Primo Levi, in "The Drowned and the Saved", characterizes the "Sonderkommando" as being a step away from collaborators. But, he asked his readers to refrain from condemnation: “Therefore I ask that we meditate upon the story of ‘the crematorium ravens’ with pity and rigor, but that judgment of them be suspended.” Levi, who was held at Camp III/Monowitz (also known as the Buna Werke) while imprisoned at Auschwitz, may not have directly encountered the "Sonderkommando". Some critics have suggested he may have used Nyiszli's writing as the basis for his description.