"We were the masters of nature, the masters of the world. We had transcended everything- death, fatigue, our natural needs. We were strong than cold and hunger, strong than the guns and the desire to die, doomed and rootless, we were the only men on earh"

Elie is relating the immense hardships and inhumane conditions that the Jews had to endure at the camps. The prisoners that lived had to overcome starvation, beatings, frozen temperatures, and the unnatural longing to kill themselves. Elie sees this as collective resilience of his people but perhaps it is a testament to the unconscious human will to live.