Character Analysis
Throughout the book, Primo introduces us to a slew of other characters who come and go with dizzying rapidity. Many of them seem mere blips on Primo's radar. And if this were a work of fiction—a novel of Auschwitz—we might suppose that the author includes them all to emphasize the fleeting nature of the contact between prisoners, and how so many were there one day and gone the next.
However, this is no metaphor. Most of the people Primo meets really are there one day and gone the next. The way so many characters cycle in and out of the narrative really drives home the moment-to-moment uncertainty, horror and tragedy of life in Auschwitz.
While there's not space to name them all, here are a few of the more memorable people Primo tells us about:
The Italian Dentist
He's one of the first contacts Primo has in the Lager, the one who tells them the bizarre information about football matches in camp, and the prize-coupons that they will get for hard work. It's also clear to Primo that this guy is sadistic—getting a good laugh at their expense with this ridiculous information.
Schlome
Primo meets this young boy (he's only sixteen) on his first night in the camp. Schlome is a Polish Jew, and is also a survivor; he's been there for three years. He helps Primo by warning him to not drink the water, since it will cause a deadly swelling sickness. The pair also bond over talk of their mothers. Schlome is the first person in the camp to show Primo any human kindness—he embraces him in a warm hug.
Null Achtzehn
Null Achtzehn is a work partner of Primo. No one even knows his real name—he's only known by the last three digits of his prisoner number: Zero Eighteen. He's lost almost all traces of being a human (along with his name). Primo likens him to "the slough of certain insects which one finds on the banks of swamps" (4.4). He's referring to the shell of an insect like a cicada, so the implication is that Null Achtzehn is only a shell of a man. There's nothing left inside. When the Kapo hits him on the head, he blankly looks at the blood on his hand; he has no other reaction.
Because he's so far gone, Null Achtzehn isn't a good worker. He just keeps plowing away at it, no matter how dangerous it is, or how close he might be to collapsing from exhaustion. Because of his carelessness, Primo slices his foot and ends up in Ka-Be.
The Salonica Jews
While a few of these are given names ("Felicio the Greek"), most of the time Primo refers to them in the collective, as if they are some kind of Greek Jew Chorus. They seem to have mastered with the struggle for life in the camp, and know many tricks for survival. They're also a major force to be reckoned with in the Exchange Market. Here, we get some insight into these fellows:
"Next to us there is a group of Greeks, those admirable and terrible Jews of Salonica, tenacious, thieving, wise, ferocious and united, so determined to live, such pitiless opponents in the struggle for life; those Greeks who have conquered in the kitchens and in the yards, and whom even the Germans respect and the Poles fear. They are in their third year of camp, and nobody knows better than them what the camp means. They now stand closely in a circle, shoulder to shoulder, and sing one of their interminable chants" (7.4).
So, not only do they have all the traits that put them in a position to have a better chance at surviving the camp, but they are also the closest thing to a united community that we see in the Lager. Just check out how their body language implies this: they stand "shoulder to shoulder," and they are gathered in a "circle," which excludes others. Also, they are "chanting," which is a group effort.
What can we figure out about Primo's attitude toward the Salonica Jews from this passage? Does he admire them? Condemn them? How can we tell?