The German Network. Primo Levi's Correspondence with German Readers and Intellectuals

Primo Levi (1919-1987), one of the most important witnesses of the Holocaust, has been studied increasingly over the last three decades.

Levi is currently recognized as one of the few Italian thinkers of essential importance for the understanding of the 20th century as a whole.

The LeviNeT project aims to provide the very first edition of a significant portion of Levi?s multilingual correspondence. The edition will be open source and hosted on an online platform.

It will concentrate on Levi?s German correspondence: the epistolary exchanges that took place between Levi and his German-speaking readers, interlocutors, friends, survivors and former oppressors from 1959 to 1987.

This correspondence constitutes a stunning epistolary network between him and many German-language correspondents, including the translator, Heinz Riedt, the philosopher, Jean Am?ry, the historian, Hermann Langbein, and the politician, Hety Schmitt-Maass.

It consists of a rich and vibrant discussion on themes such as guilt, the possibility of overcoming the past, and the consequences of that past on the present. What is at the heart of this network is the rebuilding of a post-war European identity. In short, this project uncovers a new and decisive crossroad in European cultural history.

Thanks to the authorization of Primo Levi?s heirs, it will be possible to access Levi?s private archive for the first time, and so to have a complete view of his German network.

The planned open-source edition will include: a philological transcription and a semantic analysis of each letter, a graphic visualization of the German network, in-depth biographical information for each correspondent, a timeline and a map, and a series of thematic itineraries.

This edition will provide a brand-new narrative in studies of Primo Levi and unique core material for literary scholars and historians. Moreover, it will be an innovative didactic tool for the international community of teachers, students and readers.