Holocaust Vocabulary

Question 1

antisemitism

Answer 1

hostility toward or hatred of Jews as a religious or ethnic group, often accompanied by social, economic, or political discrimination.

Question 2

Aryan

Answer 2

Term used in Nazi Germany to refer to non-Jewish and non-Roma (Gypsy) Caucasians. Northern Europeans with especially “Nordic” features such as blonde hair and blue eyes were considered by so-called race scientists to be the most superior of Aryans, members of a “master race.”

Question 3

Auschwitz

Answer 3

the largest Nazi concentration camp complex, located 37 miles west of Krakow, Poland. The Auschwitz main camp (Auschwitz I) was established in 1940. In 1942, a killing center was established at Auschwitz-Birkenau (Auschwitz II). In 1941, Auschwitz-Monowitz (Auschwitz III) was established as a forced-labor camp.

Question 4

Birkenau

Answer 4

Nazi camp also known as Auschwitz II (see Auschwitz above), Birkenau contained systematic mass killing operations. It also housed thousands of concentration camp prisoners deployed at forced labor.

Question 5

Buchenwald

Answer 5

a large concentration camp established in 1937 by the Nazis. It was located in north-central Germany, near the city of Weimar.

Question 6

Concentration camp

Answer 6

Throughout German-occupied Europe, the Nazis established camps to detain and, if necessary, kill so-called enemies of the state, including Jews, Gypsies, political and religious opponents, members of national resistance movements, homosexuals, and others.

Question 7

Crematorium

Answer 7

a facility containing a furnace for reducing dead bodies to ashes by burning.

Question 8

Euthanasia

Answer 8

In Nazi usage, however, “euthanasia” was a euphemistic term for a clandestine program which targeted for systematic killing institutionalized mentally and physically disabled patients, without the consent of themselves or their families.

Question 9

“Final Solution”

Answer 9

the Nazi plan to annihilate the European Jews.

Question 10

Gestapo

Answer 10

the German Secret State Police, which was under SS control. It was responsible for investigating political crimes and opposition activities.

Question 11

Ghetto

Answer 11

a confined area of a city in which members of a minority group are compelled to live.

Question 12

Hitler, Adolf

Answer 12

(1889–1945) Führer (leader) of the National Socialist (Nazi) movement (1921–1945); Reich Chancellor of Germany 1933–1945; Führer of the German Nation (1934–1945).

Question 13

Holocaust

Answer 13

The Holocaust was the state-sponsored systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945. Jews were the primary victims. Six million were murdered.

Question 14

Kapo

Answer 14

a concentration camp prisoner selected to oversee other prisoners on labor details.

Question 15

Killing Centers

Answer 15

The Nazis established killing centers for efficient mass murder. Unlike concentration camps, which served primarily as detention and labor centers, killing centers (also referred to as “extermination camps” or “death camps”) were almost exclusively “death factories.”

Question 16

Kristallnacht

Answer 16

usually referred to as the “Night of Broken Glass.” It is the name given to the violent anti-Jewish pogrom View This Term in the Glossary of November 9 and 10, 1938.

Question 17

Mengele, Josef

Answer 17

(1911–1979) SS physician assigned to Auschwitz; notorious for conducting so-called medical experiments on inmates, especially twins and dwarfs.

Question 18

Red Army

Answer 18

the army of the Soviet Union.

Question 19

“Resettlement”

Answer 19

a Nazi euphemism for deportation and murder.

Question 20

SS

Answer 20

German abbreviation for Schutzstaffel (literally, protection squads). A paramilitary formation of the Nazi party initially created to serve as bodyguards to Hitler and other Nazi leaders.

Question 21

synagogue

Answer 21

in Judaism, a house of worship and learning.

Question 22

Weimar Republic

Answer 22

Name for the parliamentary democracy established in Germany from 1919–1933, following the collapse of Imperial Germany and preceding Nazi rule.

Question 23

Yellow Star

Answer 23

a badge featuring the Star of David View This Term in the Glossary (a symbol of Judaism) used by the Nazi regime during the Holocaust as a method of visibly identifying Jews.