Saturday 5 April, 4pm at the Oxford Martin School Seminar Room, Oxford, OX1 3BD
A Man of Few Words: The Bricklayer of Auschwitz who saved Primo Levi
Carlo Greppi in conversation with Lucian Hudson, part of the Oxford Literary Festival
Historian Carlo Greppi tells the story of Lorenzo Perrone, a bricklayer who risked his life for six months to smuggle in the food and clothing renowned chemist and writer Primo Levi needed to survive in Auschwitz.
Greppi explains how Perrone, a near destitute labourer with little formal education, struck up a friendship with Levi that survived the Holocaust and lasted until Perrone’s death. He shows how Levi tried persistently to preserve the memory of the man who saved his life but who left few traces of his own behind. Perrone was recognised as one of the Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Museum of Jerusalem. Levi went on to write several acclaimed books including If This is a Man, the account of the year he spent in Auschwitz.
Greppi is author of 14 books. A Man of Few Words has been translated into six languages. Here he talks to Lucian Hudson, professor-in-practice, Durham University, and former chair of Liberal Judaism (2009-15).
Part of the festival’s programmes of Italian and Jewish and Hebrew culture.
Buy your ticket HERE