21-40 Flashcards
- Pogrom
Definition: A violent, organized massacre, particularly against a specific ethnic or religious group, often targeting Jewish communities in Eastern Europe and Russia.
Significance: Pogroms were state-sanctioned or socially tolerated acts of violence that contributed to Jewish persecution, displacement, and ultimately laid the groundwork for the Holocaust.
- Nuremberg Laws
Definition: A set of antisemitic laws enacted in Nazi Germany in 1935 that stripped Jews of citizenship and prohibited marriages between Jews and non-Jews.
Significance: These laws institutionalized racial discrimination, segregated Jews, and set the stage for their exclusion and eventual extermination during the Holocaust.
- Eugenics
Definition: A pseudo-scientific ideology advocating for the selective breeding of humans to promote “desirable” traits and eliminate “undesirable” ones.
Significance: The Nazis used eugenics to justify forced sterilizations, euthanasia programs, and ultimately, the Holocaust, targeting Jews, disabled individuals, and other marginalized groups.
- Anschluss
Definition: The annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in March 1938.
Significance: This event demonstrated Hitler’s aggressive expansionism and was met with little resistance from the international community, emboldening Nazi ambitions for further territorial expansion.
- Evian Conference
Definition: A 1938 international meeting in Evian, France, where world leaders discussed the refugee crisis caused by Nazi persecution of Jews.
Significance: Most nations, including the U.S. and Britain, refused to accept more Jewish refugees, reinforcing Nazi beliefs that no country wanted the Jews and enabling further persecution.
- Kristallnacht
Definition: A state-sponsored, nationwide pogrom in Germany and Austria on November 9–10, 1938, during which Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues were vandalized and destroyed.
Significance: Marked a turning point in Nazi persecution of Jews, escalating from social and legal discrimination to widespread physical violence.
- Concentration Camp
Definition: Detention centers established by Nazi Germany to imprison and exploit Jews, political opponents, and other persecuted groups.
Significance: These camps were used for forced labor, torture, and mass murder, playing a crucial role in the Holocaust.
- Wagner- Rogers Bill
Definition: A proposed U.S. bill in 1939 to admit 20,000 Jewish refugee children from Nazi-occupied territories.
Significance: The bill was ultimately rejected, reflecting U.S. isolationism and antisemitism, and leaving many Jewish children trapped in Nazi Europe.
- World Jewish Congress
Definition: An international Jewish organization founded in 1936 to advocate for Jewish rights and combat antisemitism.
Significance: Played a critical role in Holocaust-era diplomacy, exposing Nazi atrocities and advocating for Jewish rescue efforts.
- The Final Solution
Definition: The Nazi plan for the systematic extermination of the Jewish people, implemented during World War II.
Significance: Led to the genocide of six million Jews in death camps such as Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Sobibor.
Riegner Report
Definition: A 1942 report by Gerhart Riegner, a World Jewish Congress representative, warning Allied governments of Nazi plans for mass extermination.
Significance: One of the earliest official warnings of the Holocaust, but it was largely ignored by world leaders.
- Bermuda Conference
Definition: A 1943 meeting between the U.S. and Britain to discuss the Jewish refugee crisis.
Significance: No concrete action was taken to help Jewish refugees, further demonstrating Allied reluctance to intervene in the Holocaust.
- Raoul Wallenberg
Definition: A Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews by issuing protective passports and providing safe houses.
Significance: One of the most famous rescuers of the Holocaust, his efforts saved tens of thousands from deportation to Auschwitz.
- Auschwitz
Definition: The largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp, located in occupied Poland.
Significance: Over one million people, mostly Jews, were murdered here, making it the deadliest camp of the Holocaust.
- Dachau
Definition: The first Nazi concentration camp, established in 1933 in Germany.
Significance: Initially used for political prisoners, it later became a model for other camps and was the site of medical experiments and mass executions.
- Express Judio
Definition: A Spanish-language Jewish news outlet covering Jewish affairs, Holocaust memory, and antisemitism.
Significance: Helps preserve Holocaust history and promote awareness of Jewish issues in the Spanish-speaking world.
- Adolf Eichmann
Definition: A high-ranking Nazi official and key architect of the Holocaust, responsible for organizing the deportation of Jews to extermination camps.
Significance: Captured in Argentina in 1960, tried in Israel, and executed in 1962, his trial was a landmark moment in Holocaust justice.
- Josef Mengele
Definition: A Nazi doctor at Auschwitz known as the “Angel of Death” for conducting inhumane medical experiments on prisoners.
Significance: His experiments, particularly on twins, caused immense suffering; he evaded justice, escaping to South America after the war.
- Treblinka
Definition: A Nazi extermination camp in occupied Poland, operational between 1942 and 1943.
Significance: One of the most lethal camps, where approximately 900,000 Jews were murdered in gas chambers.
- International Committee of the Red Cross
Definition: A humanitarian organization that provides aid during conflicts and advocates for human rights.
Significance: Criticized for its failure to publicly condemn the Holocaust or intervene significantly in aiding Jewish victims during World War II.
