structure analysis paragraph and homework check 

The psychology of survival and trauma 

Doktor Pannwitz 

Summative extract analysis 

Monday 10th June 90 minute summative assessment

1. Extract from If this is a Man

2. Guiding question 

3. You will write a 5 paragraph persuasive, analytical response to the extract using the guiding question as your point of entry. Each body paragraph will address a (sub)topic that supports your thesis statement. 

5 lessons completing the memoir and reflecting on some major themes and concepts & 3 lessons formative preparation. 

The purpose of this sentence is to convey the complex structure of the Lager's economy. Levi does this through a variety of techniques mainly lying in the fact that, in only one sentence he discusses the entire structure. Levi focuses on sentence structure by making it one long interconnected sentence. This is done through the use of punctuation with the colon. Using the colon he connects the main clause to an example of a situation justifying his main clause. Another way Levi ensures the sentence flows on with his idea is by using commas to incorporate participle phrases such as "overcoming the barrier of barbed wire" . The use of the participle phrases is to link the idea of external economy with the economy in the Lager and to show that it is an integrated system, much like the structure of the sentence. By creating a complex interconnected sentence Levi emphasizes his point of interconnectedness between the Lager and the outside world. He portrays the complexity of the economy such that it even impacts the most secure areas. Overall, Levi uses sentence structure in his work to support the ideas he is trying to convey.  

In the above sentence, Levi uses a variety of layered structures to convey the message that the Lager has a complex economy, connected to the outside world despite having a physical 'barrier' between them. There are two main clauses in the sentence. The first, starting with, 'Speculations of this kind…' is a full clause. However, rather than ending it with a full stop, Levi chooses a colon as punctuation, initiating more explanation to his point, connoting that the former clause is not enough to show the deep complexity of the said economy. The second clause after the colon is separated by a comma, introducing a participle phrase. This participle shows that there is even more additional information needed to describe the layers of the complicated system in place. Levi shows the reader specific facts, such as the speaking of, 'The accidental failure of the distribution of tobacco', and then interweaves these facts from the clause with their effects in the Lager through the use of the participle phrases. For example, this 'accidental failure' had the effect of 'overcoming the barrier of barbed wire' which separates and 'segregates' the prisoners from the rest of the world. Furthermore, conjunctions such as 'and' show the further need to link a lot of information together, emphasizing the deeper complexity of the Lager and its economy. Overall, the structures used can be seen throughout the novel often to present large, difficult or complicated ideas to the reader. 

Schepschel 

Schepschel 

• Schepschel provides an example of survival at any cost, even one’s own dignity.

• He sings and dances for dregs of soup. He openly betrayed his own theft accomplice

• He has abandoned all sense of decorum or pride.

• He survives but he dehumanises himself, making him a victory for Nazi ideology.

Alfred L 

Alfred L

• Rather than abandoning his dignity, he uses the shabby appearance of his comrades to make himself stand out by keeping himself looking clean, sharp, and distinguished.

• This is very cynical, as it takes advantage of the dehumanisation of the people around him.

• If he looks like a leader then he will eventually become one – which he does, and a brutal one

• Survival may justify the means, though it does not endear Levi to Alfred at all.

Henri 

Henri 

• Henri represents the path to survival through shrewd manipulation and well-calculated schemes

• He seems warm and friendly, utterly human, until one realises the scope of his cold, inhuman intellect

• His cold manipulation of other people still makes him a disturbing figure. 

Elias 

Elias 

• Elias is suited to the camp precisely because he is ill-suited for the rest of society, being a “little monster”.

• The rules of the outside world are inverted – Elias can succeed here.

• Those destined to be successful in the outside world can be ill-suited to the camp, while those who do not fit in civil society find that they excel, even though imprisoned.

The Psychology of survival 

" One has to fight against the current; to battle every day and every hour against exhaustion, hunger, cold and the resulting inertia; to resist enemies and have no pity for rivals; to sharpen one's wits, build up one's patience, strengthen one's willpower. Or else, to throttle all dignity and kill all conscience, to climb down into the arena as a beast against other beasts, to let oneself be guided by those unsuspected subterranean forces which sustain families and individuals in cruel times...

Survival without renunciation of any part of one's own moral world - apart from powerful and direct intervention by fortune - was conceded only to very few superior individuals, made of the stuff of martyrs and saints." 

Chapter 9 "The Drowned and the Saved" 

The Psychology of survival 

Do you see any parallels with advice on how to get ahead in the outside world nowadays? Or is this another example of morality operating differently in the camps? Discuss in your groups.

The Saved	The Drowned
- Adaptable to the new environment - Learn to organise extra rations - Gain easier or safer work - Build relationships with important people - Learn German	- Complain and can’t adapt - Reminisce about their pasts - Fail to make friends - Lack ambition - Do not learn German

Trauma 

The Swedish psychoanalyst and poet Ulf Karl Olov Nilsson identifies SIX ways in which human beings tend to deal with trauma:

Condensation: expressing ourselves in a very limited or indirect way, never mentioning the trauma in concrete terms

Displacement: focusing on secondary details rather than what was truly traumatising, and that secondary detail carries the symbolic load of the trauma

Simplification: approaching or naming the trauma in a factual, simple or seemingly emotionally disconnected way

Ignorance: denying all understanding or explanation of the trauma

Excess: discussing the trauma in excessive detail or at length

Implacability: not cooperating, perhaps even refusing to speak of it

Do you think that Primo Levi exhibits one or several of these coping mechanisms? Explain 

Chemical Kommando - Doctor Pannwitz 

"From that day I have thought about Doktor Pannwitz many times and in many ways. I have asked myself how he really functioned as a man; how he filled his time, outside of the Polymerization and the Indo-Germanic* conscience; above all when I was once more a free man, I wanted to meet him again, not from a spirit of revenge, but merely from a personal curiosity about the human soul." 

Chapter 10 "Chemical Examination" 

* the family of languages that by 1000 BC were spoken throughout Europe and in parts of southwestern and southern Asia

Chemical Kommando - Doctor Pannwitz 

"Because that look was not one between two men; and if I had known how completely to explain the nature of that look, which came as if across the glass window of an aquarium between two beings who live in different worlds, I would also have explained the essence of the great insanity of the third Germany."

"Pannwitz is tall, thin, blond; he has eyes, hair and nose as all Germans ought to have them, and sits formidably behind a complicated writing-table. I Häftling 174517, stand in his office which is a real office, shining, clean and ordered, and I feel that I would leave a dirty stain whatever I touched." 

Who is Doktor Pannwitz? 

Imagine he is your chemistry teacher. What kind of teacher would he be? Write your thoughts in your class notebook.