NSDAP- Stands for Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei and was a national Socialist German Workers’ Party.[1]
Communist Party- The Communist party in Germany was a major political party between 1918-1933 which had a resistant underground movement in Nazi Germany.[2]
Reichstag Fire- This was an arson attack which occurred on the 27th of February, 1933, which burned the building in which the German parliament was housed.[3]
Decree- This was a an order which was passed by Von Hindenburg and it suspended all articles in the constitution that guaranteed peoples key freedoms and liberty.[4]
Centre Party- This was a lay Catholic Party in Germany.[5]
Sturmabteilung- Nazi Party’s paramilitary wing which aimed to make Germany a full socialistic state.[6]
Wehrmacht- unified armed forces of Nazi Germany opposed the Sturmabteilung’s stance.[7]
Schutzstaffel (SS)- This was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler who got rid of the Sturmabteilung.[8]
Führer- This is a political title which means leader in German and is associated with the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.[9]
Gestapo- This was the official secret state police of Nazi Germany.[10]
Positive eugenics- Refers to efforts which are directed and expanding desirable traits.[11]
Negative eugenics- refers to effort which are directed to eliminate through sterilisation, segregation or other means those who are perceived or deemed to be physically, mentally or morally ‘undesirable’.[12]
Nuremburg Laws- These were anti-Semitic and racist laws that were enacted in Germany by the Nazi Party.[13]
Annexed- The concept in international law in which one state forcibly acquires another states territory.[14]
Kristallnacht- An event where violent, state-mandated actions against Jewish shops, businesses and homes occurred in November 1938.[15]
Dissident priests- Catholic resistance to Nazi Germany who denounced Nazi policies.[16]
Holocaust- This was the genocide of European Jews during WWII.[17]
End Notes
[1] Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Nazi Party." Encyclopedia Britannica, January 11, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nazi-Party.
[2] Catherine Epstein, The Last Revolutionaries: German Communists and Their Century. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003.
[5] Blackbourn, David. "The Political Alignment of the Centre Party in Wilhelmine Germany: A Study of the Party's Emergence in Nineteenth-Century Württemberg." The Historical Journal 18, no. 4 (1975): 821-850.
[6] Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "SA." Encyclopedia Britannica, November 11, 2020. https://www.britannica.com/topic/SA-Nazi-organization
[7] Taylor, Telford (1995). Sword and Swastika: Generals and Nazis in the Third Reich. New York: Barnes & Noble
[8] Ibid.,
[9] Bullock, A. , Bullock, . Baron , Knapp, . Wilfrid F. and Lukacs, . John. "Adolf Hitler." Encyclopedia Britannica, April 26, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Adolf-Hitler.
[10] Power, Jonathan. "Heinrich Himmler, Hitler’s Deputy–From Boyhood to Chief Murderer of the Jews." In Ending War Crimes, Chasing the War Criminals, pp. 13-18. Brill Nijhoff, 2017.
[11] Grodin, Michael A., Erin L. Miller, and Johnathan I. Kelly. "The Nazi physicians as leaders in eugenics and “euthanasia”: Lessons for today." American journal of public health 108, no. 1 (2018): 53-57.
[12] Kevles, Daniel J. "Eugenics and human rights." Bmj 319, no. 7207 (1999): 435-438.
[13] Kroslak, Daniel. "Nuremberg Laws." The Lawyer Quarterly.-ISSN 8396 (1805): 184-194.
[14] Garner, James Wilford. "Questions of state succession raised by the German annexation of Austria." American Journal of International Law 32, no. 3 (1938): 421-438.
[15] Steinweis, Alan E. Kristallnacht 1938. Harvard University Press, 2009.
[16] Ibid.,
[17] Breitman, Richard. "Plans for the final solution in early 1941." German Studies Review 17, no. 3 (1994): 483-493
This content was originally produced for the SAHO classroom by
Ayabulela Ntwakumba and Thandile Xesi