Tattooed Numbers
When entering the camps, each prisoner was branded with a tattoo of their prisoner number. This was a symbol of the way in which they were viewed as numbers and not people, and also a symbol of how many millions were killed. After the camps were liberated the tattoos became a symbol of survivorship.
Shaving the Prisoners Heads
The act of shaving the prisoners' heads was a symbol of the stripping each man of his humanity and identity. Everything that made a human look human was removed, and this dehumanization symbolized the fact that the Nazis saw their prisoners as less than human.
Striped Shirt and Pants
The striped shirt and pants of the prison uniform symbolized both the removal of individuality and also a symbol of suffering; the men spent twenty four hours a day in these clothes, sleeping in the same clothing they had sweated and worked in earlier, sometimes for years at a time. They are a symbol of the dehumanization that was systematically carried out by the Nazis.
Gray Zone Motif
Throughout the book, Levi returns to the motif of the Gray Zone, which was occupied by those prisoners who worked for the Nazis and assisted them in keeping the other prisoners in line. They also informed on their fellow prisoners, usually so that they would get better treatment or additional food for themselves. This was known as existing in the Gray Zone because none of the other prisoners ever really knew how to feel about these men. Realistically if those who worked with the Nazi guards had refused to do so they would have been killed immediately, and so they agreed to this hierarchy as a form of self preservation.
Yellow Star Symbol
In his Italian ghetto, Levi had been forced to wear a yellow star on his clothing at all times. This was a symbol of his Judaism and was introduced by the Germans so that they could keep track of Jews and prevent them from fleeing to safety overseas, or pretending to be other than Jewish.
