Himmler explained the Kapo system in the camps as a whole to the generals in his June speech. These approximately 40,000 German political and professional criminals were – he asked them not to laugh – his Unteroffizier corps for the whole camp community. Laughter. Each Kapo was responsible for seeing that his thirty, forty or one hundred prisoners performed their work, committed no sabotage, were clean and left their beds tidy; it could not be more orderly in a recruits’ barracks. ‘He must also drive his men,’ he continued. ‘The moment we are not satisfied with him, he is no longer a Kapo, he
...more
