Lack Of Morality In The Lager Culture

Levi shows the cultural transition from a lack of morality in the Lager to mutual cooperation between the survivors to demonstrate the innate goodness and morality present in humanity. The Lager is an atrocious, horrible place that eradicates the humanity found in the prisoners. The prisoners are forced to do back-breaking work, with meager amounts of food, in conditions are terrible. Every possession and scrap of food the prisoners are given in the camps, they have to fight to retain control over. The death toll is astonishingly high and the conditions and general states of the camp causes many people to abandon their will to live and survive. Levi has been living there for about a year and he understands the unique culture and customs present
It was a world void of morals and emotion, as the prisoners focused all of their energy on survival, and did not have the time to think about their actions effects on other people. The conditions in the camp made it nearly impossible for someone to survive, and in order to position themselves for the chance of survival, most prisoners developed ruthless ways to provide for themselves. The limited compassionate human interaction rarely allowed for trust to form and as a result caused the prisoners to become detached from the qualities of humanity inside of them. The want and will to survive was a main factor in the creation of the unique Lager culture. As the Russians were rumored to march closer to Auschwitz, the Nazis decided to evacuate all of the able-bodied prisoners, in order to gain themselves additional safety and distance from them. This left the sick and the dying prisoners behind. As Levi had just come down with scarlet fever, he and many others were left behind in Ka-Be with a limited number of Nazi officers, and no idea of what was going to happen to them. The next night the camp was devastated by bombs, leaving no electricity, no refuge from the harsh winter, and no
This shows that the prisoners have finalized their abandonment of the Lager’s lack of morals and need for individual survival. A simple act – offering the providers more food – led to the prisoner’s realization that they had survived the Nazi run portion of the Lager because the outward kindness and selflessness shown had never been apparent. The survivors realized that the best chance for survival was to band together and support themselves. The strongest people could have been like the Germans and suppressed the weak and dying for their own assumed safety, but instead they choose to help each other. This mutual cooperation shows that even though they had been tortured and corrupted by the conditions of the Lager, they could still revive the humanity inside themselves. The ability to support, rely, and depend on other people helped demonstrate that the Lager was no more. The surviving prisoners begin to run the camp themselves for their own needs and survival, they distributed medicine, harvested potatoes, and made candles and