Interwar Period, Totalitarian Regimes, and the Holocaust

Vocabulary flashcards generated from lecture notes covering key political terms, totalitarian regimes in Russia and Germany, and the Holocaust.

Treaty of Versailles

The peace document that officially ended WWI, between Germany and the Allied Powers. Germany took full responsibility for the war, socially, politically and economically.

Patriotism

Having love or pride for one's country

Kathe Kollowitz

A german artist whose works most often depicted the poverty and hunger of the working class in Germany

John Maynard Keynes

An important English economist

Liberalism

A political philosophy advocating for individual freedom, a democratic government, and a limited government

Impoverishment

being very poor; having reduced quality and/or strength

Nationalism

Having pride or too great pride in one's country

Contextualize

To add background information to a piece of information

Totalitarianism

A form of government where a dictator controls absolutely everything, and keeps their power through terror, technology, and propaganda

Authoritarianism

A form of government that is maintained by political repression and suppresses any enemies or challengers of the state through violence. It might have democratic institutions but those are usually either fake or simply don't exist.

Political spectrum

A system to categorize different forms of governments in relation to each other.

Ideology

A set of beliefs reflecting an individual group’s needs and what the government's role is when promoting them.

Fascism

A totalitarian system that promotes a dictatorship that is on the far right of the political spectrum, along with a strong ideology of nationalism

Communism

A social, political, and economic system that promotes total equality, everything is owned by the state and there are no classes or higher/lower ranking people

Revolutionary

fast, violently developing forward

Reactionary

fast, violently developing backward

6 Features of Totalitarian Regimes

Single leader with absolute power, terror, government control of the media, strong nationalism, emphasis on military power, government control of the economy

Kim Jong Un “Footsteps”

Propaganda made to support Kim Jong Un’s rise to power

Collectivization

Where all farms were seized by the government and made into new, larger farms which all the previous farm owners had to work on collectively.

Scapegoat

Someone who takes the blame for something they did not do, often caused by the person blaming them for the action

Command economy

An economic system where a central government controls all of the production, distribution, and pricing of all goods

Kulak

a “rich peasant” farmers who did not respond well to Stalin's 5 year plans, so Stalin blamed the failure of the 5 year plans on them and created an Us vs Them ideology between the rest of Russia and the kulaks.

Hyperinflation

When the prices of everything in an economic system rise so fast the unit of money loses value by the day

Mein kampf

“My struggle/battle”, Hitlers motto he used while he was in jail; the struggle Germany faced after the Treaty of Versailles and their willingness to end it

Holodomor

“hunger-extermination” one of the largest famines caused by all the disruption from collectivization; when Stalin isolated many of the kulaks in a part of Ukraine and cut off all of their food supply, taking whatever they grew; famine that killed 3.3 million people

Us vs them

An ideology where a select group of people are illustrated to seem like the enemy to a larger group, often ending up with the select group completely isolated both socially and physically

Weimar Republic

Germany's democratic republic, which existed before Hitler took over

Olga Balykina/Pavel Morozov

Heroes fabricated by Stalin’s propaganda during collectivization, they were seen as heroes for turning in their own families.

Stahkhovinist movement

A propaganda campaign by Stalin sharing tales of ordinary workers accomplishing incredible feats.

5 year plan

Stalins plans that were meant to increase production quotas in every area of the economy, to make Russia equal to America

Gulag

Camps where Stalin first sent his political enemies, then anyone deemed an enemy of the state. Prisoners were forced to work extreme hours under horrible conditions, often until they died.

NKVD

The soviet secret police

Gleichsalting

The process of Nazification in which Hitler took over all aspects of German Society

Night of Long Knives

A massive political purge in which Hitler killed anyone who posed a threat to his power, which included political enemies

Stormtroopers/SA

Hitlers secret police, who inflicted his reign through violence, often killing his enemies and eventually rounding up Jewish people to send to ghettoes and concentration camps

Great Purge

When Stalin got rid of anyone who posed a threat to the party, first political enemies, then people who resisted his rule, and eventually anyone who was reported for being an enemy, even if they had never committed a crime. Convicts were sent to the gulags

Reichstag Fire

When the German reichstag (main democratic assembly) burned down

Enabling Act

The law that allowed Hitler to pass laws without the approval of the Reichstag

Propaganda

Ideas, facts, and allegations spread through media to benefit ones cause

Socialist Realism

A propaganda style that includes optimism, realism, a central hero, and support for the state

Nuremberg rallies

The annual rally of the Nazi party in Germany, a massive display of military force and patriotism

Cult of personality

When a leader is made to look all powerful, wise, even god-like, in order to stay in control

Hitler Youth

Children's groups organized to support the Nazi party

Pioneers/Komsol(USSR)

Children's groups organized to support stalin

Prejudice

To have a bias against someone or something that is unfair or unjust

Antisemitism

Prejudice against people of the Jewish religion

Imperialism

extending a nation's power through military action or the control of other territories

Denial of Defeat

Many people in Germany had such strong nationalism that they couldn't believe Germany had lost, they thought something else had forced Germany to lose

Holocaust (USHMM definition)

The systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of 6 million European jews by the nazi German regime and its allies and collaborators. It was an evolving process that took place throughout Europe.

Bias

Favoring something over others

Objectivity

Basing judgements, ideas, and statements on facts and data rather than personal belief

Inevitability

When something cannot be stopped

Ghettoes/Ghettoization

Small, blocked off sections of cities where jewish people were forced to live

Kristallnacht

When Nazi officials told jewish citizens to attack jewish shops, synagogues and businesses over one week to show support for Hitler

Nuremberg Laws

The laws made by Hitler that defined what a Jewish person was, and what they were allowed to do; defined Jewish people as no longer citizens of Germany

Concentration Camps

Camps which held thousands of Jewish prisoners, where they worked for many hours under harsh conditions, usually until they died

Death Camps

Where Jews who couldn't work were sent, to either be cremated or killed in a gas chamber

Death Marches

When Jews were evacuated from concentration camps and forced to march 30 or more miles in the freezing cold winter; where many jewish people lost their life towards the end of the holocaust

Final Solution

Getting rid of every single non-German from Germany, making Germany pure again

Turning Point

Kristallnacht, the point which marks the start of the holocaust

Pogrom

A violent attack against a minority group, often against Jewish people

Ponar Yitskhok Rudshevski

A jewish boy who kept a diary during the holocaust, that was later published

6 million jews, 11 million citizens

How many people lost their lives in the Holocaust