News
Webinar: functionary prisoners in KL Auschwitz - 28 May 2025
The International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust invites you to participate in a webinar titled "Functionary Prisoners in KL Auschwitz." The webinar will take place on 28 May 2025 on the Zoom platform and will be translated into English.
The webinar program will include a lecture by Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz, Head of the Research Center at the Auschwitz Museum, focusing on the structure and role of functionary prisoners in the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz. Additionally, there will be a lecture by Andrzej Domagała, author of the newly published book "He Belonged to the Moderately Bad…", in which he will describe the fate of the so-called "First Thirty" – a group of German prisoners brought to the camp by the SS on 20 May 1940, three weeks before the deportation of the first transport of Polish men.
Program:
16:00 | Webinar Opening
16:05-17:35 | Functionary Prisoners in KL Auschwitz - Lecture by Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz, Auschwitz Museum
17:40-18:25 | "He Belonged to the Moderately Bad…" Following the First Thirty Functionary Prisoners of KL Auschwitz – Lecture by Andrzej Domagała, Author of the Book
Participation in the webinar is free of charge. Please submit your registration using the online form by 26 May 2025. After this date, you will receive an email with a link to participate in the meeting. The webinar is intended for adults.
For additional information, please contact .
Functionary prisoners were a distinctive element of the concentration camp system created by Nazi Germany, including Auschwitz. The SS delegated some of its duties to them. Functionaries, such as kapos or block elders, enjoyed numerous privileges: they were exempted from hard labor, had better living conditions, and, most importantly, did not suffer from hunger. In exchange, they often treated the prisoners under their supervision brutally, which earned them recognition from the SS authorities and primarily strengthened their position in the camp hierarchy.
The history of functionary prisoners is the focus of one of the podcasts in the series "On Auschwitz."
