Institutional Evil vs. Moral Conscience

The theme of submitting to the evil of an institution rather than embracing one's moral conscience is explored in Frameshift. When the Nazi officials responsible for operating the mechanisms of extermination were asked at the Nuremberg war crimes trial why they acted as they did, many claimed they were simply carrying out orders. The same question could have been asked of any worker at any factory and a similar answer might have been given. The war criminals chose to ignore the basic moral principle against murder and give in to the Nazi institution.

The theme is also demonstrated through the character of Klimus, who is probably the former Ivan the Terrible of the Treblinka Nazi death camp. Klimus has already published scientific papers on his gene research for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize. To answer an important evolutionary question, he...