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Kapo
EntityQ702997· pop 33· linked from 286 articles

A kapo was a type of prisoner functionary () at Nazi concentration and extermination camps. They were, whether voluntary or coerced, collaborators who worked under the Schutzstaffel (SS) to carry out administrative tasks or supervise the forced labour of inmates. Given authority over their fellow prisoners, they would often enjoy comparatively better conditions at the camps, such as increased food rations and less physical brutality from SS guards. Due to their privileged status and actions, kapos were highly resented and were frequently lynched by other prisoners when the camps were liberated

Key facts

Holocaust event.name
Kapo
Holocaust event.location
Nazi Germany Occupied Europe
Holocaust event.date
1939–1945
Holocaust event.incident_type
Collaborationism
Holocaust event.perpetrators
SS-Totenkopfverbände
Holocaust event.participants
Collaborationist Holocaust victims
Holocaust event.victims
Non-collaborationist Holocaust victims

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female form of label
Kapo
Commons category
Kapo
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Article

11 sections
Contents
  • Etymology
  • Reprisals and prosecution
  • In Europe
  • In Israel
  • Significance and legacy
  • As a Jewish slur
  • Works
  • See also
  • References
  • Further reading
  • External links

A kapo was a type of prisoner functionary () at Nazi concentration and extermination camps. They were, whether voluntary or coerced, collaborators who worked under the Schutzstaffel (SS) to carry out administrative tasks or supervise the forced labour of inmates. Given authority over their fellow prisoners, they would often enjoy comparatively better conditions at the camps, such as increased food rations and less physical brutality from SS guards. Due to their privileged status and actions, kapos were highly resented and were frequently lynched by other prisoners when the camps were liberated by Allied forces during the final stages of World War II.

In the aftermath of World War II, there were many instances of kapos being prosecuted alongside Nazis for their role at the camps. Most notably, the Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law, which was passed by the government of Israel in 1950, was primarily aimed at providing a framework for prosecution of Jews who had served as kapos during the Holocaust. These efforts were spurred by the collective anger of Holocaust survivors towards Jewish collaborators, whose elimination was regarded as necessary to "purify" the global Jewish community.

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