Can You Learn Anything From a Void?

Adam Kirsch wrote the article, “Can You Learn anything From a Void?,” which details moral dilemmas brought about by the rising of the Nazis and the Jewish Holocaust.  The story focuses closely on the lives of two men, Victor Capesius and Konrad Jarausch. Through this the author showed how the men’s actions during these events made them okay with the crimes occurring around them. In our class we are reading, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare.  The character of Macbeth abuses his power by ordering murderers to execute several innocent people.  The murderers weren’t entirely guilty for the crimes because it really wasn’t their initial intentions, but they are partially guilty because they served  Macbeth’s orders.  In the scenarios such as those presented in Macbeth and the Holocaust, bystanders and onlookers have a responsibility to themselves and those around them.  This responsibility is to stay true to their morals and not push their morals aside in order to “fit in”. In the case of the men who were involved in the Holocaust, they pushed aside their morals in order to save their lives.  Even though their decisions could be justified, this decision cost them.  Their decision caused them to have to be involved in the series of events that occurred during the Holocaust.  For Victor Capesius, the cost of his choice was that he had to lead his friends and family in Auschwitz.  Unfortunately he was told to lead them to the left and therefore into the gas chambers ending their lives. For Konrad Jarausch, he was in charge of POWs.  Unlike Capesius, he felt very guilty for his actions and wrote letters home apologizing. Therefore his decision resulted in an extreme amount of guilt.  In Macbeth, the murders should have done the right thing and not carried out the orders given to them. Those who carry out unjust execution orders are very guilty of murder.  This is because even if they are just doing what they are ordered they are still taking an innocent life.  In the case of the murders from Macbeth, they were ordered to carry out multiple murders and therefore are guilty of murder directly even though it wasn’t their plan in the beginning.  Both of the men from the article, were indirectly guilty of murder because they were involved with the occurrences of the Holocaust. Yes, a person can actively combat the ascendance of evil and maintain their moral convictions.  For a person to do this though they would have to stay to their morals no matter what consequences may be put on them.  In our society today, people find those who sacrifice their lives for what they believe in very heroic. Overall, I believe that Capesius, Jarausch, and the murderers from Macbeth were all wrong.  I believe that even if the ending result for them would have been death they should have followed their morals and refused to carry out the orders.