Chapter 4 introduces Bernard Mengel, a Polish Jew and a late-night prison guard, who forms an unexpected connection with the narrator. This meeting leads to the recounting of a harrowing experience where Mengel managed to save his life by pretending to be dead. A German soldier, unaware of his survival, extracted three gold inlays from his teeth, marking a chilling moment in his life and underlining the desperate lengths that individuals were forced to go to survive the brutality of war. The complexity of this event lies in its reflection of the brutality of wartime survival, where even the smallest act of deception could be the difference between life and death. Mengel’s experience showcases the extremes to which people had to go in order to preserve themselves, highlighting the terrifying and desperate nature of survival within the concentration camps. His actions reveal the harsh truths of survival in such a volatile environment, where moral choices were often secondary to the primal need for life.

As the conversation progresses, Mengel observes the narrator’s troubled sleep, suggesting that the restless nights are indicative of a guilty conscience, contrasting the narrator’s internal struggle with the detachment of figures like Rudolf Franz Hoess. Mengel explains that after his involvement in executing Hoess, he experienced a deep emotional detachment, a coping mechanism forged by the harsh realities of the Holocaust. He describes his inability to emotionally process his actions, emphasizing how the brutality of the war numbed him to the gravity of violence, rendering him incapable of feeling remorse. In this context, Mengel’s reflections reveal how individuals like him, shaped by the unforgiving nature of war, became desensitized to death, with each act of violence becoming more routine than extraordinary. His experience presents a chilling perspective on how people, when faced with the horrors of war, can bury their emotional responses to survive, allowing them to function in a world devoid of moral clarity. This detachment not only highlights the personal consequences of participating in such atrocities but also underlines the moral ambiguity that war forces upon those involved in it.

Mengel continues to reflect on his role in the execution of Hoess, recounting the moment when he tightened the leather straps around Hoess’s ankles with no sense of satisfaction or catharsis. He compares this act of violence to the mundane task of strapping his broken suitcase, underscoring the emotional numbness that developed in him as a result of the war. This analogy emphasizes how deeply the horrors of war can strip individuals of any emotional response to the violence they perpetrate. What would be seen by many as a moment of justice or vengeance for the victims of Auschwitz becomes, for Mengel, just another task to be done, devoid of meaning or fulfillment. The image of strapping a suitcase, something so routine, in comparison to the act of ending a life, reveals the devastating impact that war has on an individual’s ability to feel anything profound about human life and death. Mengel’s detached reflection reveals the chilling transformation of his psyche, where survival at any cost becomes the primary goal, and the emotional toll of his actions is too overwhelming to confront.

The chapter ends with Mengel reflecting on how people justify their actions during times of crisis, particularly the soldiers who believed they had no choice but to follow orders. He points out that many felt as though they couldn’t have acted any differently, rationalizing their involvement in atrocities as part of the larger context of war. This rationalization is a central theme in the chapter, as Mengel, himself, struggles to come to terms with his actions and the moral compromises made for the sake of survival. This moment of self-justification highlights the complexities of guilt, morality, and the psychological toll of war. The narrator, through Mengel’s account, examines how people in extreme circumstances often rationalize their choices in order to cope with the emotional and moral repercussions of their actions. The exploration of these justifications challenges readers to question how easily one can become complicit in the face of fear and survival instincts, and the lengths to which people go to preserve their sense of self during a time of unimaginable suffering. The chapter leaves the reader to ponder the complexities of guilt, moral ambiguity, and the consequences of making decisions in a world shaped by war and violence.