Jean is a young Jewish man and member of the Chemical Kommando at Auschwitz alongside . Jean is an assistant to Alex and works diligently to keep Alex from following through on his worst urges, sparing his fellow Jews. Levi and Jean become friends. One day, though they both speak French, Levi spends an hour trying to teach Jean Italian by reciting the Canto of Ulysses from Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Jean recognizes that the mental effort does Levi good and seems to bolster his sense of humanity, and so engages with the lesson enthusiastically. Although Levi never indicates what happens to Jean, he feels a deep sense of urgency to make Jean understand Italian, since the next day either one of them could be dead.
Get the entire Survival in Auschwitz LitChart as a printable PDF.
Jean Levi Character Timeline in Survival in Auschwitz
The timeline below shows where the character Jean Levi appears in Survival in Auschwitz. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 11. The Canto of Ulysses
As the men of the Chemical Kommando are working, Jean arrives. Jean is a teenager, the Kommando’s messenger-clerk, which is itself quite a powerful position...
(full context)
Jean selects Levi to help him retrieve the noon ration with him, a walk which can...
(full context)
...reach the queue to receive their pot of soup to carry back, but Levi holds Jean back for a moment. It seems desperately important that he understand Dante and the Middle...
(full context)
