Character Analysis
Elias is an example of extreme situational irony. He thrives in the camp: "he carries six bricks at a time balanced on his head; he knows how to make a spoon from a piece of tin, and a knife from a scrap of steel" (9.31). He's an accomplished thief, which keeps him in black-market goods.
He's set apart from the other prisoners, though, because he speaks "the surly and deformed Yiddish of Warsaw" and "it is impossible to keep him to a coherent conversation" (9.32). He also appears "a madman, incomprehensible and para-human" (9.35).
Now, here's the irony (don't worry—we didn't forget): While he thrives in the camp, if he were free he would promptly be locked up in a prison or a lunatic asylum. There's something about him, Primo suggests, that is uniquely suited for life in the Lager. What are we supposed to make of that? Do we pity him more because of this, or do we admire these traits because they make him even more able to survive the horrors that the Nazis are dishing out?
And speaking of dishing: Elias starts to become more friendly with Primo and Alberto when they have the menaschka and are able to use it to get extra soup.