Thread by @DannyDutch

Remembering Primo Levi on what would've been his birthday.
Italian-Jewish chemist Levi survived Auschwitz and went to write 'If This Is a Man', the last book to make me weep.

Born in Turin in 1919, prejudice followed Levi into his professional life, and the qualification “Of Jewish Race” that was printed on his diploma initially prevented him from finding work.

In 1943, Levi and his family fled to northern Italy, where he joined an Italian resistance group. However, when he and his comrades were arrested by Fascist forces later that year, Levi admitted he was a Jew to avoid being shot as a partisan and was sent to an Italian prison camp

The camp soon came under German control and Levi was deported to Auschwitz. Levi arrived at the concentration camp and the number 174517 was tattooed on his forearm.

In January 1945, the Red Army liberated Auschwitz and Levi made his journey home. Of the more than 7,000 Italian Jews who had been deported to concentration camps during the war, Levi was among the fewer than 700 who survived.

Levi died in 1987 after a fall from a third-story apartment. His death was ruled a suicide, but some suggest it was accidental. He left no suicide note, there were no witnesses, and he was on medication that could've affected his blood pressure and caused him to fall accidentally

This is a poem Levi wrote and this is the book I mentioned.
If you can, I urge you to read both.