McFadden believes that the word "kapo" is derived from the German word Lagercapo, meaning camp captain. According to the Duden, it is derived from the French word for " Corporal" ( caporal). The word "kapo" could have come from the Italian word for "head" and "boss", capo. While the Germans commonly called them kapos, the official government term for prisoner functionaries was Funktionshäftling.Īfter World War II, the term was reused as an insult according to The Jewish Chronicle, it is "the worst insult a Jew can give another Jew". They also had access to certain privileges, such as civilian clothes and a private room. Prisoner functionaries were spared physical abuse and hard labor, provided they performed their duties to the satisfaction of the SS functionaries. This brutality was tolerated by the SS and was an integral part of the camp system. Many prisoner functionaries were recruited from the ranks of violent criminal gangs rather than from the more numerous political, religious, and racial prisoners such criminal convicts were known for their brutality toward other prisoners. If they neglected their duties, they would be demoted to ordinary prisoners and be subject to other kapos. The system was designed to turn victim against victim, as the prisoner functionaries were pitted against their fellow prisoners in order to maintain the favor of their SS overseers. ![]() SS Main Economic and Administrative Office, Reich Security Main Office, Volksdeutsche MittelstelleĪ kapo or prisoner functionary ( German: Funktionshäftling) was a prisoner in a Nazi camp who was assigned by the Schutzstaffel (SS) guards to supervise forced labor or carry out administrative tasks.Īlso called "prisoner self-administration", the prisoner functionary system minimized costs by allowing camps to function with fewer SS personnel. A kapo leader at the Salaspils concentration camp in Latvia, wearing a yellow badge and a Lagerpolizist (camp police officer) armband
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