How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Here we received the first blows: and it was so new and senseless that we felt no pain, neither in body nor in spirit. Only a profound amazement: how can one hit a man without anger? (1.16)
It is truly bizarre to Primo how someone could hit someone else without any anger. To the Nazis, though, Jews were a subhuman group. So, they do not hit them in anger, but rather in a thoughtless, matter-of-fact way that one might strike an animal that's acting up.
Quote #2
We had learnt of our destination with relief. Auschwitz: a name without significance for us at that time, but it at least implied some place on this earth. (1.20)
The name of the camp doesn't strike terror into the hearts of the prisoners, the way it does for us now. That will soon change for Primo.
Quote #3
Someone dared to ask for his luggage: they replied, "luggage afterwards." Someone else did not want to leave his wife: they said, "together again afterwards." Many mothers did not want to be separated from their children: they said "good, good, stay with child." They behaved with the calm assurance of people doing their normal duty of every day. (1.29)
To the Nazis, this is biz as usual, since they're presiding over a precise and methodical routine designed to process as many people as possible in the most efficient way possible. They know that most of the people arriving at the camp will be killed, but they're able to maintain detached and calm.