10

Chemical Examination

“Because that look was not one between two men; and if I had known how completely to explain the nature of that look, which came as if across the glass window of an aquarium between two being who live in different worlds, I would also have explained the essence of the great insanity of the third Germany.”

Primo takes a chemical exam which can help him be in a higher status and a better position. He meets Doktor Pannwitz who supervises Primo while taking the test. And the quote above describes how Primo felt about the stare Doktor Pannwitz gave him. It was a stare that showed that the world that the German lived in was very different than that of Primo. The stare also represented the superiority and power that the Germans had over the weak Jews. The ‘glass window of an aquarium between two being who live in different worlds’ can be explained that Germans were entertained by the Jews’ suffering like people were entertained by different animals trapped inside the aquarium.