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Nazi Germany Terms Glossary
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This is a list of words, terms, concepts, and slogans that were specifically
used in Nazi Germany.
Some words were coined by Adolf Hitler and other Nazi Party members.
Other words and concepts were borrowed and appropriated, and other terms
were already in use during the Weimar Republic. Finally, some are taken
from Germany's cultural tradition.
0-9 | A | B | C |
D | E |
F | G |
H | I |
J | K |
L | M |
N | O | P | Q | R |
S | T
| U | V
| W | Z
0-9
- 25-point program – The Nazi Party platform and a codification of its ideology.
- 581 Abel autobiography – Weimar period Nazi Party membership data source.
A
- SS-Abschnitt
- SS district or district headquarters.
- Abwehr
(German for defence) - was a German military intelligence (information
gathering)
organisation from 1921 to 1944. After 4 February 1938, its
name in
title was Foreign Affairs/Defence Office of the Armed Forces
High Command (Amt Ausland/Abwehr im
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht).
- agrarpolitischer
Apparat (aA) – Agrarian Apparatus; Agricultural Affairs
Bureau of the
NSDAP.
- Leadership
hierarchy: Reichsleitungsfachberater held by Richard Walther
Darré;
Gaufachberater; Bezirksfachberater;
Kreisfachberater;
Ortsgruppenfachberater
- Agents:
LVL; Landesfachberater (consultants)
- Administrative:
Hilfsreferenten (staff members);
Sachbearbeiter (aides); Hilfsreferenten
responsible for day-to-day propaganda campaign
- Ahnenerbe "Ancestral Heritage" - a think tank established
under the patronage of Heinrich Himmler to research the history of the Aryan
race and "prove" its superiority.
- Ahnenpass
(ancestor passport) allowing to document one's Aryan
race
lineage.
- Aktion 1005 - ("Action 1005"),
also called the Sonderaktion 1005 ("special action 1005") or
Enterdungsaktion ("exhuming action"), was the 1942-44 secret
Nazi operation for concealing evidence of their own largest mass-killings. Laborers
---facetiously called "Sonderkommando 1005" ("special commando/s
1005")--- would be taken under guard to a closed death camp to clear the
site of structures while a sub-unit, the "Leichenkommandos" (corpse
commandos), were forced to exhume bodies from mass graves, burn the remains
(usually on timber and iron-rail "roasts"), and sometimes to grind
down larger bone pieces in portable bone-crusher mills. Some Einsatzgruppen
mass graves were also cleared out. (Note: without the 1005 appended,
in the camps the word Sonderkommando meant prisoner-laborers generally
---they stoked the crematoria, shaved newcomers' hair, processed seized belongings,
etc., but were not involved in the exhuming action.)
- Aktion
Reinhard - code name for the deadliest phase of the
Final Solution, the
creation of purpose-built extermination camps. Thought
to be named
for RSHA chief Reinhard Heydrich.
- Aktion
T4 – code name for the
extermination
of mentally
ill and handicapped patients by the Nazi authorities. (Named
after
Tiergartenstraße 4, the address of Nazi Central Office in
Berlin.)
- Alles
für Deutschland (Everything for Germany) – Motto applied
to the
blades of uniform daggers worn by the SA and National Socialist
Motor Corps (NSKK).
- Alter Kämpfer "old fighter" – A Nazi Party member who
joined the party or a party-affiliated organization before the Reichstag election
of September 1930, when the Nazi Party made its electoral breakthrough; or who
joined the Austrian Nazi Party or an affiliate before the Anschluss.
The first 100,000 members of the Party were eligible to wear the Golden Nazi
Party Badge. The "old fighters" tended to be the most extreme anti-Semitics
in the party.
- Altreich
– old state or old country; term used
after the
annexation of Austria in 1938 to refer to that part of Germany
that was
within the 1937 (pre-annexation) boundaries.
- Amtsleiter
– convener of NSDAP Party committees. They were personally answerable to Hitler.
- Anschluss
(Anschluß) – annexation, in particular the
annexation
of Austria in March, 1938.
- Anti-Comintern
Pact – the agreement by Germany, Japan and Italy to
oppose the
Communist International (the Comintern) directed by Josef
Stalin and the Soviet Union.
- anti-semitism-
Antisemitism (alternatively spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism,
also known
as judeophobia) is prejudice and hostility toward Jews as
a religious,
racial, or ethnic group. Not specific to the Third Reich.
- Arbeit
adelt "Labor ennobles" – Motto applied to the blades of
uniform
daggers worn
by officers of the Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD, the State
Labor Service).
- Arbeit
macht frei – "Work will set you free", an old German
peasant
saying, not invented by the Nazis. It was placed above the gate
to Auschwitz
by the commandant Rudolf Höß. The slogan which appeared
on the gates
of numerous Nazi death camps and concentration camps was
not
"true"; those sent to the camps certainly would not be freed in
exchange for
their hard labor.
- Arbeitnehmerschaft
– workforce. The Nazis took this word to mean both manual and mental workers.
- "Arbeitertum
der Faust und der Stirn" – "Workers of both manual and
mental
labor"; the Nazi Party self description as an "all-inclusive
workers'
party" (a term originally designed to carry anti-Communist
overtones).
- Ariernachweis - a Certificate of Descent
(to show "Aryan" heritage)
(popular
name).
- Asoziale
- "asocial" people. During the Nazi era, the word meant
"scum", "inferior" people, the
ballastexistenzen ("dead weight") of the socially
marginalized, those considered by the Nazis to be "unwanted". It
included the homeless, migrant workers, beggars, vagrants, large
families from the lower social strata, families from the edge of town,
"like gypsy" migrants, the so-called "work shy",
alcoholics, prostitutes and pimps. Gypsies (as they were called by the Nazis)
were considered to be "foreign race 'asoziale".
- Autobahnen
-- The "autobahns", a freeway system planned by
the Weimar
Republic but constructed by Nazi Germany. The autobahn construction
program was
enthusiastically implemented by Hitler as a public works
project to
help fulfill his promise to reduce unemployment. The autobahn
system was
used as a model for the construction of the United States
Interstate Highway System by
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who remarked on the
efficiency of the autobahn for military transportation while
in Germany
as the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary
Force.
B
- Bandenkampfabzeichen - "(Anti-) bandits-struggle badge"
: Nazi military uniform award for combat action against partisan guerrillas.
The term Banden was used instead of partisans to avoid giving
credence to the guerrillas.
- Bandenbekämpfung - "(Anti-) bandits-struggling" :
euphemism for anti- partisan guerrilla warfare. The term Banden was
used instead of partisans to avoid giving credence to the guerrillas.
See also Bandenkampfabzeichen directly above.
- Bayreuther Festpiele—The "Bayreuth Festival", a festival
of Wagnerian opera held since 1876 (and still held today) in Bayreuth, Germany.
Because of Hitler’s love of the music of Wagner, all the leading Party functionaries
and their wives were expected to attend the Bayreuth Festival. Hitler said,
“Anyone who does not appreciate the music of Wagner cannot understand National
Socialism”.
- Befehlshaber der Ordnungspolizei (BDO) - Headquarters of the Order
(uniformed) Police.
- Bekennende Kirche – "Confessing Church". The groups of
the Protestant churches that resisted Nazification.
- Berghof -- Adolf Hitler's home in the Obersalzberg of the Bavarian
Alps near Berchtesgaden, which he purchased in 1933.
- Bergpolizei - Mountain Police.
- Berufskammern – Nazi's professional organizations.
- Bezirksleiter – NSDAP district leaders.
- Blechkrawatte - "tin necktie," nickname for the Knight's
Cross
- Blitzkrieg – lightning war – quick army invasions aided by tanks and airplanes.
- Blockleiter – lowest official of the NSDAP, responsible for the political
supervision of a (city) block, usually 40 to 60 households.
- Blutfahne "Blood flag" – An SA flag bloodied in the attempted
Beer Hall Putsch in Munich 9 November 1923, and revered by the Nazi Party,
used in ceremonies. It disappeared towards the end of the War and is presumed
to have been destroyed.
- Blutorden - "Blood Order" - The medal instituted by Hitler
in March 1934 and awarded to Nazis who took part in the November 1923 Beer-Hall
Putsch or persons who were a member of one of its formations by January 1932
(continuous service). In 1938, members who could receive it was expanded to
persons who rendered outstanding service to the Party. Further party members
who lost their lives in the service of the Party could be awarded it. In June
1942, Reinhard Heydrich (posthumously) was the last to be awarded the medal.
This award was one of the highest of the NSDAP and under 6,000 were given.
- Blut und Boden – "Blood and soil". Slogan adopted by the
Nazis; it was originally coined by the German former Social Democrat August
Winnig, cfr. his Das Reich als Republik 1918–1928, (Stuttgart and Berlin:
Cotta, 1928), pg 3.
- Blut und Ehre (Blood and Honor) – Motto applied to the blades of
some uniform daggers worn by the Hitlerjugend, or Hitler Youth.
- bodenständiger Kapitalismus 'capitalism on the ground' – productive
capitalism, i.e., industry (as opposed to unproductive capitalism, i.e., financial
speculation, believed by the Nazis to be dominated by the Jews) was a Nazi
economic concept.
- Breitspurbahn (broad-gauge railway)--a planned 3,000 mm (9 ft 101⁄8
in) broad-gauge railway, a personal pet project of Adolf Hitler, proposed
to run on 3 meter gauge track with double-storey coaches between major cities
of Grossdeutschland.
- Brown Creed – term for Nazism.
- Braunes Haus – The Brown House--national HQ of the NSDAP in Munich,
Germany, opened 1931; Hitler purchased the Barlow Palace which was the old
Italian embassy when Bavaria was an independent state.
