Liberty at Last?

Chapter 17: The Story of Ten Days
Before I write about anything else, I have to say that what Primo Levi and his friends Charles and Arthur have done in these ten days was amazing. Despite the illness impairing them, they were able to find all necessary goods needed to survive along with seven other men. They found enough food not to starve to death, they found enough water not to die from thirst, and they generated heat to warm themselves, with people around who have contagious diseases, some nearly dead. All this was done after more than a year of suffering in the concentration camps, in the case of Primo Levi. Maybe the prolonged stay actually helped him be used to the harsh conditions after the Germans left. Nevertheless, his accomplishments are unbelievable; I probably would have died in a bed shouting for food and medicine.
When Primo Levi met the two Frenchmen who would later become his friends, he “was annoyed that they should be afraid: they had not even experienced a month of the Lager, they hardy suffered from hunger yet, they were not even Jews, but they were afraid.” I found this ironical, since when Levi first entered the camps, those who had stayed a while would have thought similarly towards Levi. He would have equally been afraid and dissatisfied. I then realized this happens everywhere anytime. A person is looked down upon by those who are more experienced or skillful than him, yet he does the same to those who are less experienced or skillful than him.]
Levi also says at one point, “Today I think that if for no other reason than that an Auschwitz existed, no one in our age should speak of Providence.” He basically doubts God’s existence. Although this is contrary to my belief, it is understandable that he has such a view, because the conditions he has went through basically dehumanized him, and they were the worst that a human could ever be in. Likewise, the Hebrews under the control of the Egyptians suffered similar atrocities, and they sometimes doubted God. I wonder if Levi believed in God after he returned to normal life.
Lastly, I think a sentence near the end of the chapter expresses one of the themes portrayed by the book: “A movement of a finger could cause the destruction of the entire camp, could annihilate thousands of men; while the sum total of all our efforts and exertions would not be sufficient to prolong by one minute the life of even one of us.” The Nazis had complete control of the prisoners in the camps (including the Jews), and could kill them at will. The prisoners, on the other hand, could barely do anything to threaten the Germans. As seen in the last chapter, the destruction of a crematorium by a prisoner resulted in the complete destruction by the Germans of the dignity of the prisoners. It is unbelievable and absurd that a group of people can treat another group of people, just as equal as they are, in such a degrading and cruel manner. Yet the Holocaust actually happened, and humans today could only and should make sure nothing like it ever happens again.