ÿþ<html> <head> <title> WHKMLA : Historical Dictionaries : Germany </title> <!-- copyright Alexander Ganse, 2005-2007 --> </head> <body bgcolor="lightblue" text="black" link="blue" vlink="red" alink="brown"> <style> <!-- A{ font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; font-face: arial; } --> </style> <DIV align ="center"> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../index.html"> <img src = "../../whkmla2.jpg" border = "0"></a></TD></TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> Timeline </b></font></TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../timelines/nhb/tlgermany.html"> <img src = "../../region/arrowleft.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"> </a></TD> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../timelines/nhb.html"> <img src = "../banhistdic.jpg" border = "0"> </TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <img src = "../../region/arrowright.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"> </a></TD> <TD width = "100" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> </b></font></TD></TR></TABLE> <font size = "3" face = "arial"><B><i>First posted on April 21st 2005 </i></b></font><BR><BR><BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "center" valign = "center" width = "900"> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "5"><B> Historical Dictionaries : Interbellum Germany </B></font> <BR> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "2"><i> http://www.zum.de/whkmla/histdic/nhb/hdibger.html </i></font> </B></font></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "anschluss"><B>Anschluss</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Literally attachment; refers to the German annexation of Austria on March 12th 1938. German forces invaded, but were unopposed, and the road from the German border to Vienna was lined by (orchestrated) jubilant crowds. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Appeasement</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> British foreign policy in the late 1930es, placating Italian and German demands because of a fear of a Soviet-French-Spanish alliance (in 1936-1937 Communists formed at least part of government in all three countries), in part motivated by British lack of preparedness for a military confrontation. In 1936 Britain discontinued her participation in the <A HREF = "hdibit.html#embargo">Embargo</A> against Italy (in effect accepting the Italian conquest of Ethiopia); in 1936-1939 the British permitted the Germans and Italians to support Franco in the <A HREF = "hdibpen.html#spcivwar">Spanish Civil War</A>, while preventing any arms shipments to reach the Republicans; in 1938 Britain failed to act on her responsiblity to protect Czechoslovakia against German aggression. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "aryan"><B>"Aryan"</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Expression to describe, within the official race theory, a person of Germanic, non-Jewish ancestry. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Axis Pact</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Pact of Alliance, concluded in 1937 by Germany and Japan. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Chancellor </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdgermany.html#chancellor">Germany</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "conccamp"><B>Concentration Camps</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> First introduced as a political measure to end guerilla activity by the Spanish authorities on Cuba (civilian population was interned, starved). The British used the same method to end the Boer guerilla activity (1899-1902). The Nazis immediately after taking power in 1933 established (makeshift) concentration camps, then for political opposition (Communists, Social Democrats). The song "Die Moorsoldaten" (written in 1933) describes the atmosphere in one such early camp; Carl von Ossietzky (Nobel Peace Prize winner 1936) al early victim. Later concentration camps were to take up a wide range of victims - political opposition, homosexuals, Jews, gypsies. The most notorious camps were constructed in occupied Poland - Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Sobibor, Majdanek; here the industrial-style annihilation of millions of persons deemed "subhuman" by Nazi <A HREF = "hdibger.html#racetheory">race theory</A> was undertaken (<A HREF = "hdibger.html#holocaust">Holocaust</A>). Theresienstadt (in Czechoslovakia) was a perverse model camp where a propagandafilm was made featuring a camp presentable to a (mislead) general audience; behind this fa&ccedil;ade horrible crimes were committed. Camps such as Dachau, Sachsenhausen, Bergen-Belsen were labelled Transit Camps (in official terminology, all were called Labour Camps). Within the camps, no laws protected the inmates from abuse by the guards; they were underfed, health care, clothing, heating were insufficient; contact ith the outside world was not permitted, families often were separated, they were forced to work under dangerous conditions; inmates were used as human guineapigs for dubious medical experiments. While concentration camps were not a German invention, the Nazis created an image of these camps which now generally is associated with the term. Administrated by the <A HREF = "hdibger.html#ss">SS</A>. