Language:
German
Year of publication:
2007
Titel der Quelle:
Exil
Angaben zur Quelle:
27,1 (2007) 40-50
Keywords:
Edvardson, Cordelia,
;
Nazi concentration camps
Abstract:
Analyzes the description of concentration camp prisoner functionaries in the writings of three former prisoners (one of whom, Edvardson, is half-Jewish). In return for privileges that could help them survive, the functionaries were required to oppress other prisoners. Kogon, who describes the somewhat exceptional situation in Buchenwald, where the functionaries were mostly political prisoners who formed a strong organization, asserts that functionaries could choose to use their power either for their own benefit or for the good of others. Borowski, a former prisoner of Auschwitz, describes a system created by the Nazis where the prevalence of death created utter indifference to human life other than one's own; where extreme deprivation extinguished social solidarity and morality, and the only values were food and warmth; and where the prisoner functionaries were corrupted by privilege and power. Edvardson, imprisoned as a teenager and employed as a clerk, mentions the guilt she felt when called upon to set down the identification numbers of prisoners who had been selected for gassing or deportation.
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