Untitled Flashcards Set

Vocabulary 


  1. Anti-liberalism - opposition to democracy and individual freedom

  2. Anti-Semitism - hostility to or prejudice against jewish people

  3. Autarky - economic self-sufficiency

  4. Autobahnen - federal controlled-access highway system in germany (hitler wanted germany to have increased mobility)

  5. Aryan - "pure" german race descended from indo-european peoples, typically with blond hair and blue eyes

  6. Black Shirts - paramilitary group supporting the fascists in italy

  7. Brown Shirts - original nazi paramilitary group in hitler's germany (thugs, not very well-organized)

  8. Corporatism - the control of a state or organization by large interest groups

  9. Coup d’etat - sudden unlawful overthrow of government

  10. Cult of Leadership - group of people with a glorified image of their leader

  11. Dawes Plan - 1924 agreement between the U.S. and germany in which the U.S. lent money to the germans to pay off their war reparations

  12. Dissent - holding or expressing opinions that are different from those commonly or officially held

  13. Duce - leader in italian

  14. Enabling Act - 1933 law instituting mass arrests of communists and allowing the german chancellor to make laws without approval of the reichstag and the president

  15. Eugenics - the science of controlling human reproduction to encourage desirable traits and eliminate undesirable ones

  16. Euthanasia - ending someone's life to relieve their suffering; used in nazi germany to systematically murder children with mental and physical disabilities

  17. Extremism - the holding of extreme political or religious views

  18. Fasces - bundles of wooden rods tied around an axe; symbol of unity and power

  19. Fascism - totalitarian philosophy that glorifies the state and gives it control over every aspect of one's life

  20. Führer - leader in german

  21. Gestapo - internal secret police force of nazi germany, designed to terrorize the population and eliminate dissent

  22. Hitler Youth - organization for training and educating german boys in nazism

  23. Inflation - increase in the price of products, the cost of labour, and interest rates

  24. Lateran Accords - 1929 pacts settling disputes between the catholic church and italian government by assigning them respective roles

  25. League of German Maidens - trained german girls from ages 14-18 in comradeship, domestic duties and motherhood

  26. Lebensborn - program designed to propagate aryan traits by encouraging reproduction among people with desirable characteristics

  27. Lebensraum - 'living room' in german; nazi idea that germans need more land

  28. Mein Kampf - hitler's book ("my struggle"), which outlined his plans for glorification of the german state

  29. Nationalism - strong identification with one's own nation, especially to the detriment of others

  30. National Socialism - nazism; far-right totalitarian ideology

  31. Nuremberg Laws - 1935 laws that prohibited relationships between germans and jews and excluded german jews from reich citizenship

  32. Nazi Party - german fascist political party led by hitler

  33. Oath of Allegiance - members of armed forces and civil servants were required to swear loyalty to hitler rather than the nation

  34. Paramilitary - organization that operates outside of a formal military structure (unofficial military)

  35. Propaganda - biased or misleading information used to support a political cause

  36. Reactionary - opposed to change; conservative

  37. Reich Citizenship Law - one of the nuremberg race laws; forbade people with jewish ancestry from being reich citizens

  38. Reichstag - german parliament

  39. Reichstag Fire Decree - 1933 decree that suspended civil liberties and established severe penalities for offenses such as arson

  40. Reparation Payments - compensation for war damage paid by a defeated state

  41. Rhineland - industrial strip of german land that borders france, belgium and the netherlands; demilitarized after WW1

  42. Right Wing - conservative; favouring free enterprise, private ownership and socially traditional values

  43. Scapegoat - a person or group blamed for someone else's wrongdoings, typically to redirect discontent

  44. Schutzstaffel (SS) - elite paramilitary force of the nazis 

  45. Sterilization - surgical procedure that makes a person or animal unable to produce offspring 

  46. Sturmabteilung (SA) - brown shirts

  47. Treaty of Versailles - treaty that ended WW1

  48. Untermenschen - people deemed 'subhumans' by nazis, including jews and other minorities

  49. War Guilt Clause - part of the treaty of versailles; made germany accept complete responsibility for WW1 and imposed reparations 

  50. Weimar Constitution - 1919 constitution enacted under the weimar republic

  51. Weimar Republic - democratic coalition government formed in germany after WW1

  52. White Rose Society - german resistance group against the nazi regime



People & Events 


  1. Beer Hall Putsch - 1923 failed nazi coup d'etat 

  2. King Victor Emmanuel III - king of italy from 1900-1946; refused to accept the italian government's request to declare martial law and allowed mussolini to form government

  3. Great Depression - economic crisis during the 1930s that led to widespread unemployment, closing of banks and factories, and decline in international trade 

  4. Holocaust - systematic persecution and mass murder of 6 million european jews by the nazis from 1933-1945 (millions of other minorities were also murdered)

  5. President Paul Hindenburg - president of the weimar republic from 1925-1934 who led the imperial german army during WW1; persuaded by hitler into passing the reichstag fire decree 

  6. Adolf Hitler - austrian-born politician who was dictator of nazi germany from 1933-1945

  7. Kristallnacht - 1938 pogrom carried out by the SS and gestapo in which hundreds of synagogues were destroyed and 25,000+ jews were sent to concentration camps

  8. Leilani Muir - victim of the 1928 alberta sexual sterilization act who was the first person to file a successful lawsuit for wrongful sterilization

  9. March on Rome - 1922 mass demonstration by italian black shirts which led to mussolini gaining power 

  10. M.S. St. Louis - german ship carrying 900+ jews from hamburg to cuba; cuba, the U.S. and canada refused to admit the passengers and they returned to europe (most died during the war or in concentration camps)

  11. Benito Mussolini - italian politician who was dictator of fascist italy from 1922-1943

  12. Night of the Long Knives - 1934 purge of SA members and other political opponents by the SS and gestapo

  13. Reichstag Fire - 1933 arson attack on the reichstag building for which the communists were blamed; led to the reichstag fire decree which suspended people's freedoms

  14. Sophie Scholl - member of the white rose society who resisted the nazi regime 



Elements of totalitarian regimes

  • Extensive local, regional, and national organization

  • Forced participation in youth, cultural, professional, and cultural groups

  • Use of scapegoats to redirect popular discontent

  • Censorship of the media

  • Use of secret police to create terror

  • Indoctrination through education


Reasons for the appeal of the Nazi party

  • Strong nationalism, which appealed to people who wanted to restore german pride following its defeat in WW1

  • Strong militarism appealed to germans as they had been led by militaristic prussian figures throughout history 

  • Their promise to restore law and order was favoured because the german people were tired of rampant political violence and instability 


Military restrictions on Germany in the Treaty of Versailles

  • Demilitarization of the rhineland, an area in western germany that bordered france, belgium, and the netherlands

  • Concession of various german territories to other european countries

  • Limit of 100,000 troops in the german army

  • Limit of 15,000 men in the german navy as well as limits on the number of vessels they could use