Children of the Holocaust Vocabulary List
NOTE: Only words in red need to be learned; words in black are here simply to aid in comprehension.
agonizing (p. 17) - adjective: very mentally or physically painful
OTHER FORMS: agony (noun), agonizingly (adv.)
SYNONYMS: cruel, excruciating, harsh, grievous, torturous
ANTONYMS: gratifying, pleasing, sweet
Example sentence from the book: “For the parents, the decision to send a child away without knowing where he or she would end up – or
whether they would ever see the child again – was agonizing.”
anti-Semitism or antisemitism (p. 7) – noun: prejudice or discrimination against Jewish people
OTHER FORMS: anti-Semitic (adj.), anti-Semite (noun)
SYNONYMS: racism, discrimination, prejudice
ANTONYMS: fairness, impartiality, tolerance
Example sentence from the book: “Anti-Semitism, or prejudice against Jewish people, is one of the defining characteristics of Adolf Hitler
and the Nazi Party.”
atrocity (p. ) - noun: a horrible act; something that is atrocious or horrible, cruel, barbaric, horrific, or appalling; An appalling or
atrocious act, situation, or object, especially an act of unusual or illegal cruelty inflicted by an armed force on civilians or
prisoners.
OTHER FORMS: atrocious (adj.), atrociousness (noun), atrocities (pl.)
SYNONYMS: horror, awfulness, atrociousness, gruesomeness, hideousness, repulsiveness
ANTONYMS: goodness, righteousness, virtuousness
Example sentence from the book: “Jeff Cohen’s story of a Holocaust survivor, the play entitled The Soap Myth, is determined to
preserve his memories of a particular Nazi atrocity, (but it) feels a bit more like a discussion than a drama.” – from The New
York Times theater reviews, April 24, 2012
boycott (p.7) - noun & verb (to) boycott: organized refusal to do business with a person or a group as a form of protest
OTHER FORMS: (to) boycott, boycotts, boycotting, boycotted
SYNONYMS: a protest or (to) protest, embargo is a boycott imposed by a government
ANTONYMS: frequent, patronize, shop at, sponsor
Example sentence from the book: “On April 1, 1933, the Nazis ordered a boycott of Jewish businesses in Germany.”
discrimination (p. ) - noun: unjust treatment based on a person’s race, religion, gender, sexual preference, or age
OTHER FORMS: (to) discriminate, -s, -ing, -ed
SYNONYMS: favoritism, racism, other –isms
ANTONYMS: tolerance, openness, impartiality
Example sentence from the book: “Prejudice or discrimination against Jewish people is referred to as Antisemitism.”
(to) emigrate / emigration (p.11) - verb: to leave a country to settle in another country permanently
OTHER FORMS: emigration (noun)
SYNONYMS: relocate, resettle, migrate
ANTONYMS: immigrate
Example sentence from the book: “But emigration in the late 1930’s became more difficult. Some Jews wanted to leave Germany and its
neighboring countries but were unable to.”
(to) evacuate (p. ) - verb: to move away from an area or to empty a place or thing; from Latin vacuus (empty) + ex
OTHER FORMS: -s, -ing, -ed, evacuation (noun), evacuator (noun)
SYNONYMS: clear, vacate, void
ANTONYMS: fill, load
Example sentence from the book: “Many Jewish parents realized that their children’s only chance for survival would be through
evacuation to Great Britain with the Kindertransport.”
ghetto (p. 26) - noun: small districts inside a city where Jewish people were forced to live under terrible conditions; an area in a
European city in which Jews were formerly required to live beginning in the Middle Ages; modern definition: A usually poor
section of a city inhabited primarily by people of the same race, religion, or social background, often because of
discrimination.
OTHER FORMS: -SYNONYMS: city quarter
ANTONYMS: -Example sentence from the book: “On September 21, 1939, Nazi officials devised a new plan for dealing with the Jews in Poland. Many
would be rounded up and forced to live in ghettos.”
(to) harbor / harboring (p. 32) - verb: to give shelter to
OTHER FORMS: harborer (noun), -s, -ing, -ed
SYNONYMS: shelter, conceal, hide, lodge, take in
ANTONYMS: eject, evict, expose
Example sentence from the book: “The punishment for harboring Jews was well known. At best, those found guilty would be sent to
concentration camps. At worst, they would be killed immediately.
(to) immigrate/ immigrated (p.12) - verb: to settle in a new country
OTHER FORMS: (verb endings) -s, -ing, -ed, or immigration (noun)
SYNONYMS: move
ANTONYMS: emigrate
Example sentence from the book: “Many countries had strict immigration policies that limited the number of people allowed in.”
infraction (p. 44) - noun: an act of violating something
OTHER FORMS:
SYNONYMS: violation, infringement, transgression, breach
ANTONYMS: noninfringement, observance (of a rule)
Example sentence from the book: “The worst part of the day for people in the camps was roll call…Not only did it mean standing at
attention for hours on end, but it was also when prisoners were punished for some slight infraction, or simply terrorized at random.”
integrated (p. ) - adjective: combined, especially in regards to the combination of races in society; integration = acceptance as equals
into society of persons of different groups (as races)
OTHER FORMS: integration (noun), integrator (noun), (to) integrate, -s, -ing, -ed
SYNONYMS: incorporated, merged, unified
ANTONYMS: segregated, unintegrated
Example sentence from the book: “Some children who were relocated to Great Britain with the Kindertransport were integrated into their
new families and soon began to feel at home; others were not as welcomed.”
