JEONSEON, where the river starts.
Often they were harder on the prisoners than were the guards,
and beat them more cruelly than the SS men did. These Capos, of course, were chosen only from
those prisoners whose characters promised to make them suitable for such procedures, and if they
did not comply with what was expected of them, they were immediately demoted. They soon
became much like the SS men and the camp wardens and may be judged on a similar psychological
basis.
Often they were harder on the prisoners than were the guards,
and beat them more cruelly than the SS men did. These Capos, of course, were chosen only from
those prisoners whose characters promised to make them suitable for such procedures, and if they
did not comply with what was expected of them, they were immediately demoted. They soon
became much like the SS men and the camp wardens and may be judged on a similar psychological
basis.
Most of the events described here did not take place in the large and famous camps, but in the small
ones where most of the real extermination took place. This story is not about the suffering and
death of great heroes and martyrs, nor is it about the prominent Capos—prisoners who acted as
trustees, having special privileges—or well-known prisoners. Thus it is not so much concerned with
the sufferings of the mighty, but with the sacrifices, the crucifixion and the deaths of the great army
of unknown and unrecorded victims. It was these common prisoners, who bore no distinguishing
marks on their sleeves, whom the Capos really despised. While these ordinary prisoners had little or
nothing to eat, the Capos were never hungry; in fact many of the Capos fared better in the camp
than they had in their entire lives.