WWI and Holocaust Vocab

Annex

A building added on to a main building When a country adds territory

Anti-Semitism

Hostility of prejudice against jewish people

Aryan

A mythical, blonde haired, blue eyed race of people that claimed they were superior to other races.

Concentration Camp

A prison camp for people that have not committed a crime but society feels must be separated from the general population.

Discrimination

The unjust treatment of people based upon ethnic background, age

Fascism

A dictatorship in which the nation is prioritized over the individual people and there freedoms.

Fuhrer

Leader in German. The title Adolf hitler gave himself.

Genocide

The murder of a group of people based upon ethnicity or other perceived difference with the aim of destroying that group

Gestapo

The nazi secret police

Ghetto

Sections of cities in which Nazis forced the entire Jewish population of the surrounding area to live.

Holocaust

The murder of approximately 12 million people by the Nazi government is the 1930s and 1940s.

Kristallnacht

An organized pogrom against German Jews during the night of November 9-10 1938.

Lebensraum

“Living sace” The Nazi belief that the German people need more territory in which to live comfortably (to be taken from other countries)

Nazi

The National Socialist German Workers Party. Adolf Hitler’s political party.

Pogrom

Organized acts of violence against Jewish communities.

Prejudice

Prejudging people without sufficient knowledge. Often based on stereotypes.

Ration

A fixed amount of something allowed to a person during a time of shortage.

Scapegoat

A person blamed for something that they are not responsible for.

Segregation

Keeping a person (s) apart from others

SS- Schutzstaffel

Nazi (as opposed to German) soldiers. The SS carried out the Holocaust.

Stereotype

An oversimplified belief about a group of people without taking consideration individual differences.

Reich (Third)

Nazi Germany (third empire)

Wehrmacht

The german army

Authoritarian

A person, group, or government, that demands strict, unquestioning obedience to their rules.

Democracy

A system of government where power belongs to the people, allowing them to rule directly or through elected representatives.

Extremist

A person who has very intense views and takes actions that they are far beyond what most people consider reasonable or normal.

Hyperinflation

An out of control economic situation where prices for goods and services rise incredibly fast.

Trenches

Long narrow ditches. Soldiers in WWI faced off in them faced off against each other in  them for protection.

Stalemate

When neither side of a conflict has an advantage.

Mobilize

Getting an army ready to fight by calling up soldiers, getting weapons and equipment in place, and preparing for battle.

Western Front:

The parts of Europe, during WWI & WWII, west of Germany where wars were fought.

Cease-Fire:

A formal agreement between countries to stop fighting  (usually while a formal peace agreement is being negotiated)

Fascism

A dictatorship in which the nation is prioritized over individual people and their freedoms.

Lost Generation:

The generation of young men that were killed, or in other ways damaged in fighting WWI.

Coniferous

Trees that produce pine cones

Deciduous

Trees that shed their leaves each year

Fauna

The animals of a particular region

Fjord

A long, narrow, deep inlet in the ocean

Flora

The plants of a particular region

Glacier

A slow moving river of ice

Plateau

An area of relatively level ground at high elevation

Taiga

A band of coniferous (pine) forest in northern latitudes just south of the tundra.

Tundra

Vast treeless lands found in the arctic.