Holocaust Glossery

Allies

A group of 26 nations led by Great Britain, the United States, and

the Soviet Union; opposed Germany, Italy, and Japan in WWII

annihilate

to totally destroy; to make extinct

anti-Semitism

prejudice or discrimination against Jews

Aryan

a term used in Nazi Germany to describe non-Jewish people; blonde hair/blue eyes were the “master race”

concentration camp

prison camps that held large numbers of Jews, minorities,

or other enemies of the state (for labor and detention only)

Dachau (Da-Cow)

the first Nazi concentration camp in Southern Germany -

created in 1933; American troops liberated it in 1945

death camp

Nazi extermination centers where Jews were brought to be killed; Part of Hitlers “Final Solution”

dictatorship

a country or government ruled by a person who has absolute power

displaced persons

people who are forced to leave their home country as a result

of War, persecution, or natural disaster; refugees

Gestapo

secret state police who used brutal methods to investigate resistance to Nazi rule

ghetto

a section of the city where Jews were forced to live, usually with

several families living in one house, before being shipped to camps

killing center

“death factories” - a center for mass murder

persecution

ill-treatment or hostility often due to race or political or religious

beliefs

propaganda

false or semi-true information used by a government, political party, or some other group that was intended to sway the opinions of the population;

Reichstag

the German parliament

Treaty of Versailles

The peace treaty that officially ended World War I between Germany and the allies; signed in 1919 and placed blame on Germany

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

a predominantly Jewish area in the capital of Poland; Starvation, disease, unsanitary conditions, and shootings here led to 45,000 Jews in 194

Weimar Republic

The German republic was established in 1919 after World War I. It was an experiment in democracy from 1919 to 1933 until Hitler came into power in 1933.

World War I

“The Great War” - A brutal international war that began in 1914 and ended in 1918 between the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey) and the Allies (France, Russia, Italy, Japan, Great Britain, and the U.S.)