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Quote by Primo Levi

“They are the typical product of the structure of the German Lager: if one offers a position of privilege to a few individuals in a state of slavery, exacting in exchange the betrayal of a natural solidarity with their comrades, there will certainly be someone who will accept. He will be withdrawn from the common law and will become untouchable; the more power that he is given, the more he will be consequently hateful and hated. When he is given the command of a group of unfortunates, with the right of life or death over them, he will be cruel and tyrannical, because he will understand that if he is not sufficiently so, someone else, judged more suitable, will take over his post. Moreover, his capacity for hatred, unfulfilled in the direction of the oppressors, will double back, beyond all reason, on the oppressed; and he will only be satisfied when he has unloaded onto his underlings the injury received from above.”

Quote by Primo Levi

Book:If This Is a Man / The Truce
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If This Is a Man / The Truce

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Author

Primo Levi
Primo Levi

Chemist and Italian Jewish author, known for his dual identity as a survivor of Nazi concentration camps and a chemist. His works profoundly reflect the moral dilemmas and psychological states of humans in extreme environments. more

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