Bergen-Belsen Officer Structure

Although Bergen-Belsen was both physically and functionally unusual with regard to how the complex came into being and how it was used throughout the war, it was staffed in a conventional manner. By 1939, before the original Belsen camp was even established, the SS implemented a system at Buchenwald that allowed them to staff concentration camps with far fewer official SS members than initially thought, saving significant costs. Such a system involved assigning specific functionary positions to inmates— something eventually termed “prisoner self-administration.” Thus, there were two hierarchies at a complex like Bergen-Belsen— the SS guards, who lived separate from the prisoners and issued orders by proxy, and the funktionshäftlings— who served as the direct point of contact between the camp administrators and prisoners. These funktionschäftlings, also called kapos (short for Kameradschaftpoliezi) (Jewish Visual Library) were then subdivided into various positions— the most important being the lagerältester or the Camp Leader. Each of the sub-camps at Bergen-Belsen had their own lagerältester who would relay orders from the SS officers to the general interred population. Underneath each lagerältester were the blockältesters or Barrack Leaders. Blockältesters interacted daily with prisoners— they issued rations and would be individually responsible for punishing noncompliant prisoners.

This system was one of the contributing factors to the brutality of the concentration camps, and intentionally so. Promotion to a kapo certainly came with nominal benefits— better lodging and rations, but they were also beholden to the orders of the camp commander and thus culpable for the atrocities committed at such camps.

“The moment he becomes a Kapo, he no longer sleeps with them. He is held accountable for the performance of the work, that they are clean, that the beds are well-built. So, he must drive his men. The moment we become dissatisfied with him, he is no longer Kapo, he's back to sleeping with his men. And he knows that he will be beaten to death by them the first night.” (Himmler)

As noted by the above quote from Heinrich Himmler—being stripped of the rank of kapo would most certainly result in reprisal from fellow prisoners. Thus, the incentive for kapos was to be uncompromisingly cruel in the pursuit of total compliance— they were placed in positions where only behavior that mimicked their SS officers would ensure their continued survival.

            Although this system was used at many camps, the unique layout of Bergen-Belsen meant that to see an SS officer around the camp was a rare sight. British prisoner of war Harold Osmond Le Druillenec went on record as saying, “I did not see the SS men in the vicinity of my compound during my stay there. In the concentration camps - I have seen three - in every case the SS live in a very well protected compound outside the actual concentration area.” (Le Druillenec) Thus, the day-to-day governing of the camp fell squarely on the shoulders of the kapos. Le Druillenec noted this as well— “The discipline and administration of the concentration camp itself is deputed to prisoners. That is the viciousness of this concentration camp to have prisoners in charge of prisoners.” (Le Druillenec) Ultimately this system, while initially chosen for its financial benefit to the Third Reich and its ability to incentivize cruelty, would have a potentially unintended effect by the war’s end— because the SS members that ran these concentration camps played only a fleeting role in the day-to-day operations, proving culpability, especially for the lower-ranking SS members would be difficult. Conversely, the kapos, who were prisoners themselves were the subject of intense investigation with regard to mistreatment of prisoners during the Belsen trials— this muddying of the waters was a direct result of this unique concentration camp leadership structure.