War and Conflict vocabulary Flashcards
Genocide
The deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular ethnic group or nation with the aim of destroying that ethnic group or nation.
The etymology of “Genocide”
genos = race (Greek) cide = the act of killing (Latin/French)
Holocaust
Destruction or killing on a mass scale, especially caused by fire or nuclear war
Synonyms for Genocide
Bloodletting Racial killing Ethnic cleansing Extermination Massacre
The historical meaning of “Holocaust”
A Jewish sacrificial offering that was burned completely at an altar
The etymology of “Holocaust”
From Latin originally
Holos = whole kaustos = burning
Synonyms for “Holocaust”
Sho’ah (catastrophe)
Hurban (destruction)
Gestapo
Secret State Police (Geheime Staatspolizei) in Nazi Germany
The SS
Protective Echelon (Schutzstaffel), Adolf Hitler’s personal body guards
What does the Star of David represent?
It represents God as David’s protector/shield
Etymology of “Swastika”
From the Sanskrit word “svastika” meaning well-being/good fortune
The colours of the Swastika
Red, Black, White (Same as the German imperial flag)
The Swastika
A hooked cross symbol, used on the NAZI flag as a symbol of German nationalist pride and Aryan identity
Der Fuhrer
“Leader”
The title Hitler took when he assumed dictatorship of Germany
Kristallnacht
“Night of Broken Glass”
Nov 9 - Nov 10 1938
A night of rampage where Nazis torched synagogues and vandalised Jewish homes, schools and businesses.
Around 100 people were killed and
30 000 Jewish men were taken to concentration camps.
The Final solution
The planned mass murder of European Jews between 1941 - 1945
The solution to “the Jewish problem”
Ways in which the Final Solution was implemented
- Implementing starvation policies in concentration camps
- Allowing disease to spread in these camps and doing little to heal sickness
- Random acts of terror and shootings
- Mass Gassings
Concentration camp
A place where people are detained or confined under harsh conditions without regard to legal norms of arrest or imprisonment that are acceptable in a constitutional democracy
Gas chambers
Bunkers where victims were killed using Zyklon B gas.
Victims believed they were being disinfected and were forced to remove their clothes.
Nuremburg trials
A series of 13 trials held in Nuremberg 1945 - 1949 to prosecute Nazi officials, high-ranking officers, German industries, lawyers and doctors with crimes against peace and humanity
How were the bodies disposed of after gassing?
Corpses were burned in crematoria or buried in mass graves
