Oppression, Power, and Cruelty Theme Analysis

As many thinkers have observed, power has the tendency to corrupt any individual, but Levi, the author and a former prisoner at Auschwitz labor camp, notes that this seems even more true when that individual has known what it is like to be powerless. At Auschwitz, some Jewish prisoners are promoted to the status of Kapos, who have authority over the other prisoners and receive special privileges. In his account, the relationships between the Jewish Kapos and their underlings demonstrates the effect that power and one’s position in an oppressive relationship has on one’s psyche, most often breeding cruelty and selfishness.

The Jewish Kapos, elevated to a position of power above their fellow Jewish prisoners, become more tyrannical than even the Germans, demonstrating the manner in which power corrupts and breeds cruelty. Although it would seem that accepting power granted by the Nazis over one’s fellow Jewish prisoners would be an untenable betrayal, Levi notes that “there will certainly be someone who will accept,” since “he will be withdrawn from the common law and will be untouchable,” demonstrating how the enticement of power can lead people to join their oppressors and betray their own comrades and countrymen to alleviate their own suffering. However, the Jewish prisoners instinctively fear a Jewish Kapo, knowing that he will be as cruel as he possibly can be, since “if he is not sufficiently so, someone else, judged more suitable, will take over his post.” This is underscored when Levi is relieved to be transferred to a non-Jewish Kapo’s Kommando, since he knows that “he is not a Kapo who makes trouble, for he is not a Jew and so has no fear of losing his post.” The tyranny of Jewish Kapos against their own brethren powerfully demonstrates how power can corrupt, especially when offered to one who was formerly powerless. Although the Jewish Kapos are hated by the other Jewish prisoners, Levi recognizes that some of their cruelty is also born of their own pain: “[The Kapo’s] capacity for hatred, unfulfilled in the direction of the [Nazis], will double back, beyond all reason, on the oppressed; and he will only be satisfied when he has unloaded on to his underlings the injury received from above.” This further suggests that such power is especially corrupting to those who have been denied power and justice in the past, making them even more cruel in an effort to compensate for their own pain.

Although the Jewish underlings have no power of their own, they, too, become most often cruel and selfish toward each other, suggesting that such great suffering fragments even the oppressed, rather than creating solidarity amongst them. Although, as Levi recognizes, there is an expectation that the oppressed will “unite, if not in resistance, at least in suffering,” he does not witness this himself, stating instead that “a position of rivalry and hatred among the subjected has been brought about.” Rather than binding together in a fight for their mutual survival, the Jewish prisoners “pursue [their] own ends by all possible means.” This is particularly evident in the 10 days after the Germans have abandoned Auschwitz, leaving the sick and invalids to fend for themselves. Levi witnesses former prisoners eagerly waiting for their fellow inmates to die of illness so they might take their food without struggle. As much as the Jewish prisoners fear and detest their German captors, they seem to hate the Kapos just as much, since they have betrayed their comrades and become cruel and violent to lessen their own suffering. However, as Levi recognizes, it seems that most would take such an opportunity given the chance, since their oppression has made them selfish and cruel for the sake of survival. This again suggests that such severe oppression fragments the sufferers, setting them against each other more than their oppressor, against whom they are powerless to contend.

The mutual ruin and fostering of cruelty in both the oppressor and the oppressed suggest that, as Levi observes, no one emerges uncorrupted or untouched from such a wicked, oppressive environment or the contest for power that it creates. Oppression and the imbalance of power, it seems, inevitably breed cruelty and selfishness.