Content Warning: This section of the guide refers to the Holocaust, trauma, and death by suicide.

Primo Levi was born on July 31st, 1919, in Turin, Italy, into a well-established Jewish family. Levi graduated from the University of Turin in 1941 with a degree in chemistry, despite the increasing antisemitic laws under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini.

During World War II, Italy's alliance with Nazi Germany led to the implementation of harsh racial laws, which severely restricted the rights and freedoms of Italian Jews. In 1943, following the collapse of Mussolini's government and the subsequent German occupation of Italy, Levi joined a group of partisans in the Aosta Valley to resist the fascist forces. However, his efforts were short-lived. In December 1943, he was arrested by the fascist militia. Initially imprisoned in Italy, Levi was soon handed over to the Germans and deported to Auschwitz in February 1944.

Primo Levi's experiences in Auschwitz are meticulously documented in his memoir, If This Is a Man. Upon arrival, Levi was subjected to the brutal selection process, during which he was deemed fit for labor and spared execution in the gas chambers.