How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
So, "der Italeyner" does not believe in selections. Schmulek wants to speak German but speaks Yiddish; I understand him with difficulty, only because he wants to be understood. He silences Walter with a sign, he will see about persuading me. (4.57)
This is a perfect example of how difficult it is to communicate with other prisoners in the Lager—even when it comes to supremely serious and important subjects like the selections.
Quote #5
The Carbide Tower, which rises in the middle of Buna and whose top is rarely visible in the fog, was built by us. Its bricks were called Ziegel, briques, tegula, cegli, kamenny, mattoni, téglak, and they were cemented by hate; hate and discord, like the Tower of Babel, and it is this that we call it:—Babelturm, Bobelturm; and in it we hate the insane dream of grandeur of our masters, their contempt for God and men, for us men.
And today as in the old fable, we all feel, and the Germans themselves feel, that a curse not transcendent and divine, but inherent and historical—hangs over the insolent buildings based on the confusion of languages and erected in defiance of heaven like a stone oath. (7.10-11)
Again, Primo turns to the Tower of Babel metaphor. Just look at all the words Primo hears for "bricks," in German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Hungarian, and others. The Carbide Tower itself becomes something like language, serving as a "stone oath," a shout out to heaven that the Nazis will do what they want.
Quote #6
Throughout the spring, convoys arrived from Hungary; one prisoner in two was Hungarian, and Hungarian had become the second language in the camp after Yiddish. (12.1)
Keep in mind that Primo doesn't speak Yiddish or Hungarian, or many of the other languages spoken in camp. Now that these two languages are the most dominant, Primo is separated from most of his fellow prisoners.