(to) liberate / liberated (p.51 &52) - verb: to set free
OTHER FORMS: (verb endings) -s, -ing, -ed / liberation (noun) / liberator (noun – one who liberates) / liberated (adj.)
SYNONYMS: emancipated, freed, released, unfettered, discharged
ANTONYMS: confined, fettered, constrained
Example sentence from the book: “Like many liberated prisoners, Tova and her mother did not know what to do with their freedom.”
(to) maim / maimed (p. 4) - verb: to injure or disfigure badly
OTHER FORMS: -s, -ing, -ed / maimer (noun) one who maims others / maimed (adj.)
SYNONYMS: cripple, disable, incapacitate, lame, mutilate
ANTONYMS: cure, heal, rehabilitate, repair
Example sentence from the book: “Prisoners were beaten and subjected to painful experiments in which they could be maimed or killed.”
(to) ostracize / ostracized (p.9) - verb: to force to leave or refuse to include by ostracism (ostracism= banishing or excluding
from a group)
Word History The ancient Greek word ostrakon had several meanings, including "a shell" and "a fragment of pottery." Such
pottery fragments were used in ancient Athens as ballots in a particular kind of popular vote. Once a year the citizens
would gather in the marketplace to decide who, if anyone, should be forced to go away temporarily for the good of the city.
Each voter wrote a name on an ostrakon. If enough votes were cast against one person, then that person was sent away
from the city, or ostracized.
OTHER FORMS: (verb forms) -s, -ing, -ed, ostracized (adj.), ostracizing (adj.)
SYNONYMS: banish, blackball, shun, ban, cast out
ANTONYMS: include, receive, accept, admit, welcome
Example sentence from the book: On no one coming to her 7th birthday party Ursula Rosenfeld said, “I know it sounds trivial, but it was the
first sort of comprehension for a child to understand that you’re ostracized, that there’s something different about you.”
persecution (p. 6) - noun: unfair or cruel treatment of a person or group of people
OTHER FORMS: (to) persecute (verb endings) –s, -ing, -ed, persecutor (noun - one who persecutes)
SYNONYMS: abuse, torture, torment, oppression
ANTONYMS: defense, protection, rescue, comfort, solace
Example sentence from the book: “Widespread persecution of Jews began as soon as Adolf Hitler came to power.”
pogrom (p.15) - noun: an organized attack against a minority group, particularly Jewish people
OTHER FORMS: -SYNONYMS: massacre, slaughter, genocide
ANTONYMS: -Example sentence from the book: “The November pogrom came to be known as Kristallnacht – meaning ‘the night of broken glass’.”
refugees (p.56) - noun (p 1): people who are forced to leave their homes because of persecution, war or natural disaster
OTHER FORMS: refugee (adj.)
SYNONYMS: deportee, evacuee, displaced person, asylum seeker, escapee
ANTONYMS: -Example sentence from the book: “The United States relaxed its immigration policies to allow more Jewish refugees to settle there as
well.”
sponsor (p.11) - noun: someone who pays for another’s passage to a new country and promises that the person won’t become a burden
on the government
OTHER FORMS: verb (to) sponsor, -s, -ing, -ed, sponsorial (adj.), sponsorship (noun)
SYNONYMS: supporter, patron, benefactor, backer
ANTONYMS: enemy?
Example sentence from the book: “A Jewish person who wanted to leave Germany had to have a sponsor in the country where he or she
was going.”
visa (p.11) - noun: a document that permits a citizen of one country to travel to and from another country; different from a passport, but
often attached to a passport or included within
OTHER FORMS: (to) visa, -s, -ing, -ed (to give a visa to, or to endorse or support)
SYNONYMS: -ANTONYMS: -Example sentence from the book: “Then he or she (a Jewish person) had to get a visa from (the country to which he or she wanted to
travel) to be allowed in, as well as an exit permit from the Nazis.”
(to) ransack / ransacked (p.15) - verb: 1. To search or examine thoroughly. 2. To search carefully for plunder; pillage
OTHER FORMS: verb endings –s, -ing, -ed, ransacked (adj.), ransacker (noun – one who ransacks)
SYNONYMS: pillage, rifle, loot, plunder, search
ANTONYMS: protect or ignore?
Example sentence from the book: “Hundreds of synagogues were ransacked and burned.”
[Middle English ransaken, from Old Norse rannsaka : rann, house + *saka, to search, seek;
unprecedented (article about Japanese American internment) - adj.: having no previous example; unparalleled
OTHER FORMS: unprecedentedly (adv.)
SYNONYMS: original, unheard-of, strange, unfamiliar
ANTONYMS: familiar, tired, time-honored
Example sentence from the book: “Rather the causes for the unprecedented action in American history (the imprisonment of Japanese
Americans) according to the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, ‘were motivated largely by racial prejudice,
wartime hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.’ ”
add ration next year?