Q&A: Elsa Trank and the Morality of the Kapos
Elsa Trank and the Morality of the Kapos
Question
Hello Rabbi,
There is a case of a Jewish woman named Elsa Trank who was a kind of kapo for the Nazis. Later she immigrated to Israel and was sentenced to 7 years in prison for her actions. In your opinion, is there a moral flaw in a person who helped the Nazis out of fear for her life?
Best regards,
Answer
This is a complex question. It depends on the level of threat and how direct it was, and on the question of what exactly she did and what the alternatives were.
In general, even if there was a direct threat to her life, she was forbidden to kill in order to save herself, but abuse may possibly be permitted. Either way, if there was such a threat, I’m not sure it would be appropriate to punish her. Maimonides writes that even someone who transgressed one of the three cardinal sins in a situation of danger to life is not punished.
I don’t understand what the issue even is.
The claim is that the acts of cruelty (horrific and terrible as they were) were carried out by the kapos on their own initiative, not in order to serve anyone. In the case of the defendant mentioned above, it was alleged that she beat women at any time and at every hour for no reason at all—simply because she felt like it. Not in front of the Germans, but out of sheer cruelty.