Kapo (documentary film)
Encyclopedia
Kapo is an Israeli documentary film
about the Jewish kapos
who collaborated with the Nazis
in the concentration camps during World War II
. The film was written, directed, and produced by Dan Setton, with Tor Ben Mayor and Danny Paran in conjunction with Spiegel TV
of Germany
and Rai 3
of Italy. It was the first Israeli film to win an International Emmy Award, which it received in the category of Best Documentary.
, but he died in prison before the sentence could be carried out.
Paran added that he was shocked to learn about this. Though he was the child of Holocaust survivors, he had always regarded the kapos as victims and found the effort to judge them to be "a total distortion of reality." He and Setton had no intention of judging them in their film. Paran said that, "In our view, the people guilty for this horror are, of course, the Germans and not the Jews. Israeli journalist Ilana Dayan
, on whose show the film was first screened, later said, "This is not a film that judges or analyzes the phenomenon. This is a film that introduces the phenomenon." Nevertheless, the stories often shocked the film's creators. Setton says that he suffered from insomnia
long after he finished the film.
The plan was to combine eyewitness testimonies and interviews with legal documents describing the prosecution of kapos for collaboration with the Nazis. They also interviews Haim Cohn, a justice on the Supreme Court of Israel
, who had tried a former kapo in the 1960s. In their search for interviews, the filmmakers they travelled around the world, looking for people who were prepared to admit that they were kapos in the concentration camps. Many of the prospective interviewees slammed the phone down on them.
Others were more willing to tell their side of the story. In Australia
, they met with Magda, who headed a subcamp of 30,000 Jewish women in Auschwitz. She claimed that she only did good to the prisoners, and that if she beat them or punished them, it was only to save their lives—"not to exterminate them."
, Setton said that the younger members of the audience were pleased that someone had dared to broach the subject, while older audience members were outraged. Only a censored version of the film was aired on German television in fear of a hostile reaction by the viewing audience. In France, opposition to the film was so severe that La 25e Heure, the show on which it was screened, was taken off the air.
Nevertheless, the film received the International Emmy Award for Best Documentary Film in 2000. It was the highest honor ever received by an Israeli film until then.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
about the Jewish kapos
Kapo (concentration camp)
A kapo was a prisoner who worked inside German Nazi concentration camps during World War II in any of certain lower administrative positions. The official Nazi word was Funktionshäftling, or "prisoner functionary", but the Nazis commonly referred to them as kapos.- Etymology :The origin of "kapo"...
who collaborated with the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
in the concentration camps during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The film was written, directed, and produced by Dan Setton, with Tor Ben Mayor and Danny Paran in conjunction with Spiegel TV
Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Rai 3
Rai Tre
Rai 3 is part of RAI, the Italian government broadcasting agency, which owns other channels, such as Rai 1 and Rai 2 . Rai 3 first started transmissions on December 15, 1979. In the eighties it was under the predominant political influence of the Italian Communist Party...
of Italy. It was the first Israeli film to win an International Emmy Award, which it received in the category of Best Documentary.
The making of Kapo
Paran and Setton had collaborated in the past on a number of Holocaust-themed films, including The Hunt for Adolf Eichmann (1994), Mengele: The Final Account (1995), Revenge (1996), and In the Fuehrer's Shadow (1997) about Martin Bormann. Setton later said that they were looking for a topic for one last film about the Holocaust before they moved on to another topic, when they came across an article by Amos Nevo in the newspaper Yediot Ahronot Paran added that he was shocked to learn that in the early days of Israel, Holocaust survivors persecuted the kapos that they identified, and that dozens of trials were held against them. In one instance, a kapo was even sentenced to death under the same law that would later be used to prosecute Adolf EichmannAdolf Eichmann
Adolf Otto Eichmann was a German Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust...
, but he died in prison before the sentence could be carried out.
Paran added that he was shocked to learn about this. Though he was the child of Holocaust survivors, he had always regarded the kapos as victims and found the effort to judge them to be "a total distortion of reality." He and Setton had no intention of judging them in their film. Paran said that, "In our view, the people guilty for this horror are, of course, the Germans and not the Jews. Israeli journalist Ilana Dayan
Ilana Dayan
Ilana Dayan-Orbach is an Israeli investigative journalist, anchorwoman, and attorney. She is best known as host of the investigative television program Uvda on the Israeli Channel 2.-Biography:...
, on whose show the film was first screened, later said, "This is not a film that judges or analyzes the phenomenon. This is a film that introduces the phenomenon." Nevertheless, the stories often shocked the film's creators. Setton says that he suffered from insomnia
Insomnia
Insomnia is most often defined by an individual's report of sleeping difficulties. While the term is sometimes used in sleep literature to describe a disorder demonstrated by polysomnographic evidence of disturbed sleep, insomnia is often defined as a positive response to either of two questions:...
long after he finished the film.
The plan was to combine eyewitness testimonies and interviews with legal documents describing the prosecution of kapos for collaboration with the Nazis. They also interviews Haim Cohn, a justice on the Supreme Court of Israel
Supreme Court of Israel
The Supreme Court is at the head of the court system and highest judicial instance in Israel. The Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem.The area of its jurisdiction is all of Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme...
, who had tried a former kapo in the 1960s. In their search for interviews, the filmmakers they travelled around the world, looking for people who were prepared to admit that they were kapos in the concentration camps. Many of the prospective interviewees slammed the phone down on them.
Others were more willing to tell their side of the story. In Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, they met with Magda, who headed a subcamp of 30,000 Jewish women in Auschwitz. She claimed that she only did good to the prisoners, and that if she beat them or punished them, it was only to save their lives—"not to exterminate them."
Responses to the film
The responses to the film were mixed, among Jewish and non-Jewish audiences alike. At a screening before a Jewish audience in MunichMunich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Setton said that the younger members of the audience were pleased that someone had dared to broach the subject, while older audience members were outraged. Only a censored version of the film was aired on German television in fear of a hostile reaction by the viewing audience. In France, opposition to the film was so severe that La 25e Heure, the show on which it was screened, was taken off the air.
Nevertheless, the film received the International Emmy Award for Best Documentary Film in 2000. It was the highest honor ever received by an Israeli film until then.