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "danzigcorridor"><B>Danzig Korridor</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Stretch of land, between 1920 and 1939 belonging to Poland, separating the then German province of East Prussia from the remainder of the German Empire. In 1939 Hitler demanded Poland to permit a road under German sovereignty connecting East Prussia with the Reich. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "degart"><B>"Degenerate Art"</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Hitler himself was, by profesion, an art painter. However, he regarded most modern art styles (<A HREF = "hdfds.html#expressionism">Expressionism</A>, <A HREF = "hdart17701880.html#impressionism">Impressionism</A>, <A HREF = "hdfds.html#cubism">Cubism</A>, <A HREF = "hdibarts.html#surrealism">Surrealism</A>, <A HREF = "hdfds.html#fauvism">Fauvism</A>, <A HREF = "hdibarts.html#dadaism">Dadaism</A> etc.) as "degenerate". An infamous exhibition held in 1937 was to <A HREF = "hdibger.html#propaganda">propagate</A> his view. Many 'degenerate' works of art were taken out of the musea, the less famous ones destroyed, the more famous ones sold for cash at auctions held in Switzerland. The same was done with pieces of art confiscated from their Jewish owners. Artists known to produce "degenerate" art, if they stayed in the country, were forbidden to produce further works of art (for instance Ernst Barlach) </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "dolchstoss"><B>Dolchstoss Legend</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> a political legend spread by ultranationalists in the days of the <A HREF = "hdibger.html#rev1918">German Revolution of 1918-1919</A>, blaming the German left for the German defeat in World War I. Not only the radical socialists advocating the revolution, but also the moderate Social Democrats were blamed; the blame could be extended to democrats in general, as the ultranationalists regarded the <A HREF = "hdibger.html#weimar">Weimar Republic</A> illegitimate. Direct translation <i>dagger stab legend</i> - the revolutionary at home stabbing the soldier at the front in the back. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "enabact"><B>Enabling Act</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Passed by the <A HREF = "hdgermany.html#reichstag">Reichstag</A> in May 1933. A law enabling Adolf Hitler, for a limited time to rule without asking for the approval of parliament, and without some of the restrictions of the <A HREF = "hdibger.html#weimar">Weimar</A> constitution. Hitler argued that he needed these powers in order 'to clean Germany up'. After the law was passed, the other political parties were banned. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "euthanasia"><B>Euthanasia</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> literally, killing with a good intention. Nazi Germany passed a Euthanasia Law in 1937; afterward, entire institutions for mentally handicapped and severely physically handicapped were cleared out. Euthanasia law also was abused to kill Jews when hospitalized. The German medical confession has participated in the crimes of Nazism; the law was repealed after the war. In Germany, the discussion about euthanasia is overshadowed by the Nazi-era experience with euthanasia. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "finalsolution"><B>"Final Solution"</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" ("Endl&ouml;sung der Judenfrage"). Key phrase from Hitler's <A HREF = "hdibger.html#meinkampf">"Mein Kampf"</A>, although ill-defined; until into the later 1930es it could be interpreted as a plan for mass resettlement or for genocide. The episodic killing of Jews began with the assassination of Walter Rathenau in 1922 (here the Nazis were not to blame); such events became more frequent in 1938. In occupied Poland (since Sept. 1939) and later in the occupied USSR (since June 1941) a policy of mass annihilation was begun, even before it was officially planned and formulated for Europe's entire Jewish population at the Wannsee Conference (Jan. 1942). See entries under <A HREF = "hdibger.html#holocaust">Holocaust</A> <A HREF = "hdibger.html#conccamp">Concentration Camps</A>, <A HREF = "hdibger.html#wannsee">Wannsee Conference</A>. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "freikorps"><B>Freikorps</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Militias formed of ex-soldiers just returning from the front, still wearing their uniforms and weapons. Most of them were patriotic and conservative, loyal to the Emperor and to Germany, rather than to the Republic. They were used by the <A HREF = "hdibger.html#weimar">Weimar</A> administration to take the cities held by the revolutionaries in 1918-1919. They also fought in plebiscite areas (Upper Silesia) and the Baltic. