History (Semester 2- Hitler and Life in Nazi Germany)

NSDAP (Nazi Party)

Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers' Party); Hitler's political party built on nationalism, antisemitism, and total loyalty to Hitler.

Chancellor

The head of the German government (similar to a Prime Minister), appointed by the President. Hitler became Chancellor in January 1933.

Reichstag

The German parliament and the building where it met. Its fire in February 1933 gave Hitler the excuse to suspend civil rights.

Reichstag Fire Decree

Emergency decree issued by President Hindenburg on 28 February 1933 under Article 48. Suspended civil liberties and allowed the arrest of political opponents without trial.

Civil liberties

Basic rights and freedoms including free speech, free press, freedom of assembly, and protection from arrest without trial. Suspended by the Reichstag Fire Decree.

Communists

Members of the KPD (Communist Party of Germany), Hitler's main political rivals. Blamed for the Reichstag Fire and targeted for arrest and persecution.

Enabling Act

Law passed in March 1933 giving Hitler's cabinet the power to make laws without the approval of the Reichstag or President, even if they broke the constitution. The legal foundation of Hitler's dictatorship.

Dictatorship

A system of government where one person or party holds total, unchecked power without free elections or legal opposition.

Trade Unions

Organisations representing workers' rights and interests. Banned in 1933 and replaced with the German Labour Front (DAF), removing workers' rights to strike or negotiate wages.

Führer

German for "leader." The title Hitler adopted in August 1934 after Hindenburg's death, combining the roles of President and Chancellor into one supreme position.

Reich

German for "empire" or "realm." Nazi Germany was officially called the Third Reich.

Totalitarian State

A state where the government seeks total control over politics, society, the economy, education, culture, and private life through a single party and no legal opposition.

SA (Stormtroopers/Brownshirts)

Sturmabteilung; the Nazi Party's original paramilitary force used to intimidate opponents and enforce Nazi control. Its leadership was purged in 1934.

Ernst Röhm

Leader of the SA. Wanted a "second revolution" and for the SA to replace the regular army. Executed during the Night of the Long Knives in 1934.

SS (Schutzstaffel)

"Protection Squadron"; elite Nazi paramilitary organisation led by Heinrich Himmler. Responsible for security, concentration camps, and later the Holocaust.

Night of the Long Knives

Purge carried out by the SS on Hitler's orders on 30 June 1934. Ernst Röhm and other SA leaders were killed, removing a major threat to Hitler's power.

Purge

The violent removal of people considered disloyal or a threat from an organisation or political movement.

Gestapo

Geheime Staatspolizei ("Secret State Police"); used surveillance, informants, and arrest without trial to eliminate opposition.

Paramilitary

A uniformed organisation structured like a military force but operating outside the official army, such as the SA and SS.

Concentration Camp

A prison camp where the Nazis imprisoned political opponents and other "undesirables" without trial, used forced labour, and later carried out mass murder.

Propaganda

Information, ideas, or images deliberately spread to influence public opinion and promote a cause. The Nazis used radio, newspapers, films, posters, rallies, and speeches.

Joseph Goebbels

Nazi Minister of Propaganda who controlled radio, newspapers, films, and the press to build support for Hitler and spread Nazi ideology.

Anti-Semitism

Prejudice, hatred, or discrimination against Jewish people. A central part of Nazi ideology used to justify persecution and genocide.

Indoctrination

The process of teaching people to accept beliefs without questioning them. Used through schools, the Hitler Youth, and propaganda.

Lebensraum

German for "living space." The Nazi belief that Germany should expand into Eastern Europe to provide land for the German ("Aryan") people.

Aryan race

A false, pseudo-scientific racial concept used by the Nazis to describe a supposedly "superior" race, mainly northern Europeans. Used to justify racism and persecution.

Hitler Youth

Hitlerjugend; the Nazi youth organisation for boys aged 14–18 (with equivalent groups for younger children and girls). Used to indoctrinate young people and prepare boys for military service.