Survival in Auschwitz (If this is a man) Language and Communication Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

They hear us speak in many different languages, which they do not understand and which sound to them as grotesque as animal noises. (12.20)

To the Nazis, the babble of different languages sounds like "animal noises," which probably fits right in with their preconceptions that the Jews aren't even human and deserve the treatment they're getting.

Quote #8

Just as our hunger is not that feeling of missing a meal, so our way of being cold has need of a new word. We say "hunger," we say "tiredness," "fear," "pain," we say "winter" and they are different things. They are free words, created and used by free men who lived in comfort and suffering in their homes. If the Lagers had lasted longer a new, harsh language would have been born; and only this language could express what it means to toil the whole day in the wind, with the temperature below freezing, wearing only a shirt, underpants, cloth jacket and trousers, and in one's body nothing but weakness, hunger and knowledge of the end drawing nearer. (13.3)

What does Levi mean by "free words"? What do you think this new "harsh language" of the Lager might sound like?

Quote #9

Do you know how one says "never" in camp slang? "Morgen früh," tomorrow morning. (14.12)

Here's an example of the unique language, or slang, that the prisoners develop in the camp. The word "tomorrow" usually gives hope (just think of the musical stylings of one particular little red-haired girl). Here, though, it's just more of the same, and doesn't bring any comfort to anyone.