Name:
Holocaust Terms
Allies: the countries that fought together against Germany and its allies (the Axis powers) – the main
three countries were Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States
anti-Semitism: discrimination, hatred, prejudice, or hostility towards Jewish people
Auschwitz: town in SW Poland and site of Nazi concentration camp
Axis: the countries that fought together against the Allies in WWII – the main three countries were Germany, Japan,
and Italy
concentration camp: a guarded compound for the detention or imprisonment of aliens, minorities,
political opponents – used for confinement and persecution of enemies
death camp: a concentration camp in which inmates are unlikely to survive
death marches: marches during 1944-1945 where thousands of prisoners were forced to march from
concentration camps outside Germany to those inside of Germany
dehumanization: to deprive of human qualities or attributes – making the person or people seem less
than human through mad-treatment (name calling, taking away rights, slanted propaganda, etc.)
displacement: taking people from their home and forcing them to live somewhere else
Fascism: a social and political ideology that says the nation is the highest priority (rather than personal
or individual freedoms)
Final Solution: Nazi program of annihilating the Jews of Europe during the Third Reich
Führer: Adolf Hitler’s title in Nazi Germany: it means leader
euthanasia: Nazi euphemism for the deliberate killings of institutionalized physically, mentally, and
emotionally handicapped people. The euthanasia program began in 1939 with German non-Jewish
people as the first victims. The program was later extended to the Jewish people.
gas chambers: an enclosure used for the execution of prisoners by means of a poisonous gas (Zyklon B)
genocide: deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group
Gestapo: German secret police
ghettos: sections of the city that is thickly populated with people of the same ethnic or minority group
The largest was in Warsaw Poland during WWII.
Holocaust: systematic mass slaughter of European Jews in Nazi concentration camps during WWII
(means complete destruction of life, usually by fire)
Kristallnacht: the night of November 9-10, 1938, Nazis killed Jews and destroyed their property
Nazi Party: political party under Hitler, controlled Germany in 1933, dictatorship, believed in the
supremacy of Hitler, the superior German race, and anti-Semitism
Nuremberg Laws: this document defined “Jews” and deprived all Jewish people of their civil rights
prejudice: an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed about someone beforehand or without knowledge,
thoughts, or reasons
Star of David: used as a symbol of Judaism. During WWII Jews had to wear it on their person so they
could be identified as Jewish
stereotype: generalizations or assumptions that people make about the characteristics of all members of
a group based on an image
synagogue: a Jewish house of worship
swastika: symbol of the Nazi party used as their emblem