Alex is a German prisoner, a “professional delinquent” who is placed in charge of the Chemical Kommando at Auschwitz, though he himself is not a chemist nor particularly intelligent. Alex proves to be a coward, ruthless towards his Jewish underlings but fearful of any German or civilian who outranks him. Although Alex is made a Kapo over intelligent, well-educated Jews simply because he is German—and thus superior in the view of the Nazi ideology—he is clearly their subordinate, thereby contradicting that German notion of a racial hierarchy which dictates that any German person is naturally superior to any Jewish person, regardless of intelligence or ability. Regardless of how useless and ignorant Alex is, Levi refuses to base his view of Germans or even German prisoners on such a poor specimen as him, assuming that better examples must certainly exist somewhere.
Alex Quotes in Survival in Auschwitz
The Survival in Auschwitz quotes below are all either spoken by Alex or refer to Alex. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 10. Chemical Examination
Quotes
Without hatred and without sneering, Alex wipes his hand on my shoulder, both the palm and the back of the hand, to clean it; he would be amazed, the poor brute Alex, If someone told him that today, on the basis of this action, I judge him and Pannwitz and innumerable others like him, big and small, in Auschwitz and everywhere.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Survival in Auschwitz LitChart as a printable PDF.
Alex Quotes in Survival in Auschwitz
The Survival in Auschwitz quotes below are all either spoken by Alex or refer to Alex. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 10. Chemical Examination
Quotes
Without hatred and without sneering, Alex wipes his hand on my shoulder, both the palm and the back of the hand, to clean it; he would be amazed, the poor brute Alex, If someone told him that today, on the basis of this action, I judge him and Pannwitz and innumerable others like him, big and small, in Auschwitz and everywhere.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
