Aktion A Nazi military or police operation to seek forcibly assemble Jews prior to shooting or deportation.
Allies Group of 26 nations led by Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union that opposed the Axis powers, in World War II.
Appellplatz German for the square where prisoners were forced to assemble for roll calls.
Appel: German term for the roll call for prisoners’ in concentration camps
Aryan Term used in Nazi Germany to refer to non-Jewish and non-Gypsy Caucasians white Europeans, especially northern Europeans with blonde hair and blue eyes, who were considered by the Nazis to be the most superior of Aryans and members of a ‘master race’.
Aryanisation The Nazi term for the seizure of Jewish property and its transfer to non-Jews.
Ashkenazi A Jewish diaspora population that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire in the 8th and 9th centuries. Ashkenazim traditionally spoke Yiddish and largely migrated towards northern and eastern Europe during the late Middle Ages to escape persecution.
Axis A political, military and ideological alliance created by Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan in Berlin on 27 September 1940. Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia eventually also joined the Axis.
Block-Ältesters, Jewish inmates in concentration camps who were chosen to be the barrack leaders. Within the camp hierarchy they were just below Kapos,
Central British Fund (CBF) The UK-based charitable organisation that was instrumental in bringing The Boys to the UK. Formerly known as The Central British Fund for German Jewry, today it is World Jewish Relief.
Concentration Camp A prison camp used to detain enemies of the state, including Jews, Gypsies, political and religious opponents, members of national resistance movements, homosexuals, and others. Imprisonment was of unlimited duration, not linked to a specific act, and not subject to any judicial review. Inmates were often forced to undertake hard labour.
Death March A forced march of prisoners, especially Jews, from of the concentration and slave labour camps in eastern Europe to camps further west that began in the autumn of 1944 in face of the advance of the Red Army.
Deportation Forced removal of Jews in the Third Reich and German occupied countries from their homes.
Displaced Persons Camp (“DP Camp”) A series of camps established by the Allies after World War II to house survivors of Nazi persecution and refugees from eastern Europe, known as displaced persons, or DPs, while they awaited repatriation to their home countries or resettlement in a new destination.
Einsatzgruppen The German word for an Operational Task Force. Einsatzgruppen were mobile SS and SD killing units that were supported by Order Police, Waffen-SS personnel and auxiliary units of Ukrainian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian volunteers. The units followed the German army as it invaded the nations of central and eastern Europe. Their duties included the arrest or murder of political opponents and potential resistance.
Extermination Camp A camp set up by the Nazis for the mass murder of Jews, primarily by poison gas.
Final Solution Translation of the German word Endlösung, a Nazi euphemism for the plan to murder all European Jews.
Gas Van Vehicle whose exhaust was redirected to its rear compartment.
Gestapo The SS controlled German Secret State Police responsible for investigating political crimes and opposition activities. Gestapo is a contraction of Geheime Staatspolizei.
Ghetto Under the Nazis a ghetto was a very clearly defined district, often walled or fenced in and surrounded by armed guards, in which only Jews were forced to live in the worst possible conditions. All, except the Theresienstadt Ghetto, were eventually dissolved and the Jews were murdered. The word Ghetto was first used in Venice in 1516 to describe an area of a town or city where Jews were required to live.
Hostel The locations in the UK where The Boys were received and given the time, space, health care necessary for rehabilitation and recovery and education to help them learn English.
Judenrat Jewish councils set up to maintain order and carry out the orders of the German army.
Kommando German word for ‘detachment,’ such as a group of concentration camp prisoners at forced labour.
Kapo A concentration camp prisoner selected to oversee other prisoners.
Kindertransport Literally ‘children’s transport’ in German. A pre-war programme whereby the British government allowed the admission of almost 10,000 mostly Jewish child refugees from central Europe after Kristallnacht until the outbreak of war curtailed the operation.
Labour Camp Camp where Jews and other prisoners were subjected to forced slave labour for either military or government purposes. Inmates were detained for periods of unlimited duration without judicial review.
Lebensraum ‘Living space’ in German, it was a basic principle of Nazi foreign policy. Hitler believed that eastern Europe had to be conquered to create a vast German empire.
Muselmann A term widely used by concentration camp prisoners to refer to inmates who were on the verge of death from starvation, exhaustion, and despair.
Pale of Settlement The western part of the Russian Empire in which Russian Jews were allowed to live from 1835–1917.
Pogrom Violent attack on a Jewish community.
Police battalion Armed unit of German regular policemen. Along with the Einsatzgruppen, the police battalions played a leading role in mass executions of Jews in eastern Europe.
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, usually referred to as the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Soviet Union from 1922-1946, when it was renamed the Soviet Army.
SD Anacronym for Sicherheitsdienst. The SD was an SS agency which was the political intelligence agency of the SS and played a central role in carrying out the Holocaust.
Selection A term for the process of separating Jews deemed suitable for hard labour from the remainder, who were then sent to their deaths. This usually took place either in a ghetto roundup or on arrival at a concentration camp.
Sephardi Sephardic Jews are a diaspora community, who in 1492 were forced to convert to Catholicism of face expulsion from Spain. Between 100,000-300,000 Spanish Jews left Spain and settled in different parts of Europe and the Middle East. Approximately 100,000 Sephardic Jews from locations including Greece, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Netherlands, Italy, France, Tunisia and
Libya, were killed by the Nazis in World War 2.
Slave Labour Camp Camp where Jews and other prisoners were subjected to forced slave labour for either military or government purposes. Inmates were detained for periods of unlimited duration without judicial review
Sonderkommando A term meaning ‘special detachment’ in German that was used to describe an SS or Einsatzgruppe detachment. It also refers to the Jewish slave labour units in extermination camps who were forced to work in and around the gas chambers.
SS An abbreviation of Schutzstaffel, German for ‘protection squad’. The SS was a paramilitary formation of the Nazi party created to serve as bodyguards to Hitler and other Nazi leaders. The SS later took charge of political intelligence gathering, the German police and the central security apparatus, the concentration camps, and the systematic mass murder of Jews and other victims.
Transit camp A camp in which Jews were held before deportation to extermination camps.
Transport Word used to describe the forced movement of prisoners from one place to another. The word was also used to refer to the movement of refugees both before and after the war.
Yiddish A Germanic language with elements of Hebrew and Aramaic historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews.
Zyklon B A chemical developed as an insecticide, used in gas chambers.