Can You Learn Anything from a Void?

In the play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth kills the king, causing he himself to be the successor. As king, Macbeth makes many people, all of whom have much less power than him, commit multiple homicides in order to prevent anyone from stealing his title as king. He shows no sympathy towards his new kingdom, plotting to kill many people, and no one can step up to stop him, fearing him. Macbeth can greatly compare to the article mentioned above, especially with the idea of being powerful.

The article Can You Learn Anything from a Void” by Adam Kirsch considers two different scenarios that occurred during Holocaust, both considering men who chose to be involved illegal or questionable acts. In one scenario, a man named Victor Capesius is depicted as a “stocky” man in a bathing suit waiting for his swimming lessons. He was a sales representative for “the pharmaceutical company Bayer,” and according to a girl, Ella Boehm, he was a very sweet man. However, when the disaster called the Holocaust began, he was one of the men who directed people to the Auschwitz concentration camp. After Ella and her family were deported from Hungary and taken to Auschwitz, they encountered Capesius for the last time, as he directed her family toward the gas chambers, and Ella toward the camp. Ella and her family were not the only ones to see Capesius at the camp, directing them toward their death. His friends and neighbors went through the camp as well, and unfortunately he directed them gas chambers also. All throughout the Holocaust, Capesius acted as though he was happy and did not mind sending thousands of people to their deaths. “Capesius could not even claim to be blinded by ideological anti-Semitism.”  When he was tried in 1964, his prosecutor said Capesius should have gone through a terrible emotional state, confronting people he knew who trusted him, and the prosecutor compared his actions to that of a monster’s.

The second scenario contains a selection of letters written by Konrad Jarausch. Jarausch is depicted as a bookish and introverted man, and “one of the least soldierly soldiers of Hitler’s army.” He was a Protestant and a trainer of Christian teachers, who also edited the journal, School and Church. He was too old for the army so he was sent to guard prisoners of war in Poland, later moving to Germany to train new recruits. His letters tell readers that the last six months of his life were desperate and depressed. Jarausch believed Hitler’s war was a disaster. Jarausch found sympathy toward the prisoner of war he was guarding, finding much in common with them. He found a sense of respect for them, with incredibly different views compared to Capesius.

In all three cases, the main character is in a state of superiority over his community. In the case of Macbeth and Capesius, they are taking it a bit too far. People are responsible for stepping up and facing them to fix the problem that is occurring. However, it is a matter which can be left up to the onlooker. He or she can either act in an evil way to save him or herself, or choose the opposite and deal with the consequences. Those who carry out unfair executions and murders are just as guilty as anyone else, because they chose evil to save themselves. By fighting for their beliefs, bystanders can fight the evil and overcome it.