- Braunhemden (Brownshirts) – the SA; the leadership obtained khaki
colored shirts that were supposed to be sent to the German troops stationed
in colonies in Africa prior to World War I, and thus the color brown became
symbolic of the Nazi party.
- Brigadeführer "brigade leader" - an SA and SS rank,
equivalent to Brigadier General.
- Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM) – NSDAP "League of German Girls,"
the female branch of the Hitler Youth. It had three million members in 1937.
- BDM-Werk Glaube und Schönheit - "BDM Belief and Beauty
Society" - A special branch of the Bund Deutscher Mädel (League
of German Girls) began in January 1938 and open to girls age 17 to 21.
C
- Carinhall - country estate of Hermann Göring outside Berlin. Named
in honor of his first wife Carin Göring (1888–1931).
- Chef der Deutschen Polizei im Reichsministerium des Innern - (Chief
of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior). Title conferred
on Heinrich Himmler by Hitler in June 1936. Traditionally, law enforcement
in Germany had been a state matter. In this role, Himmler was nominally
subordinate to Interior Minister Frick. However, the decree effectively
placed the police under the national control of members of the SS.
- Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD - (Chief of the Security
Police and SD) or CSSD. Title first conferred on Reinhard Heydrich and
after his death, Ernst Kaltenbrunner when chief of the Reich Main Security
Office (which included the Gestapo, SD and Kripo).
- Conservative Revolutionary movement – a Weimar period German nationalist literary
youth movement.
- Cyclon B – Alternative spelling of Zyklon B, tradename of a
cyanide-based insecticide used to kill over one million people (total
number of deaths in the Holocaust total about four million people) in
Nazi gas chambers.
D
- Das System-"The
System". The derogatory Nazi term for describing the Weimar Republic.
- "Denn heute gehört uns
Deutschland/Und morgen die ganze Welt"--"Today, Germany belongs to us/And tomorrow the entire
whole", a line from the 1932 song Es zittern die morschen
Knochen ("The Frail Bones Tremble") written by Hans Baumann that became the official
marching song of the Reichsarbeitsdienst (Reich Labor
Service) in 1935. This was loosely translated into English as Today Germany,
Tomorrow the World, implying that the Nazis intended to take over the
world.
- Deutsche Arbeiterpartei
(DAP) – German Workers’ Party, started by railway workers in Bohemia, Austria and Munich, Germany.
These were the starter groups that evolved into the DNSAP and the NSDAP
in their respective countries.
- Deutsche Arbeitsfront
(DAF) – The 'German Labour Front' was the Nazi's substitute organisation for trade unions, which
had been outlawed on 2 May 1933.
- Deutsche Christen – the
"de-Judaized" Christian church; those who were "Nazified". They removed the
whole Old Testament from the Bible.
- Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei
(DNSAP) – the Austrian
“German National Socialist Workers’
Party”.
- Deutsche Reichsbahn -
German National Railway. Formed under
the Weimar Republic by merging Germany's various
railways, and nationalized
by the Nazis in 1937. Continued to operate in East
Germany until 1994.
- Deutscher Frauenorden (DFO) –
German Women's Order. The leader was Elsbeth Zander.
- Deutscher
Gruß-the "German greeting". Also known as the Hitler
salute (Hitlergruß). Used
when addressing Hitler, higher ranking
Party, SA or SS officers, or the
Reich officials. Imposed on
the Armed Forces in lieu of the military salute
after the July 20 plot.
- Deutscher
Luftsportverband (DLV) - German Air Sports Union,
clandestine predecessor of the
Luftwaffe, sponsored by Hermann
Göring and headed by World War I ace Ernst
Udet.
- Deutscher Nationalpreis für
Kunst und Wissenschaft - German
National Prize for Art and Science, a substitute/rival
award to the
Nobel Prizes, which the Nazis forbade Germans to
accept.
- Deutscher Orden -
German Order, the highest decoration of the Nazi
Party; awarded only 12 times, in most cases
posthumously. Cynically
nicknamed the "Dead Hero
Medal."
- Deutsches Jungvolk –
NSDAP-controlled association for boys
before they were old enough to enter the Hitler
Youth at age 14.
- Deutsches Kreuz, German
Cross - military decoration instituted
to bridge the gap between the Iron Cross 1st Class
and the Knight's
Cross. Awarded in gold for valor in combat and in
silver for distinguished
service.
- Deutsches Olympiaehrenzeichen -
German Olympic Games Decoration. Given in recognition of individuals who worked
on organising the 11th Olympic Games in Berlin and the 4th Olympic Winter Games
held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 1936. The award came in two classes and was
extended to both Germans and foreigners.
- Deutschland erwacht! -
"Germany awake!" a Nazi slogan. It was
used on the vexilloids of the SS when they marched
in torchlight parades
and in the Nuremburg Rallies.
- Deutschnationale
Volkspartei (DNVP) - German National People's
Party, monarchist/nationalist conservatives who
were the NSDAP's junior
partner in the 1933 coalition government.
Instrumental in passing the
Enabling Act, but dissolved shortly
thereafter.
- Der Dicke – "The
fat one", a contemptuous epithet by Germans
used to refer to Reichsmarschall Hermann
Göring.
- "Die Juden sind unser Unglück"
– A Nazi slogan: "The Jews are our misfortune."
- Drang nach Osten –
"Drive to the east", the historic German desire
to expand eastward.
- Drittes Reich – Third Reich or "Third Realm". Arthur
Moeller van den Bruck coined this term for his book Das Dritte Reich
published in 1923. The "Third Reich" was predicted as the
next step beyond the "First Reich" (the Holy Roman Empire),
800-1806 beginning with Charlemagne, and the "Second Reich"
(the German Empire, 1871–1918).
- Drittes Zeitaltern – The "Three Ages" – a philosophy
of history promulgated in 1923 by the German author Arthur Moeller van
den Bruck in his book Das Dritte Reich, based on an update of
the "Three Ages" philosophy of the medieval philosopher Joachim
of Fiore, which the Nazis used to justify their rule. According to Moeller’s
update of the ideas of Fiore, the First Reich was the Age of the
Father, the Second Reich was the Age of the Son, and there
will in the future be established under a strong leader a "Third
Reich" which will be the Age of the Holy Ghost in which
all Germans will live in a Utopia in peace and harmony with each other.
E
- Eagle's Nest - see
Kehlsteinhaus.
- Eher Verlag – the Nazi Party's official publishing house run by Max
Amann.
- Ehrenarier - "honorary Aryan" - some people or peoples
of non-Aryan ancestry were declared Honorary Aryans because of their service
to the Third Reich. Hermann Göring stated, "I will decide who is
Aryan".
- Ehrendolch –
lit. "honor dagger", a presentation dagger awarded for individual
recognition, especially by the SS.
- Ehrenkreuz der Deutschen Mutter--"Cross of Honor of the German Mother"--An
award given to German mothers who presented four or more children to the Third
Reich. Those who bore four to five children received the bronze Honor Cross,
those who bore six to seven children received the silver Honor Cross, and
those who bore at least eight children received the gold Honor Cross.
- Ehrenliste der
Ermordeten der Bewegung – Nazi honor roll of those who fought and
died for the party before it came to power in January 1933.
- Ehrenwaffe -
Nazi honor weapon worn by NSDAP party leaders who qualified to carry
them.
- Einsatzgruppen – "Special-operation units" that were death
squads under the command of the RSHA and followed the Wehrmacht on the Eastern
Front to engage in the systematic killing of mostly civilians, including:
Jews, communists, intellectuals, and others.
- Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg für die Besetzen Gebiete,
"Reichsleiter Rosenberg Institute for the Occupied Territories"
- principal authority for the looting of artwork and cutural treasures from
occupied countries.
- Eiserne Kreuz, Iron Cross - Originally
a Prussian royal military decoration for valor or combat leadership, revived
by Hitler in 1939. There were three grades, the Iron Cross, Knight's Cross
(Ritterkreuz) and Grand Cross (Grosskreuz); the basic grade
was awarded in two degrees, 2nd and 1st Class. Holders of the 1914 Iron Cross
were awarded a device (Spange) to be worn with the original decoration
in lieu of a second medal.
- Endlösung – "final solution", short for "final
solution to the question" (or "... problem"), a Nazi euphemism
for what later became known as the Holocaust. Use of the phrase "final
solution", even in non-Nazi contexts, e.g., "the final solution
of a mathematics problem" is frowned upon in modern Germany. Note: It
is important when reading books about the Third Reich that were published
before 1978 to remember that the term "Holocaust", although it had
been used before 1978 in some newspaper articles and by some Jewish and other
intellectuals, did not become the general term used among the general population
to refer to this genocide until after the appearance of the Holocaust TV miniseries
in 1978. For example, William Shirer's 1961 book Rise and Fall of the Third
Reich uses the term "the final solution" in quotes; the word
"Holocaust" is not mentioned.
- Endlösung der Judenfrage – "final solution to the Jewish
question"; see Endlösung, above.
- Endsieg – "final victory"; referring to the expected victory
in World War II. Nazi leadership spoke of the "final victory" as
late as March 1945.
- Entartete Kunst – degenerate art; term used as the title of an art
show consisting of modern art and other "degenerate" art, which
was contrasted with Nazi propagandistic Nazi art.
- Enterdungsaktion - ("Exhuming action"), also called the Sonderaktion
1005 ("special action 1005") or Aktion 1005 ("Action
1005"). See above Aktion 1005.
- Erbhöfe —
hereditary; farms labelled as such were guaranteed to remain with the same
family in perpetuity.
