The Gray Zone by Primo Levi

Levi presents an interesting case where the situation creates a gray zone where the pre existing moral conditions come into question. Levi presents the case of the special squad and the difficulty in judging them. However, the squad cannot be cleared of all responsibility just because they were ordered. There is always a choice and they could choose death rather than committing those crimes. As the courts later held, death was a better option than carrying out the orders. The higher-ups are not the only ones responsible. The people who fall into this gray-zone also have a part to play and should be held responsible. Why they committed these crimes on a personal scale will never be known.

However, Levi says that most of them did have rights hence a certain sense of morality which should have acted as the map in this gray zone but the people preferred to cling onto their lives. The final example of the girl who was alive also shows that the people had become so habituated to death that they only saw that as an option. In conclusion, Levi raises a good point about the gray zone as to determine where the blame should be put at and how it is a difficult job to judge everyone involved in the act as they cannot be simply divided into victims and persecutors as some of the victims later persecuted other people as well. As Levi said it we would have difficulty in judging because we did not experience it ourselves.