FOUR : Ka-Be

Ka-Be, recognized as the infirmary of the concentration camp, it is also recognized as ‘sanctuary’ to the prisoners. Concentration camps are notoriously well known for the harsh environments and risk factors that often result with the loss of life. Apart from these set conditions, Ka-Be is to most prisoners, a place that enables them to ‘truly’ rest and also a tremendous threat to some individuals.

Those who are injured during their time of labor are often sent to the Ka-Be. Because the German SS soldiers believe strictly that Jewish prisoners are economically a benefit, they sometimes have a rudimentary system of care so as to keep the Jews to a certain condition where they can profit from them, but at the same time, abuse them to keep them a ‘lower race’.

During the 4th chapter of the book, it made me realize how the conditions of the concentration camps were devastating to the prisoners, even the Ka-Be. The reason this thought had come passed me is because of the fact that even the so-called ‘haven’ of the concentration camp may result in a two-way deal. Primo Levi portrays the patients and their disorders and injuries that come into the Ka-Be. He also explains how the healed end up yet again into the labor force. Primo Levi, however, also explains the counter-result of entering the Ka-Be, ‘selections’. This particular explanation intrigued me. The reason is that with the prisoners, with the hope of a few weeks rest and relinquishing their pain, they enter the Ka-Be only to realize they are later chosen for selections, on to the gas chambers and crematorium. This impacted me and made me thought of how desperate those chosen for death would have been when in fact, they had hoped for peaceful rest.

On the other hand, however, it also impacted me to see how thankful the occupants of the camps can be to minor conditions of being able to sleep for most of the day with food, even though it lasted for just a couple of weeks or months.

That part of the chapter made me feel about my stay in Thailand with the H4H mission trip team. This trip made me feel how ignorant I was to my living conditions in Korea after a course of 10 days living inside a tent, and working in the sun for the majority of the day. Through this experience, I understood what physical labor was and the fact that I could not runaway from the labor.