The document provides context about the poet Primo Levi and the poem. It discusses: 1) Primo Levi was an Italian Jewish chemist and writer who wrote extensively about his experiences in the Auschwitz concentration camp during WWII. 2) Levi felt compelled to bear witness to the horrors of the Holocaust and educate others to counter Holocaust denial. 3) The document provides historical context about the Cold War political climate during the 1960s-70s when Levi was writing.