Primo Michele Levi was a chemist, partisan, writer, and Holocaust survivor. He is best known for his works 'If This Is a Man' and 'The Periodic Table'. Levi's death in 1987 was officially ruled a suicide, but some have suggested it may have been accidental.
Primo Levi was born on July 3, 1919, in Turin, Italy. He came from a middle-class Italian Jewish family.
On July 31, 1919, Levi Primo, the renowned Italian Jewish chemist, writer, and Holocaust survivor, was born. He is best known for his autobiographical works reflecting his experiences during the Holocaust.
In 1921, Primo Levi's younger sister was born.
In 1925, Primo Levi entered the Felice Rignon primary school in Turin. Despite being a shy and delicate child who considered himself ugly, he excelled academically.
In September 1930, Primo Levi entered the Massimo d'Azeglio Royal Gymnasium a year ahead of normal entrance requirements. He was the youngest, shortest, and cleverest in his class, and the only Jew.
In August 1932, Primo Levi sang in the local synagogue for his Bar Mitzvah after attending the Talmud Torah school in Turin to pick up the elements of doctrine and culture.
In 1933, Primo Levi joined the Avanguardisti movement for young Fascists as expected of all young Italian schoolboys. He avoided rifle drill by joining the ski division.
In July 1934 at the age of 14, Primo Levi sat the exams for the Liceo Classico D'Azeglio and was admitted that year. The school was noted for its anti-Fascist teachers.
In 1937, Primo Levi began his studies at the University of Turin, where he later graduated with honors in chemistry in 1941.
Levi Primo was born on May 7, 1938.
In 1939, Primo Levi discovered his passion for mountain hiking, finding solace and strength in nature amidst the turmoil of the events unfolding in Europe.
In 1940, Primo Levi's father became bedridden with bowel cancer, adding further strain to the family during the wartime challenges.
On May 7, 1941, Primo Levi started working as a chemist in a laboratory.
In March 1942, Primo Levi was working in the mine when he tragically lost his father.
In June 1942, Primo Levi left the San Vittore mines and started working in a Swiss company on a project extracting anti-diabetic drugs from vegetable matter. Although this job allowed him to escape the race laws, Levi realized the project was destined to fail.
On May 7, 1943, Primo Levi was in Auschwitz, a concentration camp during World War II.
On December 7, 1943, Primo Levi joined a resistance group to fight against the German forces in Italy.
On 13 December 1943, Primo Levi and his comrades were arrested by the Fascist militia. Levi, fearing execution as an Italian partisan, confessed to being Jewish and was sent to the internment camp at Fossoli near Modena.
Primo Levi was freed by the Red Army on January 27, 1944.
Primo Levi was imprisoned in Auschwitz's Monowitz prison camp on February 21, 1944, and spent eleven months there before his camp was liberated on January 18, 1945.
On January 7, 1945, Primo Levi was captured by the Germans and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
The camp where Primo Levi was imprisoned, Auschwitz's Monowitz camp, was liberated on January 18, 1945, freeing the survivors including Levi.
After being liberated from the concentration camp, Primo Levi did not reach Turin until 19 October 1945. He embarked on a challenging journey home, passing through various countries, as described in his work 'The Truce'.
On 22 December, Levi completed the manuscript 'If This Is a Man'.
In January 1946, Primo Levi started writing the first draft of his book 'If This Is a Man' while staying in a factory dormitory during the week, allowing him to write undisturbed.
On December 22, 1946, Primo Levi completed the manuscript of 'If This Is a Man' with the help of his wife Lucia, after which he began approaching publishers.
On October 11, 1947, Primo Levi's book 'If This Is a Man' was published with a print run of 2,000 copies, marking a significant milestone in his literary career.
In October 1948, Primo Levi's daughter Lisa was born. This event brought joy and new responsibilities to Levi and his family.
In 1950, Primo Levi was promoted to Technical Director at SIVA, showcasing his chemical talents and expertise in the field.
In 1954, Primo Levi visited Buchenwald to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the camp's liberation from the Nazis. He attended many such events over the years and shared his own experiences.
In 'The Periodic Table', Primo Levi shares a collection of stories that intertwine his personal experiences with the elements of the periodic table. These tales serve as a blend of autobiography and allegory, inspired by the elements that shape his recollections and revelations.
In July 1957, Primo Levi's son Renzo was born.
Despite initially selling only 1,500 copies, 'If This Is a Man' by Primo Levi was republished in 1958 by Einaudi in a revised form and received promotion.
In 1959, Stuart Woolf translated 'If This Is a Man' into English in collaboration with Primo Levi, while Heinz Riedt translated it into German. Levi aimed to make the German people aware of the atrocities committed in their name.
In 1960, Italian and German court authorities gathered Primo Levi's testimony regarding his arrest and deportation during the Holocaust.
'The Periodic Table' by Primo Levi was recognized as the 'best science book ever' by the Royal Institution of Great Britain in 1962, solidifying its status as a significant literary work in the field of science.
Published in 1963, 'The Truce' narrates Primo Levi's journey back to Italy after the liberation of Auschwitz, portraying various characters he encounters with touches of optimism, comedy, and joy. It reflects Levi's relief of being free after the traumatic experiences in the concentration camp.