- Erbhofgesetz – the 1933 NSDAP hereditary farm law; it guaranteed family
farm holdings of three hundred acres (1.2 km2) or less.
- Ermächtigungsgesetz – "Law to Relieve the Distress of the People
and State"; Enabling Act of March 23, 1933, which had the effect of suspending
the Weimar Constitution and granting Hitler dictatorial powers.
- Ersatz – a substitute product. Germany did not have an easy access to some
strategic materials. German scientists had to research how to produce artificial
rubber (Buna), and coffee made from roasted acorns, for example. Gasified
coal was manufactured to create an artificial petroleum-like product to fuel
vehicles. In a military context used to refer to replacement troops, e.g.,
Ersatzabteilung "replacement battalion."
F
- Feldgendarmerie - Field Gendarmerie or Field Police, the military
police units of the Wehrmacht.
- Feldherrnhalle - loggia on the Odeonsplatz in Munich; site of the
violent climax of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. Used as the name of an
SA Standarte, which eventually grew into the Panzer Corps Feldherrnhalle.
- Fraktur – a fashion of blackletter popularly associated with
Nazi Germany, though the blackletter typefaces were banned by Hitler
in 1941 on the grounds that it was Jewish.
- Frontgemeinschaft – front line community. It was termed for the solidarity
felt by the German soldiers of World War I in the trench warfare.
- Führer – leader. Adolf Hitler was called "Der Führer".
Also an early SA and SS rank, later changed. to Sturmführer.
- Führerbefehl - "the leader's orders"; special directives personally issued by Hitler himself. These were considered the utmost unbreakable orders in the Third Reich, the last of which was to defend Berlin at all cost (and resulting in the suicides of the most fanatical followers).
- Führerbunker - (literally meaning "shelter [for the] leader"
or "[the] Führer's shelter") was located about 8.2 metres beneath the
garden of the old Reich Chancellery building at Wilhelmstraße 77, and
about 120 metres north of Hitler's New Reich Chancellery building in
Berlin. This underground bunker was Hitler's last FHQ. Further, it is
where Hitler and his wife Eva Braun spent the last few weeks of the
war and where their lives came to an end on 30 April 1945.
- Führerhauptquartiere (FHQ), a number of official headquarters
especially constructed for use by the Führer.
- Führerprinzip – the "leader principle", a central tenet of Nazism and
Hitler's rule, based on absolute hierarchical authority and unquestioning
obedience.
- Führerstaat – the concept of Hitler's dictatorship of one-man rule.
- SS-Führungshauptamt - SS Leadership Head Office, the administrative
headquarters of the Waffen-SS.
G
- Gau, pl. Gaue – NSDAP regional districts which functioned
as the de facto administrative organization of Nazi Germany from
1935-1945.
Further subdivided into:
- Bezirke –
districts
- Kreise
– counties or subdistricts; smaller units of the Bezirk
- Ortsgruppen
– Party branch or local branches. It took a minimum of fifteen members
to be recognized
- Hauszellen –
tenement cells
- Straßenzellen –
street cells
- Stützpunkte –
strong points
- Gauführer - very early SA and SS rank, indicating the SA or
SS leader for a Gau; renamed Oberführer in 1928.
- Gauleiter – the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau. They had
to swear unconditional personal loyalty to the Führer and were
directly answerable to him.
- Gau-Uschla - the level of the four-tiered Uschla system immediately
below the Reichs-Uschla and immediately above the Kreis-Uschla.
- Gefrierfleischorden - ("Frozen flesh order" / frozen meat
medal) Trench humor nickname for the service medal awarded for fighting
on the Russian front. The decoration's official name was Die Medaille
Winterschlacht Im Osten usually just shortened to Ostmedaille
(East medal).
- Geheime Feldpolizei (GFP) - Secret Field Police. It was Germany's
secret military police that was organised by the German high command
(OKW) in July 1939 to serve with the Wehrmacht. It was mainly designed
to carry out security work in the field, as the executive agent of the
Abwehr.
- Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) – Secret State Police. Originally
the Prussia secret state police and later (as part of the SiPo then
merged into the RHSA) the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Gestapo
was derived as follows: Geheime Staatspolizei.
- Gekrat - Either the Charitable Ambulance LLC or one of its
distinctive gray buses. The actual purpose of such euphemistically-named
"charitable ambulances" was to send sick and disabled people
to the Nazi killing centers to be murdered under the Action T4 eugenics
program. Gekrat is an abbreviation of the company name: Gemeinnützige
Krankentransport GmbH.
- Gemeinnutz geht vor Eigennutz – "The common good before the
private good"; Rudolf Jung popularized it in his book Der Nationale
Sozialismus, 1922, 2nd edition. This became Hitler's basic stance
on the subordination of the economy to the national interest. (6)
- Gemeinschaftsfremde-"Community
Alien". Anyone who did not belong to the Volksgemeinschaft.
- Generalgouverneur
– Governor-general. Leader of the civil administration of the Generalgouvernement.
- Generalgouvernement (General Government) - official designation
for the parts of pre-war Poland that were not directly incorporated
into the Großdeutsches Reich, but were otherwise placed under
a totally German-ruled civil government.
- Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnische gebiete - (General
Government for the occupied Polish territories) - complete title for
the above-mentioned Generalgouvernement from 1939-1941. Note that this
name did not signify the existence of a military government.
- Genocide - the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, racial,
religious or national group. Not specific to the Third Reich.
- Germania (Latin term for Germany) - It was the name Hitler wanted
for the proposed grand capital city of Berlin after the war had been
won; also the name of the second regiment of the SS-Verfügungstruppe.
- Gleichschaltung – the restructuring of German society and government
into streamlined, centralized hierarchies of power, with the intention
of gaining total control and co-ordination of all aspects of society.
- Goldfasanen ("golden pheasants") – derogatory term Germans
used for high-ranking Nazi Party members. The term derived from the
brown and red uniforms with golden insignia worn at official functions
and rallies by party members that resembled the brilliant colours of
a male pheasant.
- Goosestep (Stechschritt)
– a ceremonial marching form of many countries especially of the ones in
cold climates (Germany and Russia). The vigorous marching helps keep the
participants warm. The form consists of stepping forward without bending
the knees. After the Nazis' use of it in their parades it was later used
when referring to other totalitarian governments. Still used
by some countries today.
- Gottgläubiger, those who broke away from Christianity.
The term implies someone who still believes in God, although without
having any religious affiliation. Like the Communist Party in the USSR,
the Nazis were not favorable toward religious institutions, but unlike
the Communists, they did not promote or require atheism on the part
of their membership, except within the SS.
- Gott Mit Uns "God with us" - traditional Prussian military
motto, worn on the belt buckles of the Wehrmacht.
- Grand Cross - see Großkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes
- Gröfaz
– mocking acronym for Größter Feldherr aller Zeiten
("greatest general of all time"), an appellation of Hitler.
- Großdeutsches Reich "Greater German Domain" - the
official state name of Germany from 1943–45; earlier used to refer to
pre-1938 Germany (the Altreich) plus Austria and other annexed
territories.
- Großgermanisches Reich "Greater Germanic Domain"
- the official state name of the expanded empire that Germany's war
aims set out to establish within Europe in World War II.
- Großkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, Grand Cross of the
Iron Cross - Germany's highest military decoration. Established in two
degrees, the Grand Cross and the Star of the Grand Cross; the former
was awarded only once under the Third Reich, to Göring, and the
latter never.
- Großraumwirtschaft
– continental economic zone similar to Lebensraum.
- Großtraktor
"large tractor" - code name for the Reichswehr's
clandestine heavy tank design.
- Gruppenführer "group leader" - an SA and SS rank,
equivalent to (US/UK) Major General.
H
- Hakenkreuz 'hooked cross' – swastika.
- Halsschmerzen "sore throat" or "itchy neck"
- used of a reckless or glory-seeking commander, implying an obsession
with winning the Knight's Cross
- Hauptscharführer "chief squad leader" - an SS rank,
the highest enlisted grade in the Allgemeine-SS, equivalent to Master
Sergeant.
- Hauptsturmführer "chief storm leader" - an SS rank,
equivalent to Captain.
- Haupttruppführer "chief troop leader" - an SA and
early SS rank, the highest enlisted grade in the SA, equivalent to Sergeant
Major.
- Heer - the Army. Not specific to the Third Reich.
- Heimat – the 'homeland' of the German volk (i.e., The Greater
German Reich). Not specific to the Third Reich.
- Heimatvertriebene – Germans expelled from their homeland.
- "Hermann Meyer" - derogatory nickname for Luftwaffe chief Hermann
Göring, after his intemperate boast that "if one bomb falls
on Berlin, you can call me 'Meyer'!"
- Herrenvolk/Herrenrasse 'people/race of lords' – The
master race.
- HIAG (German: 'Hilfsgemeinschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit der Angehörigen
der ehemaligen Waffen-SS, literally "Mutual Help Association of
Former Waffen-SS Members") was an organization founded in 1951
by former members of the Waffen-SS.
- HIB-Aktion
– "Into-the-Factories Campaign"; a part of the Nazi campaign to
recruit factory workers.
- Hitlerism is another term for Nazism used by its opponents.
- Hitlerproleten – "Hitler's proletariat"; what the Berlin
working class Nazis called themselves (to distinguish themselves from
the rest of the proletariat). (8)
- Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend) – The German youth organization founded
by the Nazi Party (NSDAP). Made up of the Hitlerjugend proper,
for male youth ages 14–18; the younger boys' section Deutsches Jungvolk
for ages 10–13; and the girls' section Bund Deutscher Mädel
(BDM). From 1936 membership in the HJ proper was compulsory.
