I think this quote is really significant because it emphasizes how the NKVD do not see any value in the lives of their victims.  They do not stop to consider that these people are mothers and fathers and children.  They only are concerned with their own comfort.  

This quote in the book is said by Florian, a German deserter, who is against Hitler, but doesn't want to be caught in the act. In order to prevent this he forges papers to keep him on the good side of the Nazis. The quote shows many things about this time period that the books tries to portray.

1. It shows that nobody was safe, not even the Germans themselves. Whether the soldier was high or low in rank, there were always people on the outside and inside that hated them.  The forgery worked for some people, but others were suspicious.

2. People would do whatever they could do to survive. Even though Florian knew it wasn't safe or right to forge papers, he did it anyway. WWII was a very scary time period where all you wanted to do was survive. Forgery wasn't right and could get you in a lot of trouble with authority, however if you got away with doing it, it could save your life.

3. When Florian forged the papers he had to make it more believable. In order to do this he had to make sure that his attitude was strong and matched the title he gave himself which is said in the quote. Attitude that doesn't get you in trouble, but gets people to respect you determined life or death.