What is An oberkapo in concentration camp?
• Oberkapo: prisoner assigned as chief foreman. • pipel: among Nazi concentration camp detainees, an attractive male child who received special privileges by. maintaining a relationship with another detainee who had been granted some authority over other detainees. Click to see full answer. Similarly, you may ask, what is a Lageralteste?
Who were the kapos?
Kapos, called Funktionshäftling by the SS, were prisoners who collaborated with the Nazis to serve in leadership or administrative roles over others interned in the same Nazi concentration camp.
What is the origin of the word kapo?
The word "kapo" could have come from the Italian word for "head" and "boss", capo. According to the Duden, it is derived from the French word for " Corporal " ( fr:Caporal ). Journalist Robert D. McFadden believes that the word "kapo" is derived from the German word Lagercapo meaning camp captain.
What is a kapo in prison?
Prisoners that were chosen to be in these higher positions served in the role of Kapos. The origin of the term “Kapo” is not definitive. Some historians believe it was directly transferred from the Italian word “capo” for “boss,” while others point to more indirect roots in both German and French.
What is a Kapo in German?
Imprisoned in concentration camps, Kapos were enemies and victims of the Nazis; they were Jewish inmates who were forced by the Nazis to serve as “stand-in” guards. In effect, being a Kapo blurred the lines between collaborator, perpetrator and victim.
What is the cabbala in night?
Cabbala: The Jewish mystical tradition. • Hasidic: A branch of Orthodox Judaism that maintains a lifestyle separate from the non-Jewish world. • Kaddish: A prayer in Aramaic praising God, commonly associated with mourning practices.
What is a work Kommando?
Before and during World War II, the basic unit of organization of forced labourers in Nazi concentration camps, equivalent to a detail or detachment were referred to as Kommandos.
What does Maimonides mean in night?
Los: German for “Go on!” Maimonides (1135–1204): Jewish rabbi, physician and philosopher. Mengele, Dr. Josef (1911–1978): Auschwitz physician notorious for so-called medical experiments performed on inmates, especially twins and dwarves. Messiah: Greek translation of Hebrew Mashiach, the anointed one.
Who created Kabbalah?
The earliest roots of Kabbala are traced to Merkava mysticism. It began to flourish in Palestine in the 1st century ce and had as its main concern ecstatic and mystical contemplation of the divine throne, or “chariot” (merkava), seen in a vision by Ezekiel, the prophet (Ezekiel 1).
What is a Kommando in Night?
• Kapos: prisoners in Nazi concentration camps assigned by the SS guards to supervise forced labor or carry out. administrative tasks in the camp. • Kommandos: the basic unit of organization of slave laborers in German concentration camps.
What language do Auschwitz speak?
One part of the Nazi camp slang was German language terminology for people, things and events in the camps, where many ordinary German words acquired specific meanings and associations.
What is a Blockalteste?
Blockalteste. A concentration camp inmate appointed to be the leader of a barrack.
Who was Stein in Night?
Stein, Eliezer's cousin by marriage, wants nothing more than news of his family. Eliezer lies to Stein, telling him that his wife (Reizel) and children are fine. Eliezer's lie allows Stein to find the will to live; Stein has no desire to survive unless his family is well.
What are the 13 principles of Maimonides?
While discussing the claim that all Israel has a share in the world to come, Maimonides lists 13 principles that he considers binding on every Jew: the existence of God, the absolute unity of God, the incorporeality of God, the eternity of God, that God alone is to be worshipped, that God communicates to prophets, that ...
What did Maimonides believe?
Maimonides argued that our comprehension of God is limited to negations, for example negations of finitude, ignorance, plurality, corporeal existence, and so forth. Our use of terms such as 'knowledge,' 'justice,' 'benevolence,' and 'will' in speaking of God is equivocal.
What means Zohar?
Zohar. / (ˈzəʊhɑː) / noun. Judaism a mystical work, consisting of a commentary on parts of the Pentateuch and the Hagiographa, probably composed in the 2nd century ad.
What is a kapo?
A kapo or prisoner functionary ( German: Funktionshäftling) was a prisoner in a Nazi camp who was assigned by the SS guards to supervise forced labor or carry out administrative tasks. Also called "prisoner self-administration", the prisoner functionary system minimized costs by allowing camps to function with fewer SS personnel.
What is the meaning of the word "kapo"?
The term kapo is used as a slur in the twenty-first century , particularly for Jews who are deemed insufficiently supportive of Israel or Zionism. David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, apologized for referring to supporters of J Street as "far worse than kapos".
Where does the word "kapo" come from?
According to the Duden, it is derived from the French word for " Corporal " ( fr:Caporal ). Journalist Robert D. McFadden believes that the word "kapo" is derived from the German word Lagercapo meaning camp captain.
Who directed Kapo?
Kapo, a 1960 film directed by Gillo Pontecorvo.
Who wrote the book The Brutes Have the Floor?
Vincenzo and Luigi Pappalettera wrote in their book The Brutes Have the Floor that, every time a new transport of detainees arrived at Mauthausen, Kapo August Adam picked out the professors, lawyers, priests and magistrates and cynically asked them: "Are you a lawyer? A professor? Good! Do you see this green triangle? This means I am a killer. I have five convictions on my record: one for manslaughter and four for robbery. Well, here I am in command. The world has turned upside down, did you get that? Do you need a Dolmetscher, an interpreter? Here it is!" And he was pointing to his bat, after which he struck. When he was satisfied, he formed a Scheisskompanie with those selected and sent them to clean the latrines.
Where did the term Kapo come from?
In the Nazi concentration camps, the term Kapo was first used at Dachau from which it spread to the other camps.
What was the purpose of the Kapos?