- Hoheitsabzeichen, or more specific Hoheitsadler or Reichsadler
– national insignia (eagle and swastika). See Federal Coat of Arms of
Germany.
- Horst-Wessel-Lied -- The "Horst Wessel Song",
also known as Die Fahne hoch ("The Flag Up High") from
its opening line, was the anthem of the Nazi Party from 1930 to 1945.
From 1933 to 1945 the Nazis made it a co-national anthem of Nazi Germany,
along with the first stanza of Deutschlandlied.
I
- Illustrierter Beobachter – NSDAP national tabloid.
- Iron Cross - see Eiserne Kreuz
J
- Judenfrei – areas "liberated" (i.e. ethnically
cleansed) from any Jewish presence. German for "free of Jews".
- Judenknecht
– "servant of the Jews". Gentile individuals, groups or states
opposing Nazi Germany.
- Judenrat – Jewish council. The Gestapo established Judenräte
(the plural) in ghettoes to have them carry out necessary duties.
- Judenrein
– areas from which any trace of a Jewish bloodline would have been
completely eradicated. German for "cleansed of Jews".
- Jüdische
Grundspekulationsgesellschaften – Hitler's
slang term for Jewish property speculation companies.
- July 20 Plot – failed attempt on 20 July 1944 to assassinate Hitler
and overthrow the Nazi regime, by Army officers led by Oberst i.
G. Claus von Stauffenberg and Generaloberst Ludwig Beck;
see Operation Valkyrie.
K
- Kameradschafts-
und Gemeinschaftsstärkung –
strengthening of comradeship and community; Nazi party Gleichschaltung of
social institutions.
- Kampfzeit-"Struggle
time". The NSDAP's term for the years between 1925-1933 in political
opposition. Much glorifed after 1933 as the heroic period of the NSDAP.
- Kapo (Cabo) – A privileged prisoner-work-squad leader, within
the concentration camps, labor camps, and death camps; an overseer of
the Sonderkommando laborers. Oftentimes criminals sent to the
camps were assigned kapo duty. While on duty, they would often
be issued a whip or nightstick. Generally they had a reputation for
brutality.
- Kdf-Wagen – official name of the Type I Volkswagen Beetle,
a project of the Kraft durch Freude program.
- Kehlsteinhaus - The "Eagle's Nest," Hitler's summerhouse
atop a mountain overlooking Obersalzberg, near Berchtesgaden. Not to
be confused with the Berghof.
- Kinder, Kuche, und Kirche - "Children, Kitchen, Church"
(part of Hitler's co-ordination of every aspect of life to a state-sponsored
orthodoxy)--slogan delineating the proper role of women in the Nazi
State. Hitler said, “National Socialism is a male movement.”
- Kirchenkampf - "church struggle" - see Kirchenkampf
- Knight's Cross - see Ritterkreuz.
- Kontinentalimperium - German World War II aim for achieving
continental hegemony by territorial expansion into Eastern Europe. Contrast
Kolonialimperium, the exclusive aim for an overseas imperial
domain.
- Konzentrationslager often abbreviated KZ for concentration
camp. The correct abbreviation would be KL, but KZ was
chosen for the tougher sound. Concentration camps were established for
the internment of those who were declared "enemies of the volk
community" by the SS.
- Kraft durch Freude (KdF) – "strength through joy",
state-sponsored programs intended to organize people's free time, offering
cheap holidays, concerts, other leisure activities, and (unsuccessfully)
a car (Kdf-Schiff, Kdf-Wagen). It was initially called Nach der Arbeit.
- Kreditschöpfungstheorie – Gregor Strasser's idea for government
spending and credit creation.
- Kreis-Uschla - an intermediate level of the four-tiered Uschla system,
immediately below the Gau-Uschla and immediately above the lowest-level
Ort-Uschla.
- Kriegserlebnis
– (myth of the) war experience.
- Kriegsmarine, "War Navy", one of the three official branches
of the Wehrmacht.
- Kriegsverdienstkreuz "War Merit Cross" - decoration for
exceptional service not involving combat valor as was required for the
Iron Cross. Awarded in three grades, 2nd Class, 1st Class, and Knight's
Cross; with swords for frontline soldiers and without for rear-area
personnel and civilians.
- Kriegsverdienstmedaille "War Merit Medal" - decoration
for meritorious civilian service to the war effort, generally awarded
to factory workers.
- Kriminalpolizei (Kripo) - "Criminal Police" - In
Nazi Germany, it became the national Criminal Police Department for
the entire Reich in July 1936. It was merged, along with the Gestapo
into the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo). Later, in 1939, it was folded into
the RSHA.
- Kristallnacht or Reichskristallnacht – Crystal Night; refers
to the "Night of Broken Glass", November 9–10, 1938, when
mob violence against Jewish people broke out all over Germany.
L
- Landwirtschaftliche
Gaufachberater – NSDAP agricultural conventions;
first one held on February 8, 1931. They held Bauernkundgebung
(farmer's rallies).
- Landwirtschaftliche
Vertrauensleute (LVL) – NSDAP agrarian agents;
used to infiltrate other agricultural/husbandry/rural organizations to
spread Nazi influence and doctrine.
- Landwirtschaftlicher
Fachberater – expert consultant on agriculture that was
assigned to every NSDAP Gau and Ort unit.
- Landwirtschaftlicher Schlepper "agricultural hauler" -
code name for the Reichswehr's clandestine light tank design;
forerunner of the Panzer I.
- Lebensborn – "Fountain of Life"; an SS organization founded
by Himmler and intended to increase the birth rate of "Aryans"
by providing unmarried mothers shelter in nursing homes so that they
would not seek (illegal) abortions.
- Lebensraum – "Living space", specifically living space
for ethnic Germans and generally referring to territories to be seized
in Eastern Europe; see Drang nach Osten.
- Lebensunwertes Leben – ("Life unworthy of life") Term
used for people with incurable mental health problems, serious birth
defects and other health issues.
- Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) - Hitler's SS bodyguard
regiment, originally commanded by Sepp Dietrich. By mid-1943 it had
grown into a full Waffen-SS Panzer division known as "1st SS Panzer
Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler".
- Leichttraktor
"light tractor" - code name for the Reichswehr's
clandestine medium tank design.
- Leistungsgemeinschaft
– performance community; part of the Nazi Gleichschaltung of social
institutions.
- Lufthansa - Deutsche Luft Hansa Aktiengesellschaft, German
Air Commerce League Inc. German national airline, founded in 1926. Not
the legal predecessor to today's Lufthansa.
- Luftwaffe – "air force." The Wehrmacht air arm
was officially founded 26 February 1935. Today the air arm of the Bundeswehr.
- Legion Condor - German Army and Air Force "volunteers"
sent to fight on the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War.
M
- Mann - lowest rank in the SA and Allgemeine-SS, equivalent to Private.
- Männerbund – bond of men; it was a distinctly masculine mystique
which became an essential part of SA ideology (see male bonding).
- Märzveilchen - "March Violets." Those who
joined the NSDAP after the Reichstag elections of March 1933.
Generally, the “March Violets” were assumed to join the Party for opportunistic
reasons only and were held in contempt by the Old Fighters. Also called
Märzgefallene or "March casualties."
- Mehr sein
als scheinen "Be more than you appear to
be." – Motto applied to blades of uniform daggers worn by the Nationalpolitsche
Erziehungsanstalten, or NPEA, the National Political Educational
Establishment.
- Mein Kampf – "My Struggle", Adolf Hitler's autobiography
and political statement.
- Meine Ehre heißt Treue "My honor is loyalty"
– Motto applied to the belt buckles and the blades of uniform daggers
worn by the Schutzstaffel, or SS.
- Militärbefehlshaber
– military Governor, who was the (single) head of the executive in an
occupied country (when no Reichskommissar was appointed).
- Mischling – used in reference to an individual with alleged partial
Jewish ancestry; some were treated as full-blooded Jews, other as "Aryans"
but subject to various restrictions.
- "Mit brennender Sorge" – A letter by Pope Pius XI warning
against the Nazis.
- Muselmann – "an inmate who had resigned himself to death and lost
the will to do anything to help himself survive". (1)
- Mutterkreuz -- see Ehrenkreuz der Deutschen Mutter.
N
- Nacht und Nebel – "Night and fog", code for some prisoners
that were to be disposed of, leaving no traces.
- Nationalpolitische
Erziehungsanstalt – the National Political
Educational Establishment, or NPEA.
- Nationalpreis für Kunst und Wissenschaft - see Deutscher
Nationalpreis für Kunst und Wissenschaft.
- Nationalsozialistische Betriebzellenorganisation (NSBO) –
National Socialist Factory Cell Organization (Nazi Party labor union)
which had a membership of approx. 400,000 workers by January 1933.
- Nationalsozialistische Briefe – pro-labor publication launched
by Gregor Strasser and edited by Joseph Goebbels.
- Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) – the National
Socialist German Workers’ Party of Adolf Hitler: the Nazi Party.
- Nationalsozialistische Frauenschaft (NSF) – "National
Socialist Women's League" headed by Gertrud Scholtz-Klink; founded
in October 1931 as a fusion of several nationalist and national-socialist
women's associations. It was designed to create women leaders and supervise
indoctrination and training. It had 2 million members by 1938.
- National-Sozialistische Landpost – NSDAP agricultural paper started
by Richard Walther Darré.
- Nationalsozialistische Lehrerbund (NSLB) "National Socialist
Teachers League" - mandatory teachers' union; in 1935 merged into
the NSDDB.
- Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt (NSV) – NSDAP welfare
organization founded in Berlin in September 1931. It acquired the official
role in welfare and later on the racial policy of the Third Reich.