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>F&uuml;hrer Cult</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> In imitation of the <A HREF = "hdibger.html#propaganda">propaganda</A> cult featuring Mussolini as the central figure of Fascist Italy, the German propaganda portrayed Hitler as the central figure of Nazi Germany - the only legitimate youth organization for boys was called Hitler Youth; Hitler's birthday was made national holiday; "Heil Hitler" was made national greeting formula. He was titled "der F&uuml;hrer" (the leader), an expression which was excessively used, and in Germany nowadays is, because of its association with Hitler, regarded as suspicious. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "fuhrerprinzip"><B>F&uuml;hrerprinzip</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> The principle that any organization in society was not to be run democratically, but hierarchically, with their own "F&uuml;hrer". </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "rev1918"><B>German Revolution of 1918-1919</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Began with the mutiny of the German navy personnel, which was ordered to sail out and fight it out in the last days of World War I. Quickly spread, so that most of Germany's cities were held by revolutionaries by the end of 1918. The <A HREF = "hdgermany.html#reichstag">Reichstag</A> had to assemble in Weimar (<A HREF = "hdibger.html#weimar">Weimar Republic</A>), because Berlin was held by the revolutionaries. The newly formed democratic government used the Freikorps to militarily defeat the revolutionaries and establish control over their cities (until March 1919). Click <A HREF = "../../region/germany/ger19181919.html">here</A> for more information. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "gleichschaltung"><B>Gleichschaltung</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Both Kaiserreich and <A HREF = "hdibger.html#weimar">Weimar Germany</A> had a federal constitution, with governments at the national and state levels, not necessarily of the same party affiliation. The <A HREF = "hdibger.html#nsdap">NSDAP</A> had come to power in Germany in January 1933; two Gleichschaltung (synchronisation) laws were passed in March/April 1933, forcing NSDAP governments over the states which had otherwise composed governments. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "govdecr"><B>Government by Decree</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Following the Wall Street Crash in 1929, the economic situation in Germany deteriorated rapidly. The government coalition could no longer agree on a common policy; then chancellor Heinrich Br&uuml;ning used a loophole in the Weimar constitution, foreseen for emergency situations, and ruled by decree (quasi dictatorship, 1930-1932). </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Hitler Youth</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> The <A HREF = "hdibger.html#nzis">Nazis</A> banned all youth organizations such as the Boy Scouts, and established the BDM (Bund Deutscher M&auml;dchen) for girls and the Hitler Jugend for boys, where the children were exposed to Nazi <A HREF = "hdibger.html#propaganda">propaganda</A>, the boys taught to use violence, and prepared for life as a soldier. Membership and attendance were mandatory. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "holocaust"><B>Holocaust</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> from the Greek, holokaustos, great loss of life. In English usually associated with the Nazi Holocaust. In <A HREF = "hdibger.html#conccamp">Concentration Camps</A>, inmates were deprived of their rights, exploited and maltreated, in the Annihilation Camps killed off industrial style, the victims including Jews, Gypsies, political opposition homosexuals. Yet the Holocaust was not limited to these camps; Einsatzgruppen followed the German army into the USSR (from June 1941), separated the Jewish and non-Jewish population of occupied towns, had the former dug their own mass grave and then executed them by machine gun. Jews entering German hospitals for minor health problems could be executed by injection (abuse of the <A HREF = "hdibger.html#euthanasia">euthanasia law</A>); the list is not meant to be complete. In January 1942 the <A HREF = "hdibger.html#wannsee">Wannsee Conference</A> decided on the implementation on the systematic genocide of Europe 's Jews; it is estimated that, out of a total population of 11 million, about 6 million were killed in the Nazi Holocaust. The number of European Gypsies killed is more difficult to establish, estimated between 0.5 and 1.5 million. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Hyperinflation </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdgermany.html#hyperinflation">Germany</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "kristallnacht"><B>"Kristallnacht"</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> short for "Reichskristallnacht", literally Imperial Crystal Night, a euphemistic expression for the nationwide anti-Jewish pogrom of November 9th 1938. When Jew Herschel Grynszpan assassinated a German diplomat in Paris, Nazi Minister of Propaganda held Germany's Jews collectively responsible. In the "Kristallnacht", <A HREF = "hdibger.html#sa">SA</A>, <A HREF = "hdibger.html#ss">SS</A>, Hitler Youth vandalized Jewish cemeteries, set synagogues on fire, smashed the windows of Jewish-owned shops, harrassed Jews. Several tenthousands were immediately sent to <A HREF = "hdibger.html#conccamp">Concentration Camps</A>. The event triggered a mass exodus of Germany's Jews. Some German scholars have suggested to replace the euphemistic term by <i>Reichspogromnacht</i>, Imperial Pogrom Night'. In English sometimes called <i>Night of the Broken Glass</i>. