after a series of lessons, mashkan’s slandering of the jewish culture begins to build a strong tension between him and hoffman, who is jewish. this is aggravated when hoffman, fulfilling a promise given to his father, actually visits dachau. after this experience, he skips mashkan's lessons for over two weeks, wandering about in vienna. when he returns, he tells mashkan the whole story, including the night he spent with sarah, a young jew he met at the bus in dachau. the recollection of this visit to the horrors of a concentration camp and the intense lovemaking afterwards again brings up the theme of "sadness and joy".