- Nationalsozialistischer
Deutscher Dozentenbund (NSDDB) - National Socialist
German University Lecturers League.
- Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund (NSDStB) – Nazi
Students League, founded in 1926.
- Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps (NSFK) - National Socialist
Flyers Corps. Flying "club" used to mask the training of future
military pilots; closely affiliated to the SA and thus a rival to Goering's
DLV.
- Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrkorps (NSKK) - National Socialist
Motor Corps. Originally the transport branch of the SA, the NSKK became
the national organisation for the promotion of and training in motor
vehicle operation and maintenance.
- Nazi is a short term for Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei
(“German National Socialist Workers’ Party”). It is not an acronym;
it is a phonetic spelling of the beginning of the party’s name (“nati-”).
By extension, it is sometimes used to mean “a supporter of fascist ideology”.
As an adjective, this short form is used more often in English language
than in German, in which the acronym NSDAP was and is the preferred
form.
- Nazism; the ideology of the NSDAP (generally considered to be
a variant of Fascism with racist and antisemitic components)
- denazification (Entnazifizierung) – the process by which
the Allied occupiers attempted to purge post-war Germany of remnants
of the Nazi regime and Nazi philosophy
- ex-Nazis – former Nazis
- Nebenland ("Borderland") - term occasionally used to describe
the General Government's legally vague status as an "ancillary
region" of the German Reich that was neither within its boundaries
nor accorded any clear political designation.
- Negermusik ("Negro Music") - a term used to denigrate
music such as Jazz and Swing that was performed by African-American
musicians. Such music became banned publicly in Nazi Germany. See also
Swingjugend (swing kids).
- Neuordnung--The "New Order"--a redrawing of boundaries
in Europe (such as expansion of the Greater German Reich to the Ural
Mountains to provide lebensraum for Germany) and eventually throughout
the world in such a way to ensure the absolute hegemony of Nazi Germany
and the world domination of the Nordic Aryan master race.
- Neu Drontheim: architectural project to construct a new, exclusively
German-populated metropolis and naval base close to the Norwegian city
of Trondheim.
- Night of the Long Knives - A/K/A "Operation Hummingbird",
or more commonly used in Germany "Röhm-Putsch". It was
the action that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and 2 July
1934 where Hitler and the SS murderously purged the ranks of the Sturmabteilung
(SA).
- NSDAP--The usual formal abbreviation for the Nazi party actually used in
the Third Reich rather than the informal term "Nazi".
- NSDAP Zentralkartei
– master file, containing approx. 7.2 million original and official
individual German Nazi Party membership cards. Comprises two separate
files. It is housed in the Berlin Document Center (BDC).
- Ortskartei –
- Reichskartei —
- Nur für Deutsche – "For Germans Only."
- Nuremberg Rallies - see Reichsparteitag
- Nürnberger Gesetze, Nuremberg Laws - 1935 set of decrees which
deprived Jews of German citizenship and placed strict restrictions on
their lives and employment.
O
- SS-Oberabschnitt - SS region or regional headquarters.
- Oberführer "senior leader" - an SA and SS
rank, equivalent to Senior Colonel; originally called Gauführer,
the SS or SA leader for a Gau.
- Obergruppenführer "senior group leader" - an SA and
SS rank, equivalent to (US/UK) Lieutenant General.
- Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) - "High Command of the Army"
from 1936 to 1945.
- Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) - "High Command of the Armed
Forces". The OKW replaced the War Ministry and was part of the
command structure of the armed forces of Nazi Germany.
- Obersalzberg - mountainside resort overlooking Berchtesgaden in
the Bavarian Alps, where Hitler purchased the Berghof in 1933, and which
became the country retreat of many Nazi leaders including Martin Bormann
and Hermann Göring.
- Oberscharführer "senior squad leader" - an SA and
SS rank, equivalent to Sergeant (SA) or Staff Sergeant (SS).
- Oberste SA-Führer "Supreme SA Leader" - commander
of the Sturmabteilung; held by Hitler personally from September
1930.
- Oberstgruppenführer "highest group leader" - an SS
rank, equivalent to (US/UK) General.
- Obersturmbannführer "senior Sturmbann (battalion)
leader" - an SA and SS rank, equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel.
- Obersturmführer "senior Sturm (company) leader"
- an SA and SS rank, equivalent to First Lieutenant.
- Obertruppführer "senior troop leader" - an SA and
early SS rank, equivalent to Master Sergeant.
- Ordensburgen – NSDAP
training schools.
- Ordnertruppen
– first name of the group created in the fall of 1920 by Hitler.
- Sportabteilung
– Sports section (SA); the second name of the group
- Sturmabteilung (SA) – Storm Detachment or Battalion, abbreviated
SA and usually translated as stormtroop(er)s. NSDAP paramilitary group;
the third name in late 1921
- Ordnungsdienst
– order service, ghetto police made up of Jewish ghetto residents.
- Ordnungspolizei (Orpo) "order police" - the regular uniformed
police after their nationalization in 1936.
- Organisation Todt - civil and military engineering group
eponymously named after its founder, Fritz Todt. Built the Autobahns,
the Westwall (Siegfried Line), the Wolfsschanze and the Atlantic
Wall; notorious for its use of conscript and slave labor.
- Ort-Uschla - the lowest level of the four-level Uschla system.
- Ostmark ("Eastern March") – designation used for
Austria as part of the Third Reich after the Anschluß. Changed
to Alpen- und Donaureichsgaue in 1942 to further eradicate any
notion of a separate Austrian state.
P
- Pan-Germanism – The idea that all Germans should live in one country.
- Panzerkampfwagen (military) – "armoured fighting vehicle"
= tank; not specific to Third Reich, but listed here for its centrality
to Blitzkrieg.
- Panzerfaust "armour fist" – An inexpensive, disposable,
recoilless anti-tank weapon of World War II. Forerunner that led to
the development of the Soviet RPG (rocket-propelled grenade).
- Panzerschreck An anti-tank weapon of World War II, similar to the
American bazooka.
- Partei-Statistik
– 1935 Nazi Party three volume publication of membership data.
- Parteitage
- (NSDAP) Party (rally) days.
- Planwirtschaft – a limited planned economy; Walther Funk promoted
this idea within the Nazi party who thought genuine corporatism too
stifling for business growth.
- Plutokratie - "Plutocracy", Nazi term for the western
capitalist countries, especially the USA and the UK.
- Plötzensee – a place in Berlin, site of a notorious prison
where numerous opponents of Hitler and the Nazi régime were put
to death.
- Putsch – German word meaning coup or revolt; has also
entered the English language meaning the same.
Q
- Quisling – A pejorative meaning "traitor" during
World War II, commonly used as an insult directed at a citizen who collaborated
with the Germans in one of the conquered nations. The term was taken
from Vidkun Quisling, the pro-Nazi Norwegian leader.
R
- Rasse – race.
- Rassenhygiene – "Racial Hygiene"--the Nazi eugenics
program—implemented to improve the Nordic Aryan master race itself to
the point where it could eventually become a super race.
- Rassenschande – (literally "racial shame"); a Nazi term
for sexual relations between an Aryan and a "non-Aryan" (including
Jews, Slavs, and persons of African ancestry) which were banned by the
Nuremberg laws.
- Rednerschule
der NSDAP – National Socialist Speaker's School.
- Regierungspräsident – 'president' of a regional administration,
in fact subordinate to the Nazi party's Gauleiter.
- Reich – Often translated as "Empire" or "State", perhaps
the most accurate translation is "Realm".
- Reichsarbeitsdienst – State Labour Service, or RAD; 1931 formed
as an auxiliary labour service, became 1935 obligatory (six month) for
all men and women between 18 and 25 years.
- Reichsbauernführer – National Farmers' Leader; title given
to Richard Walther Darré.
- Reichsbevollmächtigter – Imperial Plenipotentiary in
occupied territory.
- Reichsführer-SS - title held by Heinrich Himmler, head
of the SS Schutzstaffel. Equal on paper to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall,
but in fact more akin to Reichsmarschall from 1942 onward as
Himmler amassed ever greater power.
- Reichsheini
- derogatory nickname for Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler.
- Reichsjägerhof - Hermann Göring's hunting lodge in East
Prussia.
- Reichskanzlei - "Reich Chancellery" was the traditional
name of the office of the German Chancellor (Reichskanzler). In 1938,
Hitler assigned his favourite architect Albert Speer to build the New
Reich Chancellery, requesting that the building be completed within
a year and it was done. Very near the complex was the underground Führerbunker,
where Hitler committed suicide at the end of April, 1945. The New Reich
Chancellery had the address No. 6 Voßstrasse, a branch-off of
the Wilhelmstrasse, where the Old Reich Chancellery was located.
- Reichskommissar – Imperial Commissioner, a type of Governor in occupied
territory.
- Reichskonferenz
– National Caucus; national caucuses held by the Austrian Deutsche
Arbeiterpartei before World War I.
- Reichsleitung
– national leadership; members of the NSDAP Party Directorate. They all
swore personal loyalty to the Führer.
- Reichsmark (RM) 'Mark of the Realm' – German monetary unit. 100
Reichspfennig = 1 Reichsmark.
- Reichsmarschall – "Marshal of the Realm", the highest
rank in the German armed forces during World War II (held only by Hermann
Göring).
- Reichsministerium für Rüstung und Kriegsproduktion
- the Reich Ministry for Armaments and War Production, founded in 1942
by merging the earlier Ministry for Weapons and Munitions with Organisation
Todt; it was headed by Albert Speer.
- Reichministerium fur Volksaufklarung und Propaganda – The
"Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda", directed
by Joseph Goebbels, established to spread Nazi propaganda.
