Survival in Auschwitz: Chapter 9. The Drowned and the Saved Summary & Analysis

Levi states that thus far he has only described the workings of life itself in the Lager, but now he would like to offer his own analysis. In his eyes, “the Lager was pre-eminently a gigantic biological and social experiment,” since many men of different languages and traditions have been thrust together, left to survive or die by their own means. Although Levi admits that it could be argued that man is “fundamentally brutal, egoistic, or stupid in his conduct once every civilized institution is taken away,” Levi disagrees with this conclusion. Rather, he believes that in dire enough circumstances, man’s more civilized instincts and “social habits” are repressed.

Levi posits that in the camp, there are two types of people: “the saved” and “the drowned.” Arguably, this distinction is more pertinent than good or bad, lucky or unlucky, since in the Lager, each person is “desperately and ferociously alone” and responsible for their own survival, without any social safety net to keep him from death or misery. The saved are those who learn to adapt themselves to the new environment of Auschwitz, who quickly learn how to “organize” extra rations, safer work, or fortuitous relationships with people in authority. The drowned, meanwhile, are those who do not organize, who pass their time thinking of home or complaining, and who quickly perish. Levi remarks that the few hundred Jewish prisoners who have survived more than three years, the first to arrive, did so only by ruthlessly organizing for their own survival, obtaining favorable positions and relationships.

Although in normal society, one might fall somewhere in between the drowned and the saved, in the Lager, there is no middle ground. Drowning is the easiest path to take, since it requires no action. One must simply eat what they are given, obey orders, and keep their head down until exhaustion, fatigue, or misfortune takes them. “The drowned form the backbone of the camp, an anonymous mass, continually renewed and always identical, of non-men who march in silence.” 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.” He has seen thousands upon thousands of such men.

Contrary to the drowned (who follow the single, easiest path downward), there are many paths to survival, though each are “difficult and improbable.” The most common strategy is to become a “prominent”: a Jewish camp official such as a Kapo, doctor, cook, or night-guard. Being a prominent is advantageous and hard-won, but the fear of losing their post for not being ruthless enough drives Jewish prominents to be even more vicious and violent towards their fellow Jewish people than the non-Jewish authority figures. For this reason, there is much hatred between the Jewish underlings and the Jewish superiors, even though most, given the opportunity, would take up such a role themselves. The non-Jewish prominents and Kapos are most often German criminals selected to supervise Jewish prisoners, or else Russian or Polish political prisoners.

Even among the Jewish underlings, many join the saved merely though their own willpower and ability to hustle and organize, fighting the overwhelming fatigue of the camp rather than submitting themselves to it. Some do this by letting go of their conscience completely and becoming ruthless and beastly towards their fellows. Others do it through extraordinary use of wit and cunning, though only “saints and martyrs” do not compromise their own morality in some fashion.

Levi demonstrates the dynamics of the saved and the damned through the stories of four men he knew. The first is a man named Schepschel, who though not particularly strong or cunning, occasionally steals brooms to sell to one of the block supervisors, and uses the capital he gains to have the cobbler improve his shoes. Sometimes people see him singing and dancing for the Slovak workers in exchange for a little extra soup. In a bid to gain favor with the Block commander and perhaps find a favorable work assignment, Schepschel betrays an accomplice to one of his thefts. In these ways, the man scratches out his own mere survival with what little faculties he has.

Alfred L., formerly an engineer and the head of a renowned chemical manufacturer, is in his mid-fifties and looks thin, rather than strong. Although he is an underling, L. has the self-control to live on only a portion of his bread ration, using the rest to buy soap with which to clean his face and razors to keep himself looking trim. He acts with the utmost decorum, even though it often disadvantages him, correctly making the long-term bet that if he appears like a prominent, he will eventually become one. When L. is appointed as the technical lead of the chemical Kommando, he uses his position to efficiently suppress any younger man who seems like he may at some point become a rival. Levi loses track of him, but believes it probable he survived Auschwitz and continues the “cold life of the determined and joyless dominator.”

Elias Lindzin is short, squat, and powerful, with a body like Hercules and face “like a battering ram.” He is a tremendous worker, seemingly untiring, often carrying three or four times the loads of other prisoners. He also seems insane, constantly talking, making absurd speeches, doing grotesque impressions, running about, or disappearing. Despite this, he is so good-natured that everyone in the camp loves him. Before long, his reputation as a worker is such that he is set aside to be utilized only for special projects, meaning that he does not work much at all. Levi does not know what happens to Elias after the war is over, but he imagines that he would be ill-suited to civil society and would most likely be a criminal or asylum patient. But in the camp, he is unstoppable, and moreover seems genuinely happy.

Henri is a young, astute man, well-educated and well-read, with an almost frightening ability to understand a person’s motivations and weaknesses. Henri postulates that there are three effective methods of survival that will not make man into a beast: organization, pity, and theft. Henri uses all three, but is particularly skilled at manipulating pity and compassion to establish what seem like genuine friendships with people. In reality, they are ruthlessly calculated. Having earned the affection of the camp doctors and the most important prominents, soldiers, and civilians, Henri is easily sheltered from selection and hard labor and leverages his position to obtain many goods to sell. Henri seems warm and friendly, utterly human, until one realizes the scope of his cold, inhuman intellect. Levi knows that Henri is still alive and free somewhere, and is curious to know where, but never wants to meet the man again.