Summary
Levi describes how everyone has a purpose in life, but the prisoners' only purpose is to survive until spring. Several prisoners, including men named Ziegler and Felicio, are convinced that the worst is over. But Levi is not quite so optimistic; he describes the similarity of the architecture in the Buna to that of the Tower of Babel. Though the Buna factory was constructed with the intention of making synthetic rubber, not one pound of rubber is ever produced, and countless prisoners suffer and die because of the effort.
Sunlight shines for the first time on the prisoners, and this brings them happiness. Another good fortune befalls them: the official organizer of the Kommando (named Templer) locates extra soup, which allows the prisoners in Levi's Kommando to eat extra rations. This temporarily satiates their hunger and gives them the capacity to think of their mothers and wives, which in turn brings them unhappiness.
The day of Wäschetaushen (the distribution of new clothes) arrives. Those who illegally possess second shirts bring them to the Exchange Market, hoping to exchange them for food. The Market is a lively place where prisoners make exchanges mostly to gain more food. Some prisoners even make risky exchanges with civilians living outside of Buna. The complex rules and attitudes concerning theft lead Levi to conclude that the majority of people living in the "ordinary moral world" would not be able to survive in the camps.
In the ninth chapter, Levi differentiates between "the drowned and the saved," and provides case studies of particular prisoners who used their wits, strength, and/or discipline to survive. Schepschel illegally sells brooms to the Brockälster, works on his own for hours to make and sell braces, and performs for Slovak workers in exchange for their leftover soup. Alfred L. uses extreme self-discipline to work hard and present a clean appearance, which wins him a coveted position in the Chemical Kommando. Elias Lindzin uses his brute strength to physically survive, and his mental strength to resist annihilation from within. Henri, on the other hand, uses his intellect, education, and ability to manipulate people's pity in order to live. Though Henri survives the Holocaust, Levi has no wish to have a relationship with him.
Analysis
In Levi's discussion about the universal human need for having purpose in life, he distinguishes between free men and prisoners. For those in the concentration camps, their driving force is to survive the winter. Other important distinguishing factors are the prisoners' intense hunger and the complex rules regarding trade. Hunger drives the prisoners to adopt any means necessary for survival, which causes Levi to deduce that people living in the "ordinary moral world" would not be able to function in the camps. Morality is central to people's identities and the way in which they interact with others, and so the forced sacrifice of "ordinary" morals is just another way in which being in the camps harms the prisoners. Within the camps themselves, Levi makes a distinction between "the saved and the drowned," or those who can survive despite being "ferociously alone" and those who cannot. Very few could survive without renouncing part of their morals. Following the rules was the easiest way to "sink," or to die. The reason for this is that the system of life in the camp was designed to kill the prisoners.
The physical structure of the Buna symbolizes the evil taking place within its bounds. In a twisted instance of irony, not one pound of synthetic rubber was ever produced in the Buna factory despite that being the factory's purpose—one for which countless prisoners suffered and died. Levi states that the only living things in the Buna are machines and slaves, and the machines "are more alive than the [slaves]." The Carbide Tower in the middle of Buna is an allegory for the biblical Tower of Babel, which represents delusional grandiosity and "contempt for God and men." This understanding of the Carbide Tower as the Tower of Babel connects Levi and the other Jewish prisoners to their heritage.