- Reichsmordwoche, Nacht der langen Messer – "State Murder Week,
Night of the Long Knives" of June–July 1934 during which Hitler
assassinated hundreds of party-internal opponents, especially the SA,
which was decapitated of its leadership.
- Reichsparteitage – "State Party Days", referred
to in English as the Nuremberg Rallies, Nazi party rallies, held annually
in Nüremberg near the date of the autumn equinox before the outbreak
of war in 1939. Joseph Goebbels said of the Nuremberg Rallies, "The
Fuehrer and I consider ourselves artists and the German people are our
canvas."
- Reichsprotektor – Ruling German representative in the Czech
Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia.
- Reichsschrifttumkammer – the Nazi Chamber of Literature. Hanns Johst
was president.
- Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) – an SS subsidiary organization
made up of 7 main departments including, the intelligence & security
forces and secret police forces for Germany and occupied territories;
also oversaw the Einsatzgruppen. Originally led by Reinhard Heydrich.
- Reichsstatthalter – "Stadtholder of the Realm",
i.e. Reich Governor; after the seizure of power in 1933, local governments
were dissolved and the Gauleiters were appointed to govern the
states with full powers.
- Reichstag – "Realm Diet (or Parliament)"; see Reichstag
(building), Reichstag (Weimar Republic), and Reichstag (German Empire).
- Reichstrunkenbold – "Reich drunkard", derogative name
secretly given to Robert Ley whose alcoholism was widely known.
- Reichs-Uschla - the highest level of the four-tiered Uschla system,
venued in Munich.
- Reichswasserleiche – "Reich water corpse", nicknake
given to Swedish film actress Kristina Söderbaum due to a tendency
of her characters in NS propaganda films such as Jud Süss to commit
suicide by drowning.
- Reichswehr "national defense" - the armed forces
of the Weimar Republic, strictly limited under the Versailles Treaty.
Renamed the Wehrmacht in 1935. The Reichswehr comprised:
- the Army, Reichsheer
- the Navy, Reichsmarine
- Reichswerke Hermann Göring – an industrial conglomerate
which absorbed the captured industrial assets of German-occupied countries.
By the end of 1941 the Reichswerke became the largest company in Europe
and probably in the whole world, with a capital of 2.4 billion Reichsmark
and about half a million workers
- Reinrassig – a zoological term meaning "of pure breed."
Applied to human races, persons who could not prove their Aryan ancestry
could be considered nicht Reinrassig.
- Restpolen ("remainder of Poland") - parts of occupied
Poland that were organized as the General Government in September 1939.
- Resttschechei ("remainder of Czechia") - parts
of occupied Czechoslovakia that were organized as the Protectorate of
Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939.
- Revolution
der Gesinnung – revolution of attitude; the
concept that the German people would not only develop a purified race but
also a new mind and spirit. It was about, in Hitler's words, "to
create a new man". (5)
- Righteous Gentiles- In secular usage, the term is used by the State
of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust
in order to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis. The secular award
(discussed below) by the same name given by the State of Israel has
often been translated into English as "Righteous Gentile."
- Ritterkreuz, in full Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes,
"Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross" - Germany's second-highest
military decoration, worn at the throat. Whereas the other grades of
the Iron Cross originated during the Napoleonic Wars, the Ritterkreuz
was a Third Reich creation, a replacement for various royal orders like
the Pour le Merite. Successive awards were marked by the progressive
addition of Eichenlaub (oakleaves), Schwerten (swords),
and Brillanten (diamonds). A further degree, with Gold Oakleaves,
Swords and Diamonds, was intended as a postwar honor for Germany's twelve
greatest military heroes; one was awarded ahead of schedule to Stuka
ace Hans-Ulrich Rudel.
- Ritterkreuzauftrag
"Knight's Cross job" - soldiers' slang for a suicidal mission
- Ritterkreuzträger - holder of the Knight's Cross.
- Röhm-Putsch - name used by the Nazis for the Night of
the Long Knives, which they characterized as a foiled coup attempt by
Ernst Röhm and the SA.
- Rottenführer "team leader" - an SA and SS rank, equivalent
to Lance-Corporal.
S
- Scharführer "squad leader" - an SA and SS
rank, equivalent to Corporal (SA) or Sergeant (SS).
- Schlageter--a play written for Adolf Hitler about the Nazi
martyr Leo Schlageter and performed for the Fuehrer on his 44th birthday,
April 20, 1933, to celebrate his accession to power on January 30 of
that year. It was written by the Nazi playwright and poet laureate Hanns
Johst. In it, one of the characters, Thiemann, delivers the famous line
"Whenever I hear the word 'culture', I release the safety catch
on my revolver."
- Schönheit der Arbeit – Beauty of Labor program.
- SS-Schütze "rifleman" - lowest rank
in the Waffen-SS, equivalent to Private.
- Schutzstaffel (abbreviated SS—or )
– "Protection Squadron"; a major Nazi organization that grew
from a small paramilitary unit that served as Hitler's personal body
guard into militarily what was in practical terms the fourth branch
of the Wehrmacht. It was not legally a part of the military (and therefore
wore the national emblem on the left sleeve instead of over the right
breast pocket). "SS" is formed from (S)chutz(s)taffel.
Made up of the following branches:
- Allgemeine-SS – "General SS", general main body
of the Schutzstaffel made up of the full-time administrative, security,
intelligence and police branches of the SS as well as the broader
part-time membership which turned out for parades, rallies and "street
actions" such as Kristallnacht; also comprised
reserve and honorary members
- SS-Totenkopfverbände – "Death's Head Units",
responsible for the concentration camps
- SS-Verfügungstruppe – military "dispositional"
(i.e. at Hitler's personal disposal) troops organized by the SS in
1934
- Waffen-SS – "Armed SS", created in August 1940 with
the amalgamation of the Verfügungstruppe, the Leibstandarte
SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) and the combat Standarten of the Totenkopfverbände
- Das Schwarze Korps – The Black Corps; SS "theoretical"
newspaper of the SS.
- Selektion – selection of inmates for execution or slave labor
at an extermination or concentration camp.
- Septemberings-Those who joined the NSDAP after the Party's
breakthrough in the Reichstag elections of September 1930, but
before Hitler became Chancellor in 1933.
- Siberiakentum - "Siberiandom" - term used in Generalplan
Ost to describe the annihilation of the Polish people by their forceful
assimilation into the native populations of Siberia in the intended
event of their wholesale expulsion to this region.
- Sicherheitsdienst (SD) "Security Service" - the
intelligence arm of the SS and later a main department of the RSHA.
- Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) "Security Police" - the
combined forces of the Gestapo and KriPo.
- Sieg Heil! – "Hail to Victory", mass exclamation
when bringing the Hitlergruß (Hitler Greeting).
- Sig Rune "S rune" – The letter from the runic alphabet
popularized in the SS emblem ()
and other insignia.
- Sonderaktion 1005 - ("Special action 1005"), also
called Aktion 1005 ("Action 1005") or 'Enterdungsaktion
("exhuming action"). See above Aktion 1005.
- Sonderkraftfahrzeug (Sd.Kfz.) "special purpose motor
vehicle" - all tanks and other military vehicles were assigned
a Sd.Kfz number.
- Sonderkommando - "Special commando" ---originally
used mainly for actual special-task troops in the Waffen SS. However,
the term was quickly put to facetious use at the concentration camps,
labor camps, and death camps as the euphemism for the prisoner-laborers
forced to do jobs like stoking the crematoria, shaving newcomers' hair,
processing seized belongings, helping unload trains, removing corpses
from gas chambers, etc. Such laborers were told they could live in exchange
for their hard effort, but there were regularly killed off and replaced.
When working in their civilian clothes such laborers at times would
have a color-coded armband to distinguish them from new arrivals ---perhaps
one color for the crew unloading the trains and herding new arrivals
to the undressing area, a different color for the crew that sorts belongings,
etc. They might also wear the familiar striped prisoner suits similar
to those used by the slave laborers. A number appended to the word Sonderkommando
denoted prisoner-laborers attached to a specific "special action"
---example see Sonderkommando 1005 in Aktion 1005 above.
Work gang leaders were called kapos.
- Sprachregelung – a special language that masked the camp
conditions and the policy of extermination. It took the words "extermination",
"killing", "liquidation"; and substituted for them,
the euphemisms: "final solution", "evacuation",
"special treatment", "resettlement", "labour
in the East". It was developed to deceive victims and to assist
SS officials and others to avoid acknowledging reality. (2)
- Sprechabend – closed Nazi party meetings.
- SS or -
Abbreviation and emblem of the Schutzstaffel ("Protection Squadron").
See above: Schutzstaffel.
- SS- und Polizeiführer, SS and Police Leader - these
powerful officials, reporting directly to Himmler, commanded all SS
and police forces within a geographic region, which together covered
the Reich and the occupied territories.
- SS- und Polizeiführer (SSPF)
- Höher SS- und Polizeiführer (HSSPF), Higher SS and Police
Leader
- Höchste SS- und Polizeiführer (HöSSPF), Highest
SS and Police Leader
- Stabschef-SA Chief of Staff or deputy commander of the Sturmabteilung;
effectively the SA commander after 1930.
- Stabsscharführer "staff squad leader" - a
Waffen-SS position (not a rank): the senior NCO in a company, functionally
equivalent to a US First Sergeant or UK Company Sergeant Major.
- Staffel "squadron" - the basic formation of the
early SA 1925-28. Also used by the Luftwaffe and the cavalry.
- Staffelführer "squadron leader" - very early
SA and SS rank. Also a rank in the NSKK, equivalent to Major.
- Stahlhelm "Steel Helmet" - right-wing World War
I veterans' organization; merged into the SA in 1934.
