In Night, why does Elie say the people looked like buffoons on the morning of the evacuation?

In section five of Elie Wiesel's memoir Night the prisoners at Buna are being evacuated to the west with the onslaught of the Russian army. Elie is just recovering from foot surgery and he and his father have decided to leave with the majority of the prisoners despite the fact that they could have stayed behind. In an unfortunate irony, the camp was liberated two days after the prisoners departed. On the morning of the evacuation Elie describes his fellow prisoners. They have all put on several layers of clothing in order to stay warm on their journey. He notes that they look totally prepostorous and that the scene is like a "masquerade." He calls the men "mountebanks" and "buffoons." A mountebank is someone who attempts to deceive and a buffoon is a ridiculous looking person. The men look ridiculous because they have "ghostlike" faces looking out from under "piles of prison clothes." To add the absurdity of the situation the prisoners are also told to clean the prison barracks even though they are leaving.