How do I view the existence of the Exchange Market inside the concentration camp?
The Exchange Market is a place where it sells supplies with high prices, which is actually forbidden in our society. In other words, people don't sell supplies with higher prices publicly, since it is restricted by the society. Thus, definitely I would never view the place positively, if I did not know the purpose of the black market. However, Primo Levi introduced the market as a place for survival. Whether the exchanging supplies require extreme prices, the prisoners had no choice. The prisoners were suffering through lack of food and supplies, which eventually led them to exchange their last piece of clothing to obtain a minimum amount of food. However, the worst thing is, when a prisoner gets caught of not wearing his shirt, he immediately gets beaten by the Germans. The SS officers knew that the prisoners were suffering of hunger and exchanging their shirt was the only way of earning food through the hidden markets. They knew they were not providing enough foods for the prisoners to survive each day. However, they punished the ones who got caught of getting supplies illegally, and this situation was continuing every day. In the end, Primo Levi told “We now invite the reader to contemplate the possible meaning in the Lager of the words ‘good’ and ‘evil,’ ‘just’ and ‘unjust’; let everybody judge, on the basis of the picture we have outlined and of the examples given above, how much of our ordinary moral world could survive on this side of the barbed wire (pg 86).” Truly, the Exchange Market would not be viewed as “good” with my moral beliefs. However, if I were one of the prisoners, would my moral beliefs really matter? In order to survive, there were no choices but to accept the illegal ways of survival. To survive, we tend to rely on our instincts rather on out morality. In other words, we don't care whether something is "legal" or "illegal;" only surviving matters.
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