Saturday, March 3, 2007

Is there morality in the Lager?

Chapter 8: This Side of Good and Evil
As I read the chapter, one idea surprised and puzzled me: the existence of a market within the concentration camp of Buna. I was perplexed that, in such a degraded place with barely any hope of survival in the prisoners, there was a market for exchanging goods such as bread, clothes, or tobacco. I thought to myself, “Would people there even have the strength to walk to and from the market? I’d rather rest than waste my energy in buying goods there.” However, the market, as surprising as it seems, was very complex and systematic, much like a miniature version of a market of the outside world. I realized that some people exchanged goods at the market with those that were unnecessary for survival. This helped them gain at least a bit more of what will make them better off in the camps; they can gain more bread to feed on or tobacco to smoke and forget their worries. People will do anything to survive (if they wanted to).
The last paragraph of the passage intrigued me; it dealt with the issue of good and evil in the camps. Was there any concrete distinction between good and evil in the camps? Even if there was, did it really matter? I think the matter of good and evil barely had any effect in the camps; all people were treated essentially the same way. Although some prisoners who stole or illegally exchanged goods were punished, everyone was basically the same person. All were prisoners that lived in an inhumane condition with barely any hope. An SS soldier could easily kill a “good” man by a whim, while an “evil” man stands next to him, only watching the sight. Morality is subjective in the camps, and no basis actually determines the treatment of the prisoners.
This shows how inconsiderate the Nazi’s were of the prisoners in the camps, including the Jews. The only thing that really mattered was that they were under Nazi control and they were treated in the worst possible way a man could be treated. There were no good or evil prisoners to them.

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