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Chapter 6, The Work
Summary
Levi gets a new bunk mate. The thirty-year-old Polish Jew Resnyk had been living in Paris for twenty years when he was incarcerated in the Drancy camp, located in a suburb outside of Paris, and then deported to Auschwitz. The tall, red-haired Resnyk initially bodes a worrisome impediment to sleep in the narrow bunk. Levi, who describes himself as small, often finds the taller men in a bunk take up the whole bed. Resnyk pleasantly surprises Levi with his quiet, courteous ways. His height gives him an advantage in the bed-making duty, their elevated cot passing inspection so as to avoid punishment by the block supervisor. Levi feels gladness at the gentle giant Resnyk’s assignment to his Kommando, or work squad.
After arriving at their worksite, their squad Vorarbeiter, or foreman, confers with the civilian superintendent Meister Nogalla about the day’s assignments and distributes the tools. Levi notes the wide variety of languages spoken by the prisoners, as well as the various labels on their sleeves which indicate where they are from.
The prisoners will unload cast-iron cylinders weighing several tons from railway cars and transport them across railway sleepers, or railroad track cross-ties, that they will first assemble. The wooden ties for the sleepers weigh 175 pounds. Pairs of workers must carry the wooden ties on their shoulders, and Levi seeks out Resnyk in the hopes he will partner with him. Levi’s small stature makes others unwilling to work with him. His alternate plan involves hiding in the latrine for as long as possible. Not only does Resnyk accept Levi as a partner, but he also lifts the heavy sleeper onto Levi’s shoulder before putting the other end on his. They slog through mud, their prison-issue wooden shoes collecting the wet mass and threatening to destabilize their heavy load with every step. Levi uses the pain in his shoulder to galvanize him, almost grateful for the Kapo’s delivery of a blow to keep him going. Unloading the heavy load, Levi wants to rest but Resnyk gently keeps him moving to the next load with French encouragement, “Allons, petit, attrape,” making a game of it.
Levi requests a break and, much to his delight, the Kapo assigns the rabbi Wachsmann to escort him to the latrine. Wachsmann, an expert in the Jewish scriptures, speaks Yiddish, which Levi doesn’t understand. Levi can only appreciate Wachsmann’s vitality while listening to him engage in spirited nighttime discussions with the rabbis in the block. Levi compares the latrine to an oasis drawing the diverse population. Upon his return to the worksite, the anticipation of lunch lightens the morning drudgery, and the midday siren signals a respite. They eat warm soup in a warm cabin and then nap until the one o’clock summons back to work in the cold. Resnyk comments in pidgin French that he wouldn’t put a dog out in the conditions they work in.
Analysis
The Nazis run their own for-profit construction enterprises within the Auschwitz camp using forced labor, for which they have civilian overseers. The Kapo, or Vorarbeiter, is the SS foreman. Civilian contractors work for both private and public state-owned conglomerates that employ the inmates at Auschwitz to augment their depleted civilian workforce. At the Monowitz-Buna camp, the prisoners build a plant to produce the highly prized synthetic rubber known as Buna rubber that German chemists developed in 1935.
Levi’s use of many foreign words conveys the international confluence of internees and the diversity of people. Resnyk’s “Allons, petit, attrape” means “Let’s go, little one, catch” like a game with a child. The comparison of the latrine to an “oasis of peace” ironically evokes an isolated place of refreshment drawing foreign travelers through a barren land. Levi reinforces this sense by describing the men he encounters there: a Russian wearing the OST (ostarbeiters or eastern worker) armband; a young man with a large white P on his back and chest identifying him as Polish; an Englishman decked out in his clean and pressed British uniform with Kriegsgefangener (prisoner of war) on his back; and a French Häftling. The different languages also show Levi’s developing multilingual vocabulary.
Wachsmann the rabbi appears as a burst of light in the spiritual wasteland. Levi gravitates toward the man he describes as the weakest and clumsiest of all in their work party. A vivacious, learned man, his reputation as a healer and miracle worker follows him into his incarceration. Levi believes there’s something miraculous about the man who, though thin and frail, has survived two years in the death camp. Throughout the chapter, small acts of kindness show the humanity that still persists among the depleted inmates. Resnyk materializes to improve Levi’s life, both at night by being a considerate and helpful bunk mate and during the day with his supportive partnership and encouraging words. Levi sees good among his fellow man everywhere, from the Kapo who delivers the blows to keep them going to the effervescent toilet escort Wachsmann. Even the civilian contractor Meister Nogalla treats them with respect in his reserved way. When Levi closes the chapter with Resnyk’s French observation “Si j’avey une chien, je ne le chasses pas dehors,” the misspellings reproduce the flawed use of a second language as a survival skill acquired through assimilation into a foreign culture. Resnyk’s sentiment that not even a dog belongs in the weather reflects Levi’s black humor, showing the determination to rise above his circumstances.
