Talk:Kapo (concentration camp)

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[edit] Etymology

This guy says the name comes from Kamppolizei. --Gbleem 08:41, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

I'd like to know his sources...--Willem Huberts 09:48, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Bullshit. German for Camp is 'Lager', not 'Kamp'. `'mikkanarxi 03:36, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Kameradenpolizei is probably the correct origin of the word (contracted as Kapo as Nationalsozialismus is contracted in Nazi). Search engines return many occurences of that work too and Capo looks more like a backward etymology to me. --JCDM 0:44, 12 Dec 2006 (CET)

I seriously doubt Nazis would allow an Italian word. Despite being allies, they despised Italians. mikkanarxi 03:36, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Kameradenpolizei is most certainly not the correct origin for the word kapo. The source for kapo must be found in whether the French word caporal, whether the Italian word capo, the latter meaning chief, supervisor, head. Sources to be found in: Eugen Kogon, The SS-state, first published in Germany, 1959. I used the Dutch translation: Eugen Kogon, De SS-staat: het systeem der Duitse concentratiekampen. Paris, Amsterdam, 1968, p. 86. Another Dutch historian states that the term kapo originates from the concentration camp Dachau and that Italian labourers introduced it in the early nineteen thirties when they were employed when building roads in the south of Germany. dr. L. de Jong, Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, deel 8, gevangenen en gedeporteerden, eerste helft. Staatsuitgeverij, 's-Gravenhage, 1978, p. 481. The hoax that it originates from the non-existant German word Kameradenpolizei can be found evereywhere on the Internet, therefore it shows up in many search engines - but by now we all know what that means.--Willem Huberts 06:02, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Primo Levi wrote in one of his books about the war that it came from Kamaredenpolizei. I'd say that's a pretty good source, since he experienced the horror first-hand. --Mamour 16:49, 11 March 2007 (UTC)