Into That Darkness: An Examination of Conscience

Content Warning: This Themes section references acts of genocide, racial violence, and murder that were perpetrated under the Nazi regime and that are discussed in Into That Darkness.

Almost everyone implicated in the crimes at Treblinka whom Sereny interviews shirked personal responsibility for those crimes. Sereny’s implied argument is that Treblinka was possible because of the capacity of people like Stangl to convince themselves that they weren’t personally responsible for their actions. People around the Stangls are quick to say that despite his positions at Sobibor and Treblinka, he wasn’t responsible for the murders there. In Sereny’s final argument, decisions of right and wrong ultimately occur at the individual level, leaving every person accountable for their actions.

One of the main ways the people implicated in Nazi crimes shirked responsibility was by charging the person above them with their responsibility. Stangl often did this with Christian Wirth, who was directly above him both in the T4 euthanasia program and in Aktion Reinhardt. In his stories about Wirth, Stangl paints him as the mind and driving force behind the atrocities. He doubtlessly was that, but of course, it was Stangl who would implement and optimize Wirth’s policies. Stangl rationalizes that since the idea to exterminate the Jews or euthanize the disabled wasn’t his own, he wasn’t responsible for executing those ideas.