- Standarte - regiment-sized unit of the SA, Allgemeine-SS
and Totenkopfverbände.
- Standartenführer "Standarte leader"
- an SA and SS rank, equivalent to Colonel.
- Ständesozialismus – corporative (or "corporate")
socialism; promoted by O. W. Wagener, sometime head of the political
economy section of the party organization.
- Stellvertreter des Führers "Deputy of the Führer"
- title of the deputy head of the Nazi Party, held by Rudolf Hess until
1941 when he was replaced by Martin Bormann under the new title of Party
Chancellor after the former's unauthorized flight to Great Britain.
- Stennes Revolt - the revolt in 1930 and again in 1931 by the Berlin
SA, commanded by Walter Stennes, in which they attacked and briefly
occupied the headquarters of Gauleiter Joseph Goebbels.
- Stern zum Großkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, Star of the
Grand Cross of the Iron Cross - Germany's ultimate military decoration,
a unique honor for the greatest commander in a war. Awarded only twice,
to Blücher in 1813 and to Hindenburg in 1918; the Star of the 1939
creation was made but never awarded, and is now at West Point.
- Stoßtrupp "shock troop" – Hitler's body guard
unit before the Hitlerputsch; forerunner to the SS.
- Strasser wing – named after Gregor Strasser, who led the left wing
of the Nazi Party.
- Stücke – pieces, items. A Sprachregelung term for Jews and
other undesirables that dehumanized them. As in: "1000 Stück
Juden in den Osten deportiert", "1000 jewish pieces deported
to the east" - not material 'pieces' in connection with Jews are
meant, but the persons themselves.
- Sturm - company-sized SA or SS unit.
- Sturmabteilung (SA) "Storm Detachment" or "Battalion"
– the Stormtroopers, a Nazi paramilitary organisation that was instrumental
in bringing Hitler to power; nicknamed the Brownshirts (Braunhemden)
after their uniforms. The name originated with the Army's special assault
battalions of World War I.
- Sturmbann "storm band" or "band of Stürme"
- battalion-sized SA or SS unit.
- Sturmbannführer: "storm band leader"
- an SA and SS rank, equivalent to Major.
- Der Stürmer – a weekly anti-Semitic newspaper founded
by Julius Streicher known for its lurid semi-pornographic content.
- Sturmführer "storm leader" - an SA and early
SS rank, equivalent to 2nd Lieutenant.
- Sturmhauptführer "storm chief leader" - an
SA and early SS rank, equivalent to Captain.
- Sturmmann "storm trooper" - an SA and SS rank,
equivalent to a USMC Private First Class.
- Sturmscharführer "storm squad leader" - the
highest enlisted rank in the Waffen-SS, equivalent to (US) Sergeant
Major or (UK) RSM.
- Swingjugend -- “Swing Kids” --young jazz and Swing lovers
in 1930s Germany, mainly in Hamburg and Berlin, who rebelled against
the regime by gathering in various venues, such as certain dance halls
and cafés, to dance the jitterbug to swing music.
T
- Tausendjähriges Reich - ("Thousand-Year Reich"),
name popularly used by the Nazis to refer to the Nazi state. Its millennial
connotations suggested that its society would last for a thousand years
to come.
- Thule Gesellschaft – "Thule Society". The Nazis
sought themes for their ideology in the occult and the Germanic and
Nordic traditions.
- Totenkopf "death's head" – human-skull emblem worn
by members of the SS, and also by Heer (German Army) and Luftwaffe panzer
crews, thought to symbolise loyalty beyond death. Not specific to the
Third Reich, and previously used by Prussian cavalry units and the World
War I Imperial Tank Corps. Also the specific name for the Luftwaffe's
Kampfgeschwader 54 medium bomber wing.
- Totenkopf-Standarten - Regiment-sized field formations of
the Totenkopfverbände. They were merged into the Waffen-SS
in August 1940.
- Totenkopfverbände "Death's Head Units" - The
branch of the SS responsible for the concentration camps, as well as
many of the Einsatzgruppen death squads. The 3rd SS Division
Totenkopf was formed by men from the Totenkopfverbände.
- Totenkopfwachsturmbanne "Death's Head Guard Battalions"
- concentration camp guard units.
- Triumph des Willens -- "Triumph of the Will"—A
famous Nazi propaganda film, directed by Leni Reifenstahl.
- Truppenamt "Troop Office" - the cover name of the
Reichswehr's clandestine General Staff, illegal under
the Versailles Treaty.
- Truppführer "troop leader" - an SA and early SS rank,
equivalent to Staff Sergeant.
- Turnvereine
– German and Austrian calisthenic leagues. They were identically dressed
men and women making identical movements in mass performance.
U
- Übermensch – (lit. "higher human", or "over-human")
an idea appropriated from the work of Friedrich Nietzsche and used by
certain Nazis to describe the racially superior Germanic "Aryan"
people.
- Untermensch – (lit. "lower human" or "under-human")
corollary of the term Übermensch, but reversed as a label given
to peoples considered racially inferior to the "Aryans".
- Überwachungsdienst
– surveillance service of the aA to protect the organization against Konjunkturritter
(financial opportunists).
- Unzuverlässige
Elemente – unreliable societal elements (Jews,
communists, homosexuals, etc.).
- U-Boot (abbreviated form of Unterseeboot, lit. "undersea
boat") – submarine, anglicized U-Boat.
- Umschlagplatz
– (lit. "changing place") place of assembly. Kapos were told to
collect Jews and bring them to this designated spot for pick up and
transfer to the death trains.
- Umsiedlersonderzug - (lit. "re-settler special train")
"Relocation" train ---actually a one-way transport by which
Jews and others were moved to camps (labor camps, concentration camps,
or death camps). The term appears on some period railroad documents
(example).
- Unternehmen Walküre "Operation Valkyrie" -
Originally a Replacement Army emergency plan for maintaining order in
the event of an internal revolt, it was quietly altered by a group officers
led by Generaloberst Ludwig Beck, General d. I. Friedrich
Olbricht and Oberst i. G. Claus von Stauffenberg into a plan
to overthrow the Nazi regime following the assassination of Adolf Hitler.
Launched on 20 July 1944, the plan failed and resulted in some 5,000
executions.
- Unterscharführer "junior squad leader" - an SS rank,
equivalent to Corporal.
- Untersturmführer "junior storm leader" - an SS rank,
equivalent to Second Lieutenant.
- Uschla – arbitration committee of the NSDAP Party Directorate, an acronym
for Untersuchung und Schlichtungs-Ausschuss (Inquiry and Settlement
Committee).
V
- V-1 and V-2 – Vergeltungswaffen "weapons of retaliation".
Used to attack Britain and other countries controlled by the Allies.
The V-1 was the world's first operational cruise missile; the V-2 the
first ballistic missile. Other "V-Waffe" were planned but
did not become operational.
- Verbotzeit - the time in which the NSDAP was officially banned
in Bavaria, between the Beer Hall Putsch (9 November 1923) and the effective
date of the lifting of the ban (16 February 1925).
- SS-Verfügungstruppe "Dispositional Troops"
- the military branch of the SS, formed in 1934 under Paul Hausser.
In August 1940 became the nucleus of the Waffen-SS.
- Vernichtungslager – death camps. This word was never used by the
Nazis themselves.
- Volk – People, folk-community, nation, or ethnic group. It
is extremely difficult to convey the full meaning of this word in English.
It implies a "volk community" rooted in the soil of the heimat
(homeland) with many centuries of ancestral tradition and linked together
by a spiritual zeitgeist.
- Volk ohne Raum - "A people without space". A political
slogan used to justify the conquest of the east.
- Volksgenosse –
"Folk comrade"
- Völkisch movement
- Völkischer Beobachter – the official Nazi Party newspaper.
- Deutsche
Arbeiterpolitik – special labor section included
in the above party paper
- Der Angriff – Nazi Party labor newspaper started by Joseph Goebbels
- Der
Erwerbslose – Nazi Party labor newspaper
- Arbeitertum – Nazi Party labor newspaper.
- Volksgenossen-"National
Comrades". Those who belonged to the Volksgemeinschaft.
- Volksgerichtshof – literally "People's Court", a tribunal
which condemned people accused of crimes against the state; verdicts
were sometimes directed by Hitler himself.
- Volkshalle -- a gigantic domed building proposed to be constructed
in Berlin as part of Albert Speer's Welthauptstadt Germania,
from which Hitler planned to issue his Imperial decrees to Occupied
Europe before crowds of up to 180,000 people.
- Volkswagen – "people's car". Conceived during the mid-1930s but
did not go into production until after 1945. Perhaps the most durable
and popular legacy of the Third Reich.
- Volksgemeinschaft – "People's Community"--a concept
that means national solidarity; popular ethnic community; classless
volk community.
- Vorbunker - (the upper bunker) or "forward bunker"
was located behind the large reception hall of the old Reich Chancellery,
in Berlin. It was meant to be a temporary air-raid shelter for Adolf
Hitler and was officially called the "Reich Chancellery Air-Raid
Shelter" until 1943, with the construction to expand the complex
with the addition of the Führerbunker.
- Vorsicht
Hochspannung Lebensgefahr - Typical warning message
on signs affixed to electrified fences around concentration camps, labor camps,
and death camps. Essentially:
"watch out high voltage life-danger."
W
- Waffenamt "Weapons Office" – responsible the procurement
of military equipment; WaA with a number was the standard arms inspection
stamp or mark.
- Waffen-SS "Armed SS" - the combat branch of the
Schutzstaffel, formed in August 1940 from earlier SS military
formations; by war's end had grown into a parallel army with (nominally)
38 divisions.
