Kapo

American  

[kah-poh] / ˈkɑ poʊ /

Or kapo

noun

1. a Nazi concentration camp prisoner who was given privileges in return for supervising prisoner work gangs: often a common criminal and frequently brutal to fellow inmates.

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Etymology

Origin of Kapo

< German, perhaps shortening of French caporal corporal ²

Example Sentences

Featured on his latest album “201,” the gentle love ballad is elevated with the poetic additions of Colombian singer-rapper Kapo, whose soft-spoken interludes heat up the track.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 31, 2024

A Kapo was a concentration camp inmate who was given privileges for supervising prisoner work gangs.

From Reuters • Jun. 12, 2023

Helm shows that, in Ravensbrück, where the term “Blockova” was used, rather than Kapo, power struggles took place among prisoner factions over who would occupy the Blockova position in each barrack.

From The New Yorker • Mar. 30, 2015

But captain Scott Brown is suspended and midfielder Olivier Kapo and striker Daryl Murphy are out through injury.

From BBC • Jan. 2, 2011

What's more, if I felt anger at that moment, it was not directed at the Kapo but at my father.

From "Night" by Elie Wiesel