Holocaust

Aryan

Refers to groups of people who spoke European and Asian languages; in the 19th and early 20th centuries, became a mythical race claimed to be superior.

Antisemitism

Prejudice against or hatred of Jews.

Auschwitz

A complex of 3 camps located in German-occupied Poland, including a killing center.

Concentration Camp

Camp where people were incarcerated indefinitely by the Nazi regime, perceived as security threats and targeted for murder or exploitation.

Euthanasia

The systematic murder of people.

Fascism

A social/political ideology prioritizing the state over personal freedoms.

Final Solution

The deliberate, planned mass murder of European Jews occurring between 1941 and 1945.

Forced Marches

Marches organized by SS officers to transport prisoners on foot out of concentration camps.

Genocide

Violent crimes committed with the intent to destroy the existence of a specific group.

Gentile

A person who is not Jewish.

Ghettos

Enclosed districts isolating Jews from the non-Jewish population and other Jewish communities.

Holocaust

Term used to describe the systematic torture and murder of about six million European Jews and millions of others by the Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945.

Josef Mengele

SS doctor responsible for conducting pseudo-science experiments on Jews, twins, and the physically and mentally disabled.

Killing Center

Camps designed solely for killing Jews as part of the Final Solution, including Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Kristallnacht

Pogrom where Jewish businesses and synagogues were looted and destroyed; means 'Night of the Broken Glass'.

Kommando

German word for detachment, often referring to a group of concentration camp prisoners at forced labor.

Musselmann

Slang term for a prisoner who has given up the will to live.

Nazi

Nationalist Socialist German Workers’ Political Party responsible for the persecution and extermination of Jews.

Nuremberg Laws

A set of German laws passed to strip Jews of their rights as German citizens.

Pogrom

An organized, state-sponsored attack on a group of people.

Prejudice

A preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.

Propaganda

False or partly false information used by governments to influence public opinion.

Selection

Process of separating prisoners based on their ability to work upon arrival at concentration camps.

Stereotype

A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

Swastika

An ancient symbol once used to ward off evil spirits, adopted by the Nazis as their official symbol.

SS

The German army's elite guard, organized to serve as Hitler’s personal protectors and administer concentration camps.

T4 Program

Nazi Euthanasia Program aimed at killing people with mental and physical disabilities to 'cleanse' the Aryan race.

Yellow Star of David

Symbol that all Jews were ordered to wear on their clothing to denote that they were Jewish.