MICHAEL BENEDIKT
THE KAPOS;
OR, ARNOLDT AND
LILI
MORGENSTERN
(Nazi Germany, 1938)
Kapo: A Jewish prisoner in one
cif
the many infamous Nazi concentration camps who was,
Jor one reason or another, given "speciaL privileges"-including at first (before the nature
of
those camps became clear to outsiders) the recruiting oj new prisoners (or "guests'" as they
were caned) on a temporary, 50-called "triaL basis"-Dictionary oJWorLd
Wilr
II
And so the Kapos came to our little town, let out around dinnertime
With some soldiers, from that crazy Nazi camp;
&
they rounded us up,
promising that we two could be Kapos, too,
In those first "Gray Announcements" which they'd printed to hand out
-If we rendered ourselves up to join them, for even just a
"trial visit,"
&
"At Once, Early, and Without a Fight"
-For otherwise,just as sure as we were born, they said,
late some night, maybe even close to midnight,
The muffled roar of convoy trucks would come
When we weren't dressed,
&
it was inconvenient
-&
My husband, Arnoldt, then took me aside,
&
told me in a whisper,
that yes, surrendering for a "trial visit" was a danm sight
Better, than being awoken late one night, looking into a muzzle
Or a gunsight; or worse yet, maybe being hunted down
when we had both just bedded down
-Hiding maybe, terrified, in our basement behind the wine-rack, in that
old broken bathtub
