Who is Hofrat Behrens from The Magic Mountain and what is their importance?

Hofrat Behrens is the Director of the International Sanatorium. He is a tall man with goggle-eyes, a lop-sided smile under a trim moustache, and big hands that "row" the air as he walks. Competent, highly educated, and speaking many languages, Behrens keeps up a constant flow of amusing patter as he examines patients, and sometimes performs parlor tricks for them during social hours. Behrens is not the owner of the Berghof, only the Medical Director. He became Director after his own wife died from TB at the Berghof. Hans wonders whether or not Behrens has had a relationship with Clavdia Chauchat because he has painted her portrait. The question is never answered, and is left open for the reader. Settembrini often jokingly calls him "Rhadamanthus," the judge of the dead in Greek mythology.