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A Kapo is a prisoner who has been placed in a position of authority over other prisoners, most often as the leader of a Kommando. Kapos may be Jewish or non-Jewish prisoners, but in either case receive special benefits and favorable treatment from the guards.
Kapo Quotes in Survival in Auschwitz
The Survival in Auschwitz quotes below are all either spoken by Kapo or refer to Kapo. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 7. A Good Day
Quotes
At least for a few hours, no quarrels arise, we feel good, the Kapo feels no urge to hit us, and we are able to think of our mothers and wives, which usually does not happen. For a few hours we can be unhappy in the manner of free men.
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Chapter 9. The Drowned and the Saved
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That they were stolid and bestial is natural, when one thinks that the majority were ordinary criminals, chosen from among the German prisons for the very purpose of their employment as superintendents of the camps for Jews; and we maintain it was a very apt choice, because we refuse to believe that the squalid human specimens whom we saw at work were an average example, not of Germans in general, but even of German prisoners in particular.
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Chapter 10. Chemical Examination
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Without hatred and without sneering, Alex wipes his hand on my shoulder, both the palm and the back of the hand, to clean it; he would be amazed, the poor brute Alex, If someone told him that today, on the basis of this action, I judge him and Pannwitz and innumerable others like him, big and small, in Auschwitz and everywhere.
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Kapo Term Timeline in Survival in Auschwitz
The timeline below shows where the term Kapo appears in Survival in Auschwitz. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2. On the Bottom
...work in a Kommando, usually comprised of 50 to 150 laborers, each governed by a Kapo. Unskilled Kommandos are usually led by prisoners, while skilled labor Kommandos most often have Polish...
(full context)
Chapter 4. Ka-Be
The Kapo arrives and strikes the workers for the disruption, though the blows do not hurt compared...
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Chapter 5. Our Nights
...and new Kommando where they are unaware of the rules, customs, the inclinations of the Kapo. Every unknown element is a threat to his survival.
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Chapter 6. The Work
...courteous, and Levi appreciates his company when they are assigned to the same Kommando. The Kapo accompanies his Kommando to the worksite, hands them off to a civilian supervisor, and goes...
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...speaks so as not to disturb the brief reverie. After the period is up, the Kapo quietly, almost apologetically, tells his men to get back outside and work once more. “Oh...
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Chapter 7. A Good Day
...food, tools, and supplies) has managed to obtain a large amount of civilian soup. Their Kapo, a decent man, is happy to occasionally let their organizer sneak away from his work...
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Chapter 8. This Side of Good and Evil
...of existence. Anything that can be stolen and may be useful to other prisoners, to Kapos (who need supplies for their workers) or to civilians is pilfered and introduced to the...
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Chapter 9. The Drowned and the Saved
...most common strategy is to become a “prominent”: a Jewish camp official such as a Kapo, doctor, cook, or night-guard. Being a prominent is advantageous and hard-won, but the fear of...
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Chapter 10. Chemical Examination
...it was assumed that the Kommando would be a skilled trade unit, and that the Kapo should naturally be a chemist, it is instead a German “professional delinquent,” a small buffoon...
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