It was the Kapos job to brutally force prisoners to do forced labor, despite the prisoners being sick and starving. Facing prisoner against prisoner served two goals for the SS: it allowed them to meet a labor need while simultaneously furthering tensions between various groups of prisoners.
What did the Kapos do in prison?
Kapos were sometimes able to use their positions to also procure special items within the camp system such as cigarettes, special foods, and alcohol. A prisoner’s ability to please the Kapo or establish a rare rapport with him/her could, in many instances, meant the difference between life and death.
Why were Kapos cruel?
Kapos were, in many instances, even crueler than the SS themselves. Because their tenuous position depended on the satisfaction of the SS, many Kapos took extreme measures against their fellow prisoners to maintain their privileged positions.
Why did the Kapos get interned?
While there were Kapos whose original internment was for asocial, political, or racial purposes (such as Jews), the vast majority of Kapos were criminal internees.
What were the privileges of being a Kapo?
The privileges of being a Kapo varied from camp to camp but almost always resulted in better living conditions and a reduction in physical labor. In the larger camps, such as Auschwitz, Kapos received separate rooms within the communal barracks, which they would often share with a self-selected assistant.
What is the meaning of the term "kapos"?
Jennifer L. Goss. Updated January 23, 2020. Kapos, called Funktionshäftling by the SS, were prisoners who collaborated with the Nazis to serve in leadership or administrative roles over others interned in the same Nazi concentration camp.
What is the job of a Kapo?
That job, though, was preventing starving people from escaping, separating families, beating people bloody for minor infractions, moving your fellow prisoners into the gas chambers – and taking their bodies out.
What language did the Kapo speak?
They felt they could trust him to withstand the pressures of a kapo, as he’d proved himself in the Spanish Civil War. He spoke Polish and German, making him a good go-between for the prisoners and guards, and his father was a prominent Polish-Jewish leader, which they thought would give him good standing among the prisoners.
What is the movie Kapo based on?
The 2015 Israeli film, Kapo in Jerusalem, is based on the life of Eliezer Gruenbaum.
What is the emotional element of the Kapo transformation?
In his book, The Drowned and the Saved, Levi argued that there was an emotional element of the kapo ‘s transformation, which helps explain their actions against fellow inmates: “The best way to bind them is to burden them with guilt, cover them with blood, compromise them as much as possible.
Why did some prisoners become kapos?
For better food, a separate room, and protection from hard labor and the gas chamber , some prisoners became kapos — but they had to beat their fellow inmates in return. In 1945, months after being freed from a Nazi concentration camp, Eliezer Gruenbaum was walking down the streets of Paris. Born to a Zionist father from Poland, Gruenbaum was now ...
What did the Kapos do in the prison system?
In exchange for better food and clothing, increased autonomy, possible occasional visits to a brothel, and a 10 times greater chance of survival, kapos served as the first line of discipline and regulation within the camps. They supervised their fellow inmates, oversaw their slave labor, and often punished them for the slightest infractions — ...
Did Gruenbaum volunteer to be a Kapo?
Gruenbaum did not volunteer to be a kapo; his friends volunteered for him while he was asleep. The head of his living quarters in Birkenau’s Block 9 asked his newly arrived group to nominate a representative to join the block officers, and they picked Gruenbaum.
Overview
Ranks of functionary
The important functionary positions inside the camp were Lagerältester (camp leader or camp senior), Blockältester (block or barracks leader or senior), and Stubenältester (room leader). The highest position that a prisoner could reach was Lagerältester, who was placed directly under the camp commandant and expected to implement his orders to ensure that the camp's daily routines ran smoothly and that regulations were followed. The Lagerälteste had a key role in the selectio…
Etymology
The word "kapo" could have come from the Italian word for "head" and "boss", capo. According to the Duden, it is derived from the French word for "Corporal" (caporal). Journalist Robert D. McFadden believes that the word "kapo" is derived from the German word Lagercapo, meaning camp captain.
System of thrift and manipulation
Camps were controlled by the SS, but day-to-day organization was supplemented by the system of functionary prisoners, a second hierarchy that made it easier for the Nazis to control the camps. These prisoners made it possible for the camps to function with fewer SS personnel. The prisoner functionaries sometimes numbered as high as 10% of the inmates. The Nazis were able to keep the number of paid staff who had direct contact with the prisoners very low in comparison to nor…
Domination and terror
The SS used domination and terror to control the camps' large populations with just a few SS functionaries. The system of prisoner guards was a "key instrument of domination", and was commonly called "prisoner self-government" (Häftlings-Selbstverwaltung) in SS parlance.
The camp's draconian rules, constant threat of beatings, humiliation, punishment, and the practice of punishing entire groups for the actions of one prisoner were psychological and physical torm…
Prosecution of kapos
During the 1946-47 Stutthof trials in Gdańsk, Poland, in which Stutthof concentration camp personnel were prosecuted, five kapos were found to have used extreme brutality and were sentenced to death. Four of them were executed on 4 July 1946, and one on 10 October 1947. Another was sentenced to three years' imprisonment and one acquitted and released on 29 November 1947.
Significance
German historian Karin Orth wrote that there was hardly a measure so perfidious as the SS attempt to delegate the implementation of terror and violence to the victims themselves. Eugen Kogon, an avowed opponent of Nazism from prewar Germany and a Buchenwald concentration camp survivor, wrote after the war that the concentration camp system owed its stability in no small way to the cadre of kapos, who took over the daily operations of the camp and relieved SS perso…
See also
• Belsen Trial, the Trial of Joseph Kramer and 44 others (former kapos, convicted in late 1945 for war crimes).
• Bitch Wars in the Soviet Gulag system.
• Divide and rule
• Eliezer Gruenbaum, notable kapo