In 1964, Primo Levi collaborated on a radio play based on 'If This Is a Man' with the state broadcaster RAI.
In 1965, Primo Levi returned to Auschwitz for a memorial ceremony. He later reflected that the return was less dramatic than expected, with a lot of official speeches and little time for reflection.
Primo Levi published science fiction short stories under the pen name Damiano Malabaila in 1966. These stories explored ethical and philosophical dilemmas, showcasing his versatility as a writer.
In 1968, Primo Levi traveled to Israel, marking a significant moment in the life of the Holocaust survivor and author.
In 1971, Primo Levi published a second series of stories entitled Vizio di forma under his own name.
In 1974, Primo Levi decided to go into semi-retirement from SIVA to focus more on his writing and relieve himself of managerial responsibilities.
In 1975, Primo Levi published his most critically acclaimed and popular book, 'The Periodic Table,' which consists of 21 chapters named after chemical elements. Each chapter chronicles Levi's autobiographical experiences as a Jewish-Italian chemist under the Fascist regime, his time in Auschwitz, and his life afterward.
La chiave a stella, also known as The Monkey Wrench or The Wrench, is a book difficult to categorize, described as a collection of stories about work and workers. Set in the Fiat-run Russian company town of Togliattigrad, it portrays the engineer as a hero on whom others depend.
The Wrench, also known as La chiave a stella, is a book difficult to categorize, described as a collection of stories about work and workers. It won the Strega Prize in 1979 and brought Levi a wider audience in Italy.
In 1981, Primo Levi published a collection of stories and assembled a personal anthology of authors who influenced his cultural education. The anthology, titled The Search for Roots, reflected on the connection between what he read and what he wrote.
In April 1982, Primo Levi's novel 'If Not Now, When?' was published, inspired by a group of Russian Jews who were partisans during World War II. The book received immediate success and won the Viareggio Literary Award and the Campiello Award.
In June 1984, Primo Levi and Tullio Regge had a recorded conversation covering a wide range of topics including their education, professional experiences, science, and the future of mankind. The conversation delved into the impact of science on Levi's writing and Regge's encounters with prominent figures like Einstein during his time at Princeton.
In October 1984, Garzanti published a collection of Primo Levi's poems titled 'At an Uncertain Hour', which included previously published poems and translations from various poets. The title was inspired by Coleridge's 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner'.
In January 1985, Primo Levi compiled around 50 articles from La Stampa newspaper into a collection titled 'Other People’s Trades'. Italo Calvino praised Levi's work, highlighting his expertise as an encyclopedist and moralist, particularly focusing on Levi's attention to words and animals in his writings.
In March 1985, Primo Levi wrote the introduction to the re-publication of Rudolf Höss's autobiography, the commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp. Levi described the autobiography as filled with evil and reading it as agony.
Primo Levi died on April 11, 1987, after falling from the interior landing of his third-story apartment in Turin. His death was ruled a suicide by the coroner, but there have been debates among biographers and friends about the circumstances surrounding his death.
An English Bibliography of the Writings of Primo Levi was published in 1993, providing a comprehensive list of Levi's works in English.
In 1995, Primo Levi was featured in The Paris Review for 'The Art of Fiction No. 140'.
The 1997 film La Tregua (The Truce), starring John Turturro, was adapted from Primo Levi's 1963 memoir of the same title and recounts his long journey home with other displaced people after his liberation from Auschwitz.
The book 'Primo Levi: Tragedy of an Optimist' by Myriam Anissimov was published in 1999, exploring the life and experiences of Primo Levi.
Carole Angier's biography 'The Double Bond: Primo Levi' was released in 2002, providing insights into the life of Primo Levi.
The Primo Levi Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to studying the history and culture of Italian Jewry, was founded in New York City in 2003 in honor of the author Primo Levi.
If This Is a Man was adapted by Antony Sher into a one-man stage production Primo in 2004. A version of this production was broadcast on BBC Four in the UK on 20 September 2007.
In March 2007, Harper's Magazine published an English translation of Primo Levi's story 'Knall' about a fictitious weapon. Originally from his 1971 book Vizio di forma, this story was translated into English for the first time by Harper's.
In April 2007, A Tranquil Star, a collection of seventeen stories by Primo Levi translated into English by Ann Goldstein and Alessandra Bastagli, was published.
In Lavie Tidhar's 2014 novel A Man Lies Dreaming, the protagonist encounters Primo Levi in Auschwitz and witnesses a conversation between Levi and the author Ka-Tzetnik on the subject of writing about the Holocaust.
The Complete Works of Primo Levi was published in 2015, providing English translations of all his works, some of which were not accessible to English-speaking readers before.
Carlo Ginzburg recalls a memory of Primo Levi and Calvino walking together, discussing animatedly. The setting is described as dusk in the summertime.
Roger Cohen reflects on Primo Levi's humanity during his time in Auschwitz, emphasizing Levi's ability to see fellow prisoners as 'men and not things'.
Gavin Jacobson explores Primo Levi's experience as a partisan, shedding light on Levi's observations of human capacity for extreme violence.
In 2021, the work Shema: 5 Poems of Primo Levi was performed by Megan Marie Hart during the opening event of the festival year 1700 Jahre jüdisches Leben in Deutschland commemorating the first documented mention of Jewish communities in the territory of present-day Germany.