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Chapter 10, Chemical Examination
Summary
Levi applies for a chemist position on the newly created Chemical Kommando, a squad of skilled workers working with the Buna polymerization department. He is one of fifteen applicants. Their new Kapo Alex lectures them about their opportunity to interview. That their Kapo is a prisoner of the criminal variety and not a chemist himself casts doubt on the credibility of the enterprise. Alex, wary of their superior intellectual training, feels the need to present his pedigree as a “Reichsdeutscher,” his German roots traceable back to the nineteenth century. In a private conversation with two others selected to interview, Alberto and Iss Clausner, Levi discusses the implausibility of Jews working within the Buna rubber works in a professional capacity. Clausner suggests the Germans are playing a joke on them. The idea of taking an oral chemistry examination in front of an Aryan doctor in their condition both intimidates and amuses them. They are not even sure they remember how to write.
Levi interviews with Doktor Pannwitz, a well-groomed, blue-eyed blond who looks at him like a specimen from another world and speaks in formal German not easy for Levi to understand. Nevertheless, Levi describes his credentials: a summa cum laude degree in chemistry. Levi’s knowledge of organic chemistry comes back to him at once, and he experiences elation as he mobilizes his mental faculties and knowledge. After the interview, with no decision from Doktor Pannwitz, Levi comforts himself with the thought he will have less hunger from not having worked that day.
Analysis
The Chemical Kommando opportunity seems too good to be true. Tasked with organizing the squad, Kapo Alex tries to establish his credibility with the educated chemists by touting his German heritage. The thought of interviewing with a German Aryan doctor for a professional position with the Buna corporation intimidates Levi. Their contempt for his race and natural repugnance at his hygiene and appearance seem insurmountable obstacles.
Levi realizes that becoming a specialist with the Chemical Kommando may save his life. On the day of the interview with Doktor Pannwitz, Levi has a moment of panic and thinks of bolting from the room. He stays and meets the eyes of the meticulously groomed Aryan doctor, the vast difference in their hygiene, appearance, and language blindingly visible. Levi knows Pannwitz does not see him as an equal but as a commodity. Pannwitz emphasizes the distance between their worlds by using a formal German address that Levi struggles to understand. Once Levi starts to talk about his subject of expertise, organic chemistry, his confidence returns, and he feels grateful that his brain immediately accesses his store of knowledge. Levi’s perseverance relates to the conscious choice he identified as essential to survival, to actively swim rather than passively sink and drown.
