Primo Levi Prize

The Primo Levi Prize honors chemists who, beyond their discipline, are particularly committed to humanitarian goals. The prize was used in 2016 by the GDCh together with the SCI, the Società Chimica Italiana.

The prize is awarded in memory of Primo Levi (1919 - 1987), the Italian chemist and writer who was deported to Auschwitz as a young man in the anti-fascist resistance and Jewish religious affiliation. There he had to do forced labor in a chemical laboratory of IG Farben-Bunawerke.

He survived.

Primo Levi processed what he had experienced in literature and created world literature. He also shared his observations and experiences in countless encounters with others. So his commitment went far beyond his job as a chemist. Throughout his life he pursued his desire to put into words the reality of the camp and what it made of the people, either in writing or speaking.