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "lebensraum"><B>"Lebensraum im Osten"</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> A key phrase Hitler discussed in <A HREF = "hdibger.html#meinkampf">"Mein Kampf"</A>, translating to <i>living space in the East</i>. Hitler believed that the (then growing) German "race" needed additional space to settle and believed that for this purpose, Poland-Ukraine should be seized, the present non-Germanic population of these areas to be resettled further to the east. The German invasion of the USSR in June 1941, which marks the transition from an Anglo-German war into a true World War, was motivated by the desire to implement this vision. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "feldherrnhalle"><B>March on the Feldherrnhalle</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> In imitation of the Italian Fascists' March on Rome 1922, German ultranationalists on November 9th 1923 staged the March on the Feldherrnhalle in Munich. The most prominent figure leading the March was World War I hero, Erich Ludendorff. On this occasion, Hitler for the first time sought and gained prominence. The March was stopped by German police, Hitler and others arrested; Hitler was tried, sentenced to 5 years in prison. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "meinkampf"><B>Mein Kampf</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> (my struggle), title of Hitler's book describing his political vision, dictated to Rudolf Hess while both served a short prison term for having been responsible for the organization of the March on the Feldherrnhalle. The book stated Hitlers view that the Treaty of Versailles had to be revised, that a second World War would be inevitable, that the German population required additional space to settle (<A HREF = "hdibger.html#lebensraum">Lebensraum im Osten</A>) and Hitler's position that a <A HREF = "hdibger.html#finalsolution">"Final Solution of the Jewish Question"</A> had to be sought. Published in 1925 (8 years before Hitler was elected). In present Germany, the book is banned. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "munichpact"><B>Munich Pact</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Agreed upon by Chamberlain (Britain), Daladier (France), Mussolini (Italy) and Hitler (Germany) in September 1938. Hitler demanded Czechoslovakia to cede the <A HREF = "#sudetenland">Sudetenland</A>. Britain and France were obliged by treaty to defend Czechoslovakia; Chamberlain refused to stand by Britain's obligation and recommended Czechoslovakia (not represented in Munich) to cede the territory in question. in German : M&uuml;nchner Abkommen </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "nazis"><B>Nazis</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Short for <i>Nationalsozialisten</i> (National Socialists). After 1933, a growing community of German exiles, in the United Kingdom as well as in the United States, used this abbreviation to such an extent that the German pronunciation came to be used by the English speakers, and the original word was/is hardly ever used. See under <A HREF = "hdibger.html#nsdap">NSDAP</A>. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Night of the Long Knives</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> In German : Nacht der langen Messer. June 29th to 30th 1934. In order to convince the German army leadership that he really was in charge (a precondition for the Wehrmacht recognition of Hitler as Germany's president) Hitler had the <A HREF = "hdibger.html#sa">SA</A> leadership eliminated. Nazi <A HREF = "hdibger.html#propaganda">propaganda</A> justified the act by an alleged coup planned by the SA ("R&ouml;hm-Putsch"). </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>"Nordic Race"</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> In his <i>Essai sur l'Inegalite des Races Humaines</i> (1853), Gobineau established a ranking list of "races" in Europe; the one he ragarded the best, because purest, was the "Nordic Race". Scandinavia was never invaded from the outside but had produced numerous invasions of other areas. Nazi <A HREF = "hdibger.html#propaganda">propaganda</A>, without ever quoting Gobineau, used his terminology, interpreting Germans as being part of this "Nordic Race". </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "nsdap"><B>NSDAP</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Short for Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party). A predecessor, the DAP (Deutsche Arbeiter Partei), an insignificant ultraright party of a few 100 members, was taken over by Hitler and renamd NSDAP in 1920. Although rejecting democracy, the small party was permitted to operate, and gained notoriety more for the actions of her party militia, the <A HREF = "hdibger.html#sa">SA</A>, and for the hateful speeches of Hitler and Goebbels, than for success at the polls. In national elections until 1928, the NDSAP gained up to 4 % of the votes (but was represented in the <A HREF = "hdgermany.html#reichstag">Reichstag</A>, Germany's parliament); in elections held after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 it gained 28 % (1930), 33 % (in 1933). </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "racelaws"><B>Nuremberg Race Laws</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Passed in 1935, defining Jews (persons both parents of whom were Jews), Half-Jews, Quarter-Jews, Aryans. Half-Jews and Jews were deprived of their German citizenship; intermarriage of Aryans and Jews was prohibited. These laws provided the legal foundation for discrimination against Germany's Jews, such as eliminating Jews from public office / state employment, denying Jews education at universities, high schools etc. