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Blockältester
A 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. Also called "prisoner self-administration", the prisoner functionary system minimized costs by allowing camps to function with fewer SS personnel. 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. If they neglected their duties, they would be demoted to ordinary prisoners and be subject to other kapos. 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. This brutality was tolerated by the SS and was an integral part of the camp system. Prisoner functionaries we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salaspils Concentration Camp
Salaspils camp was established at the end of 1941 at a point southeast of Riga (Latvia), in Salaspils. The Nazi bureaucracy drew distinctions between different types of camps. Officially, it was the Salaspils Police Prison and Re-Education Through Labor Camp (''Polizeigefängnis und Arbeitserziehungslager''). It was also known as camp Kurtenhof after the German name for the city of Salaspils. Planning for the development of the camp and its prisoner structure changed several times. In 1943, Heinrich Himmler briefly considered converting the camp into an official concentration camp (Konzentrationslager), which would have formally subordinated the camp to the National Security Main Office (''Reichssicherheitshauptamt'' or RSHA), but nothing came of this. Angrick, Andrej, and Klein, Peter, ''Die "Endlösung" in Riga.'', (English: ''The Final Solution in Riga'') pp. 201, 246, 254-255, 256-57, 269, Darmstadt 2006, The camp has had a lasting legacy in Latvian and Russian culture due ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |