"It remains true that in the Lager, and outside, there exist gray
ambiguous persons , ready to compromise.1
"It remains true that in the Lager, and outside, there exist gray
ambiguous persons , ready to compromise.1
Ambiguous Persons
There were 'good' kapos and harsh capos: some of the sonderkommandos were so abusive and cruel that they could be even worse than their Nazi counterparts. While this seems almost impossible, it is actually a common reaction under severe forms of captivity. Psychologists refer to a phenomenon called, "identification with the aggressor"2 , a defense mechanism which was first described by Sigmund Freud. More recently with regard to captivity it has been referred to as "The Stockholm Syndrome" 3. In this frame of mind, a person is faced with an aggressor who is extremely threatening in one way or another, either psychologically or physically. Rather than distancing themselves emotionally and behaviorally from the the aggressor, which is often the first reaction, over time, the victim begins to "identify" with the the victimizer: this is done both cognitively and viscerally: later emulation of the aggressor's dress, countenance and presence may take place. In the death Camps, the daily threat, with utter helplessness was so pronounced, that it is little wonder that some more sensitive or weaker persons would not fall into this pseudo-identification. By identifying and becoming like their captors, they allayed fear and resolved cognitive dissonance: redefinitions occur in thinking: they are no longer like the humiliated victim, instead they are like the bold aggressor. This is coupled by a system of reinforcement: better food, favored positions, more freedom, and better living conditions.2 Given the cruelty of some of the kapos, it is easy to attribute traits to them such as betrayal, disloyalty and abandonment. One needs to remember though that there is a difference between choosing to turn to betrayal, and falling into it as a psychological escape. When a situation becomes so oppressive and unbearable as the world of a Death Camp, it is impossible to predict who will and who will not succumb to distorted methods of spiritual/emotional survival. It is important to remember that most kapos were selected for duty against their will, and it was a time when moral questions became deeply challenged and undone. In day to day survival, while there were astoundingly noble actions and moments even martyrdom on the part of some individuals, most persons most of the time were focused only on survival: they longer one survived, in any way possible, the better chance of the war ending and freedom coming. Some of the tasks Sonderkommandos were chosen for were the following: |
Tasks of Sonderkommandos
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OUTSIDE LINKS
Under the severity of the above tasks, it is easy to understand how a personality might disintegrate. The Shoah was a time of extremes when issues of morality were clouded to the point of being invisible. Many of the sonderkommandos like others tried to survive and adapt in ways that under traditional mores seem extreme and troubling. One needs to suspend some degree of judgment in understanding the difference between cruelty as a broken and distorted way of coping and the kind of cruelty and betrayal which occurs by choice for greed and pride.
While the Sonderkommandos, for example at Auschwitz were disdained by the rest of Jewish victims for
aiding the Nazis in the deaths of millions, and often being given preferred treatment and better food,
they were also the prisoners who are responsible for saving many lives, and smuggling out evidence of
what the Nazis were doing. Those who worked in the Photography lab at Auschwitz were able even to save
photos when the Nazis burned evidence to escape charges of war crimes, and the uprising of kapos, who laid
down their lives for the purpose, in Birkenau, led to the demolition of a portion of the Krema, saving
thousands of Jewish lives near the end. Roza Robota was among an underground resistance within the camp
of kapos and others who smuggled the explosives into the camps, and suffered hanging. Her last words
encouraged the remaining prisoners never to give up hope. Even today, among survivors, the kapos or
sonderkommanders (Special Command) have had difficulties healing from the war. Many Jewish victims who
survived, still hold them accountable for what many call collusion with the Nazis in the destruction
of the Jewish People. They remember instances of brutal treatment, as bad as the Nazis delivered. Others
however with time have recognized that in the gray morality of the camps, many did anything to survive,
even if it meant betrayal. The Sonderkommandos both betrayed and saved lives, were brutal and kind,
and without the Sonderkommandos, their might have been far fewer survivors. © 2002 Elizabeth Kirkley Best, Ph.D.:Shoah Education (Web)Project
All Rights Reserved
FOOTNOTES:
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The Sonderkommandos, or Capos, were a specially appointed group of persons chosen
from among the usually Jewish victims in the 
The concentration camps
of the Shoah do not afford the luxury of peacetime moral judgments.