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Plebiscite Areas</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Following the Treaty of Versailles, President Wilson's concept of self-determination of nations was to be implemented. Within the borders of pre-war Germany were areas with a strong concentration of speakers of languages other than German, and here, plebiscites were to be held. Such plebiscite areas included Upper Silesia, Marienwerder, Allenstein, Northern Schleswig, the Saargebiet, the Memelland, in Austria parts of Carinthia, in Hungary Lajtabbanszag (the present Austrian Burgenland). Marienwerder, Allenstein (both 1920), the Saargebiet (1935) opted for Germany, Upper Silesia and N. Schleswig were partitioned (1920), Carinthia opted for Austria (1920), Lajtabanszag was partitioned (1921), the larger part coming to Austria. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "propaganda"><B>Propaganda</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> The <A HREF = "hdibger.html#nazis">Nazis</A> did not invent political propaganda (Communists and Fascists used it first), but perfected it. They used posters, radio (the Nazis promoted the production of cheap standard radios, to reach every family), the new medium of film. Since 1933 Nazi propaganda monopolized all media. Sports and unpolitical films were used to distract the people. Political events were often staged. Joseph Goebbels was in charge, as Minister of Propaganda. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>"Race Hygiene"</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> In Nazi Germany, since 1935 "Aryans" were prohibited to marry "Jews" or "Half-Jews"; existing <A HREF = "#aryan">"Aryan"</A> husbands or wives of "Jewish" or "Half-Jewish" spouses were encouraged to file for divorce, could be made the object of public embarrasing humiliation. International marriages with Scandinavians and Western Europeans were not objected to; with Slavs were discouraged. Based on Gobineau's philosophy, the assumption that human "races" differed in quality. The <A HREF = "hdibger.html#nazis">Nazis</A> discriminated against life dubbed "subhuman". </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "racetheory"><B>Race Theory</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> At universities, "race biology" became a pseudo-science promoted by Nazi Germany, and discredited ever since (although not every scholar writing publications in the field crossed the line between science and ideology). "Race Biology" focussed on outer features such as facial features and the size of the scull. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "rhineland"><B>Rhineland Separatism</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> In 1923 France tried to create separatist movements in the occupied Rhineland and Palatine. The majority regarded the separatists traitors. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "sa"><B>SA</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Short for 'Sturm Abteilung'; leading Nazi Militia until 1934 (Night of the Long Knives), when the SS rose to take her plave. In English, both organizations are referred to as stormtroopers. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> SPD </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdgermany.html#spd">Germany</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "ss"><B>SS</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Short for 'Schutzstaffel' (Protection Squad); leading Nazi Militia since 1934; black uniforms. Ran the <A HREF = "hdibger.html#conccamp">Concentration Camps</A>, largely, but not exclusively, responsible for the execution of the <A HREF = "hdibger.html#holocaust">Holocaust</A>. Hitler planned to replace the German army by SS divisions. Lead by Heinrich Himmler. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Star of David</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> In 1939 it was decreed that Jews had to wear a badge shaped as the Star of David visibly on their right sleeve; in Germany the star was to be in yellow hence in Germany known as the Yellow Star), in German-occupied Poland as a hollow blue star on white background. