Keywords
Holocaust, Shoah, Primo Levi, animal cruelty, violence, slaughter, suffering, Jewish, Auschwitz, ethics
Abstract
Is it ethically admissible to compare the suffering of Jews during World War II to the general suffering of animals in the Western world? Who considers this parallel to be morally obscene, and who supports the comparison? Based on the historical evidence of Nazis insulting Jews with animal verbiage and herding them into the gas chambers of concentration camps, this study looks at a few textual examples by the Italian Jewish author Primo Levi, finding a conciliatory position in his poetry and prose.
Original Publication Citation
"Reconciling the Controversy of Animal Cruelty and the Shoah: A Look at Primo Levi' s Compassionate Writings," Lingua romana 10 (1) Fall 2011: 40-50.
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Klein, Ilona, "Reconciling the Controversy of Animal Cruelty and the Shoah: A Look at Primo Levi's Compassionate Writings" (2011). Faculty Publications. 3828.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/3828
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
2011
Permanent URL
http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/6638
Publisher
Lingua Romana
Language
English
College
Humanities
Department
French and Italian
Copyright Use Information
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