Germany 1918–1939:

Glossary

Pamela Panczyk
Jamison High School

Abdication

The monarch gives up his or her throne. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated in November 1918.
 

Abwehr

The intelligence agency of the German High Command.
 

Anschluss

Term for the union of Austria and Germany. This union was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles, but Hitler carried out the union of these two countries in March 1938.
 

Anti-semitism

Anti-Jewish attitudes, policies or practices. It refers to hostility or hatred towards peoples of Semitic origins, but is used to mean anti-Jewish.
 

Appeasement

The attempt to avoid war by giving in to some of Germany's foreign policy demands in the 1930s.
 

Autarky

Self-sufficiency in raw materials and food.
 

Axis

An alliance formed between Italy, Germany and Japan from 1918–1945.
 

Blitzkrieg

Lightning war; the military tactic using tanks and air power to beat the enemy, which was used very successfully by the Nazis in Poland in 1939.
 

Chancellor

Prime Minister of Germany.
 

Concentration camp

A place of detention for political opponents and those considered undesirable; including Jews, lunatics and homosexuals; by the Nazi regime.
 

Concordat

An agreement between the Pope and another nation dealing with religious or church matters.
 

Conscription

Compulsory military service.
 

Dawes Plan

The plan formulated in 1924 by a committee led by American banker Charles Dawes to adjust Germany's reparations payments. Germany was to receive an immediate loan, France was to leave the Ruhr, and reparations payments were to be adjusted to Germany's capacity to pay.
 

Death's Head Units

Part of the Schutzstaffel, their main task was the administration and control of the concentration camp system.
 

Dictator

Ruler with absolute authority without hereditary right, unelected. Hitler's government was a form of dictatorship.
 

Diktat

German name for the Treaty of Versailles. Germans felt it was a dictated peace.
 

Dolchstosslegende

The stab in the back legend; the belief that it had not been the army that had been beaten in the war but that the army had been betrayed by left-wing politicians.
 

Einsatzgruppen

Special units of the Schutzstaffel whose job it was to go into occupied territories and suppress opposition.
 

Enabling Act

The German government was given special powers under the Constitution to deal with a crisis without having to refer to parliament.
 

Fascism

A form of government that is anti-democratic, anti-communist, nationalistic and based on a one-party state. National Socialism in Germany was the most extreme example of fascism.
 

Final solution

The program begun in 1941 to exterminate all the Jews in Europe.
 

Freikorps

Right-wing conservative ex-soldier groups who were used by the government to put down the Sparticists.
 

Führerprinzip

A German word meaning leadership principle. It was the belief that the Fuhrer, or leader, was above the state and that all Germans owed the leader obedience and loyalty.
 

Gestapo

The secret police of the Nazi state.
 

Gleichschaltung

A German term meaning coordination; in Nazi Germany it meant the nazification of German life and culture.
 

Herrenvolk

The Master race.
 

High command

The highest levels of command in the German Army.
 

Hyperinflation

Extreme or rapid inflation that devastated the German economy in the 1920s.
 

Junker

Land-owning aristocracy of Prussia. The Junker class was very influential in the German army and German politics. President Hindenburg was a Junker.
 

Kaiser

The German word for king or emperor.
 

Kraft Durch Freude

Strength through Joy, an organisation set up to regulate the leisure time of German workers.
 

Law for the Protection of the People and the State

An emergency decree issued on 28 February 1933 which meant that all civil liberties, such as freedom of speech and assembly, were suspended. This was meant to be temporary but lasted for twelve years.
 

Lebensborn

A German term meaning fountain of life; a program approved by Himmler to encourage young Aryan women to have children by selected Schutzstaffel men.
 

Lebensraum

A German term meaning living space. In Mein Kampf Hitler wrote about Germany needing to acquire more territory in Eastern Europe. This territory was to be Germany's living space or lebensraum.
 

