Prof. Dr. Jörg Zirfas
Language of the lecture: German
A pedagogical-anthropological reading
The book Ist das ein Mensch? (1947) by Primo Levi is one of the important—perhaps the most important—works of so-called concentration camp literature. The account contains his thoughts and reflections on a year, from February 1944 to January 1945, which he was forced to spend in the Monowitz/Buna labor camp in Auschwitz. The book is about what human beings are capable of doing to other human beings—about an absolute rupture of civilization in a camp where people are stripped of everything: their clothes and their hair, their language and culture, their name and their spirit, their dignity and their sense of self.
In this book, Levi adopts the stance of an anthropologist who tries to understand both himself and the situation he has found himself in—though what is at stake here is the attempt to understand the utterly incomprehensible. In this sense, Auschwitz becomes, for him, also a scientific site, as it allows him to study human nature. In an interview, Levi even referred to Auschwitz as his “true university.” He writes that he consciously chose not to pass explicit judgment in the book, but implicit judgments are certainly present. These, in turn, almost compel the reader to take a stance. I will follow this gesture and closely connect the issues that are relevant to educational anthropology with his descriptions and reflections.
From this perspective, the rupture of civilization can first be translated into anthropological dimensions, which include the compression of space, the destruction of time, a reduction to the “viscera,” an agony of the social, and the dehumanization of people. In a second step, it is about learning how to survive. How can one survive Auschwitz, knowing that the average life expectancy in the Buna camp was three to four months? In his account, Levi gives several reasons: alongside luck and chance, it is above all existential learning, linguistic and technical knowledge, cultural education, and friendships that make survival possible. Finally, in a third step, we consider the pedagogical implications that can be drawn from Levi’s account. Topics include perception, remembrance, shame, responsibility, admonition—and hope.
Literature
Levi, Primo (1999): Ist das ein Mensch? München: dtv.
Prof. Dr. Jörg Zirfas
University of Cologne