- Wandervogel -- German youth movement of the period 1901 to
1933, co-opted by the Hitler Youth.
- Wannsee Conference – a conference held on January 20, 1942 beside
Lake Wannsee in Berlin in which it was decided and made official Nazi
policy that the total annihilation of European Jews was the only rational
means of a "Final Solution" to the Jewish Question.
- Wehrbauern – soldier-peasant settlements that were to be
established in the East to act as a defensive shield against the inroads
of Slav barbarianism.
- Wehrkraftzersetzung – a crime invented by the Nazis. It meant
"negatively affecting the fighting forces". People who expressed
doubts about Germany's chances of winning the war, or about Hitler's
leadership were sometimes put to death for Wehrkraftzersetzung.
- Wehrmacht "Defence force" – the name of the armed
forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. Prior to that time, the Reichswehr.
Consisted of the Heer (Army), Kriegsmarine (Navy) and Luftwaffe (Air
Force), but not the Waffen-SS or the Police even though they both fielded
combat units during the war.
- Wehrmachtsadler "Armed forces eagle" - form of
the Hoheitsabzeichen worn by the Heer and Kriegsmarine,
but not the Luftwaffe.
- Wewelsburg - a castle near Büren in the Paderborn district
of Westphalia, taken over and restored by Heinrich Himmler as an SS
officers' training school and cult center.
- Die Weiße Rose – “The White Rose” -- a non-violent/intellectual
resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of students from the University
of Munich and their philosophy professor. The group became known for
an anonymous leaflet campaign, lasting from June 1942 until February
1943, that called for active opposition to the Nazi regime.
- Weltanschauungskrieg – war of ideologies.
- Welthauptstadt Germania -- Albert Speer's plan to rebuild
Berlin as the "Capital City of the World."
- Westland - propaganda name used to denote the incorporation
of the Netherlands (and in a wider context, all of the Low Countries)
into a Nazi-controlled Europe.
- Wille und Macht "Will and Power" - the monthly
magazine of the Hitler Youth.
- Winterhilfswerk Winterhilfe – Winter Relief Program and annual
fundraising drive by the Nazi Party to support impoverished German victims
of the Great Depression and of World War II. The successor to the similar
program in existence during the Weimar Republic (1919–1933). Once a
week, people would eat an eintopf ("one pot") meal, and donate
the money they would have spent for a regular meal to the Winterhilfe.
- Wirtschaftspolitische Abteilung – 1931 WPA; A NSDAP proposed
program.
- Wirtschaftliches Sofortprogramm – 1932 Economic Program;
A NSDAP proposed program.
- Wirtschaftliches Aufbauprogramm – 1932 Economic Reconstruction
Plan; A NSDAP proposed program.
- Wolfsangel "Wolf's hook" – runic emblem adopted
by several military units of Nazi Germany.
- Wolfsschanze "Wolf's Lair" – Hitler's first World
War II Eastern Front military headquarters, one of several Führer
Headquarters or FHQs located in various parts of Europe. The complex,
built for Operation Barbarossa (the 1941 German invasion of the Soviet
Union) was located in the Masurian woods, about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi)
from Rastenburg, East Prussia (N/K/A Kętrzyn, Poland). It is the
location where he spent much of his time during the war following the
launch of Operation Barbarossa.
- Wunderwaffe – "silver bullet" (literally, "wonder
weapons), referring to weapon systems developed at the end of World
War II (such as the V-1 and the V-2) that were supposed to turn around
Germany's desperate situation on the battlefields.
- Wu-wa - mocking colloquial shortening of wunderwaffen.
Z
- Z-Plan (or Plan-Z) was the name given to the re-equipment and expansion
of the Kriegsmarine (Nazi German Navy) as ordered by Adolf Hitler on
27 January 1939. The plan called for 10 battleships, four aircraft carriers,
three battlecruisers, eight heavy cruisers, 44 light cruisers, 68 destroyers
and 249 U-boats by 1944 that was meant to challenge the naval power
of the United Kingdom. The outbreak of World War II in September 1939
came far too early to implement the plan.
- Zossen - The underground bunker complex that was headquarters
for both the German Wehrmacht (OKW) and (Heer) Army High Command (OKH)
located approximately 20 miles west of Berlin in Zossen, Germany.
- Zwangswirtschaft
– forced or compulsion economy.
- Zwischenstaatliche
Vertretertagungen – interstate meetings of
representatives; DNSAP and NSDAP party congresses of the early years;
first one held in Salzburg, Austria.
- Zyklon B Also spelled Cyclon B – tradename of a cyanide-based
insecticide used to kill more than one million Jews, Gypsies, communists,
and prisoners of war in Nazi gas chambers (total number of deaths in
the Holocaust total about four million people; the others were killed
by other means).
List of abbreviations and acronyms
See the glossary
above for full explanations of the terms.
- aA – agrarpolitischer Apparat, or Agrarian Policy Apparatus
- DAF – Deutsche Arbeitsfront, or German Labor Front
- DAP – Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, or German Workers’ Party:
original name of the NSDAP
- DFO – Deutscher Frauenorden, or German Women's Order
- DLV - Deutscher Luftsportverband, or German Air Sports Union
- DNSAP – Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei, the
Austrian "German National Socialist Workers’ Party"
- DNVP - Deutschnationale Volkspartei, German National People's
Party
- FHA - Führungshauptamt or Leadership Head Office, the
administrative headquarters of the Waffen-SS
- FlaK - Flug(zeug)abwehr-Kanone, "air(craft) defense
cannon," anti-aircraft gun
- Gestapo – The secret state police, short for Geheime Staatspolizei
- HJ – Hitlerjugend or Hitler Youth
- KdF – Kraft durch Freude, or Strength through Joy
- Kripo – Kriminalpolizei, the national criminal investigative
police
- LVL – Landwirtschaftliche Vertrauensleute, agrarian agents
for the NSDAP
- LSSAH - Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, or Adolf Hitler SS
Bodyguard Regiment
- Nazi – Portmanteau for "National Socialist"
- NPEA – Nationalpolitsche Erziehungsanstalten, or National
Political Educational Establishment
- NSBO – Nationalsozialistische Betriebzellenorganisation,
or National Socialist Factory Cell Organization
- NSDAP – Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, or
National Socialist German Workers’ Party: the Nazi Party
- NSDDB - Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Dozentenbund, or
National Socialist German University Lecturers League
- NSF – Nationalsozialistische Frauenschaft , or National Socialist
Women's League
- NSFK - Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps, or National
Socialist Flyers Corps
- NSKK - Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrkorps, or National
Socialist Motor Corps
- NSLB - Nationalsozialistische Lehrerbund, or National Socialist
Teachers League
- NSV – Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt, or National
Socialist People's Welfare
- OKH – Oberkommando des Heeres, or High Command of the Army
- OKL - Oberkommando der Luftwaffe, or High Command of the
Air Force
- OKM - Oberkommando der Marine, or High Command of the Navy
- OKW – Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, or High Command of the
Armed Forces
- Orpo – Ordnungspolizei, or Order Police
- PzKpfw, PzKw - Panzerkampfwagen, "armored fighting
vehicle," tank
- RAD – Reichsarbeitsdienst, or State Labor Service
- RBA – National Socialist Factory Cell Division
- RM – Reichsmark, the monetary unit of Germany 1924-1948
- RSHA – Reichssicherheitshauptamt, Reich Main Security Office
or Reich Security Head Office
- RZM – Reichszeugmeisterei, or National Material Control Office
- SA – Sturmabteilung, Storm (or Assault) Detachment, usually
translated as Stormtroop(er)s: the Brownshirts.
- SD – Sicherheitsdienst or Security Service of the SS
- Sd.Kfz. - Sonderkraftfahrzeug, or Special Purpose Motor Vehicle
- SiPo – Sicherheitspolizei or Security Police; made up of
the Gestapo & KriPo
- SS – Schutzstaffel or Protection Squadron
- SS-TV – SS-Totenkopfverbände or Death's Head
Units
- SS-VT – SS-Verfügungstruppe or Dispositional
Troops
- WaA – Waffenamt or Weapons Office; used as an arms inspection
stamp or mark
References
- Brustein,
William (1996). The Logic of Evil, The Social Origins of the Nazi
Party, 1925–1933 New Haven, CN: Yale University Press (p. 143).
- Carsten, F.
L. (1969). The Rise of Fascism Berkeley, CA: University of
California Press (p. 83).
- Faye, Jean-Pierre (2004). Langages totalitaires, Hermann, Paris,
ISBN 2-7056-6480-7 (French)
- Faye, Jean-Pierre (2003). Introduction aux langages totalitaires :
Théorie et Transformations du récit, Hermann, Paris,
ISBN 2-7056-6450-5 (French)
- Klemperer, Victor (1947). LTI - Lingua Tertii Imperii
- Mitcham,
Samuel W., Jr. Why Hitler? The Genesis of the Nazi Reich. Westport,
CT: Praeger (p. 120).
- Neumann, Stan. La Langue ne ment pas, journal écrit sous
le Troisième Reich (90' ARTE 2004) (French)
(film documentary; short extract here)
- Payne,
Stanley G. (1995). A History of Fascism 1914–1945. University of
Wisconsin Press (pp 55, 180).
- Phillips,
Peter (1969, 1970). The Tragedy of Nazi Germany. New York: Praeger
Publishers (pp. 193, 179).
- Turner,
Henry A. (1972). Nazism and the Third Reich. New York, NY:
Quadrangle Books, NY Times Co. (p. 41).
0-9 | A | B | C |
D | E |
F | G |
H | I |
J | K |
L | M |
N | O | P | Q | R |
S | T
| U | V
| W | Z
Published - May 2011
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