Locarno Treaty

In October 1925 the major powers; Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Belgium; met to determine a mutual security agreement. Under its terms the western borders of Germany were guaranteed by the major powers. Germany gave up claims to Alsace-Lorraine and accepted the continued demilitarisation of the Rhineland. Germany was soon after accepted into the League of Nations as part of this spirit of reconciliation.
 

Luftwaffe

The German Air Force. Hermann Goering became its chief officer.
 

Mein Kampf

Hitler's book written while in prison for his role in the Munich Putsch. The title means my struggle.
 

Munich Putsch

Also known as the Beer Hall Putsch, this was Hitler's failed attempt to overthrow the government in 1923. The attempt involved General Ludendorff and the Sturmabteilung but was foiled by the German army. Hitler was taken to prison and charged with high treason.
 

Nationalism

The desire to be a nation; the belief of people of the same language, culture and racial background that they should be a nation. The promotion of the interests of one's own nation above all others.
 

Night of the long knives

The name given to the elimination of the leadership of the Sturmabteilung by the Schutzstaffel on 30 June 1934.
 

Panzer

Armoured division of the German army, usually the tanks.
 

Passive resistance

The policy of non-compliance with French rule adopted by the German government in response to the occupation of the Ruhr.
 

Phoney War

The period between September 1939 and April 1940 when there was no major military action on the Western Front.
 

Plebiscite

A special vote, like a referendum, where voters have a say on a special issue.
 

Pogrom

An attack on Jews and their property, often state-sponsored.
 

Propaganda Ministry

Led by Joseph Goebbels, this ministry controlled German newspapers, radio and film, and through the Reich Chamber of Culture its control extended to German music, theatre, writing, art, architecture, literature and sport.
 

Putsch

The German word for the attempted overthrow of the government. Examples include the Kapp Putsch of 1920 and Hitler's Munich Putsch of 1923.
 

Reichstag

The elected lower house of the German parliament; the Chancellor came from this house.
 

Reichstag fire

On 27 February 1933 the Reichstag building in Berlin burnt down. Hitler and the Nazis used the fire as an excuse to arrest Communists and to persuade President Hindenburg to issue an emergency decree.
 

Reichswehr

The German Army.
 

Rentenmark

The new currency issued in 1923 as part of the economic reforms to remedy hyperinflation.
 

Reparations

Repayments for damage done during the war.
 

Ruhr Valley

The German industrial region occupied by French and Belgian troops in 1923.
 

Schutzstaffel (SS)

Originally formed as Hitler's bodyguard under the leadership of Himmler, the blackshirted Schutzstaffel became an elite and powerful force in Germany. It was responsible for carrying out Hitler's racial policies.
 

SD

The Sicherheitsdienst, the security or intelligence branch of the Schutzstaffel, led by Reinhard Heydrich.
 

Social Democratic Party (SPD)

The SPD became a reformist party seeking power and influence by working through the political structure rather than overthrowing it. At the beginning of 1914 it was the largest political party in Germany. However, at the end of the war it became identified with the stab in the back legend.
 

Sparticists

The German Communist Party which wanted to overthrow the state and the capitalist system.
 

Sturmabteilung (SA)

The Sturmabteilung, known as stormtroopers or brown shirts, was the military wing of the Nazi Party, made up largely of ex-soldiers.
 

Sudetenland

A region in the western part of Czechoslovakia, next to Germany and inhabited by Germans. Hitler demanded the return of the Sudetenland to Germany in 1938.
 

Totalitarianism

A system of government in which total power and all aspects of state affairs are in the hands of one party that tolerates no opposition. The state seeks to gain complete control over its citizens and does not recognise or tolerate parties of differing opinion.
 

Treaty of Versailles

The peace treaty signed by Germany to end the First World War.
 

Volk

A term used in Nazi Germany to mean folk or people. Hitler wanted to preserve the racial purity of the German volk.
 

Volksgemeinschaft

The people's community.
 

Wehrmacht

The German armed forces.
 

Young Plan

In 1929, according to the provisions of this plan, reparations were further reduced and foreign troops finally removed from German territory in the Rhineland.