The wedding pianist
Clifford both is interesting as a person and acts interestingly. As a person, he is unique; he is an African American living abroad in Europe as a musician. He is also gay, which makes his profession even more interesting. As a wedding musician, he celebrates the union of men and women in marriage, a right that he cannot even faintly hope to attain in Germany, especially not with the rise of the hyper-authoritarian Nazi party. He is a symbol for various kinds of suffering, not the least of which is loneliness which causes him to record his thoughts each day in a diary.
The diary
The diary is clearly a symbol, both because of its contents and because of its form. The diary is a collection of various papers written on with various pens and crayons and such. The eclectic form of the diary is also a symbol, pointing to the complexity of life in that concentration camp, and also pointing to the complex and eclectic world around the diary. Jones sees this diary as essentially relevant to everyone, so the diary's variety symbolizes the variety of experiences one could have by reading the diary.
The allegory of publication
The diary is mitigated by a side plot concerning the eligibility of the diary to be published. The problem the publishers face is that history has already ignored so many stories from Nazi Germany that people are not searching for this kind of book. This fictitious problem is a symbol in the novel for human worth and point of view, because this character's experience of Nazi concentration camps is an archetypal experience that (because of its ultimate nature) represents the suffering of all human life. The publication side plot is a way of arguing that each person's story is essentially important.
The Nazi officer
SS Dieter Lange is a highly symbolic character. He was a leader of sorts before his employment in the Nazi army, but not an ethical leader. His criminal enterprise as a pimp and gangster makes him a nasty tyrant in the Dachau concentration camp. He symbolizes solipsistic and evil patriarchal tyranny, which is basically also what Nazi Germany stands for in general. The officer betrays his true nature by forcing Clifford to be his slave. The truth is that he has no respect for human worth outside his own person.
The ironic reversal
For a while, the Nazis seem to believe they will win. Then, as the Nazi officers gradually realize that their entire lives are about to crumble away, they are forced to acknowledge the weight of their war crimes. The dream of Nazi domination fades away, and the officers are suddenly awakened to the reality of their situation. They begin to warm up to the prisoners, hoping beyond hope that they will find prisoners who will say nice things about them, in the case that the Nazis lose and the officers have to stand trial in front of foreign governments for their right to live.