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "sudetenland"><B>Sudetenland</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> The mountain-rim border region of Bohemia and Moravia (present Czech Republic). Since the Late Middle Ages this region had an ethnic German population majority. The name Sudetenland is rather recent; in 1918 the population of the Sudetenland wanted to remain with Austria; the Sudeten Germans regarded themselves a minority discriminated against in Czechoslovakia. In the 1930es a Sudeten German Nazi organization under Konrad Henlein managed to become the leading Sudeten German political organization; in 1938 Henlein and Hitler demanded the cession of the Sudetenland by Czechoslovakia to Germany. When Hitler threatened with invasion, the British (Chamberlain) and Fench (Daladier), protectors of Czechoslovakia, gave in (Munich Pact, Sept. 1938); Czechoslovakia ceded the territory. After World War II, the Sudeten German popultion group was expelled. The Sudetenland contained the uranium mine producing the material for Germany's nuclear bomb project. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Swastika</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> In German 'Hakenkreuz' (hooked cross). Symbol of the <A HREF = "hdibger.html#nsdap">NSDAP</A>; 1933-1945 shown together with, at times instead of, the German flag. A symbol appearing in Hindu mythology, used by a variety of persons and groups (Rudyard Kipling, Early Bolzheviks) until adopted by the Nazis, with whom it now is generally associated. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "tversailles"><B>Versailles, Treaty of</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Peace treaty for Germany after World War I. Dictated by the victorious allies; Germany was given no option but to accept or continue the war. Harsh in its treatment of Germany : G. had to cede all her colonies, had to cede Alsace-Lorraine, Posen, West Prussia, <A HREF = "hdgermany.html#danzig">Danzig</A>; in certain border regions Plebisctes were o be held to decide their future allocation; Germany's army was to accept severe restrictions in size and quality of arms, the Rhineland was to be demilitarized; Germany had to accept sole responsibility for having started the war, and to pay reparations to Belgium, France and Italy for the damage afflicted. The terms of the treaty were rejected by all sectors of Germany's political spectrum, except for the Communists.. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Volkswagen</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> The Volkswagen was conceived by Ferdinand Porsche, on guidelines set by Hitler, in 1933, a prototype built and tested in 1935-1936, mass production began in 1938. It was the product of a combination of German engineering and American assembly line technology. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "wannsee"><B>Wannsee Conference</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Held on January 20th 1942, discussing and deciding on the implementation of the genocide of Europe's Jewish population (see <A HREF = "hdibger.html#finalsolution">"Final Solution"</A>). Presided by Reinhard Heydrich, Adolf Eichmann was charged with the implementation of its decisions. The conference lasted barely 45 minutes. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Wehrmacht </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdgermany.html#wehrmacht">Germany</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "weimar"><B>Weimar Republic</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> When Germany as proclaimed a Republic on November 9th 1918, Berlin became unsafe due to the activity of the <A HREF = "hdibger.html#rev1918">Revolution</A>. The new constitution was formulated in the small, but safe city of Weimar; the Republic came to be named after Weimar, although the revolution was terminated by March 1919 and the government returned to Berlin. The Weimar Republic lasted from 1919 to 1933 and had a rather liberal constitution. From the beginning, it had to face rejection from the extreme right as well as the extreme left. The years 1919-1923 saw one political crisis following another, and economic chaos; the years 1924 to 1928 relative stability and prosperity, the years 1929 to 1933 economic depression and political deadlock. Cabinets changed frequently. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "left" valign = "center" width = "700"> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "2"> PRINTED REFERENCE : <BR> </font></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> </DIV> </DIV> <DIV align="center"> <A href="mailto:aganse@hotmail.com"> <IMG src="../../email.gif" border="0"></a><BR> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <!-- Start of CH Counter --> <script type="text/javascript"> //<!-- // chCounter v2.0.0 // settings: cstatus = "active"; visible = "0"; path_to_counterfile = "http://www.zum.de/whkmla/counter/counter.php"; urlhp = "http://www.zum.de"; //////////////// url = unescape(location.href); file = url.substring(url.lastIndexOf(urlhp) + urlhp.length, url.length); file = (file.charAt(0) != "/") ? "/" + file : file; referer = (document.referrer) ? document.referrer : ""; document.write("<script type=\"text/javascript\" "); document.write("src=\"" + path_to_counterfile + "?chCounter_mode=js&status=" + cstatus + "&visible=" + visible); document.write("&seite=" + file + "&referer=" + referer + "&res_width=" + screen.width + "&res_height=" + screen.height + "\"></" + "script>"); //--> </script> <!-- End of CH Counter --> <BR> </div> </body></html>