5

Our Nights

“But the man who leaves the Ka-Be, naked and almost always insufficiently cured, feels himself ejected into the dark and cold of sidereal space. His trousers fall down, his shoes hurt him, his shirt has no buttons. He searches for a human contact and only finds backs turned on him. He is as helpless and vulnerable as a new-born baby, but the following morning he will still have to march to work.”

When Primo came back from Ka-Be, he was alone and scared. He needed a company or hope that would get him through the night. Even though he was always tired from work, he couldn’t go to sleep right away when he lay down on his bed because of the worries. He lived through everyday with fear of death and labor and at nighttime with many thoughts going through his head, alone. I thought of how different the atmosphere or the condition would be like to the prisoners in the concentration camp if they were even a little considerate and encouraging to each other.