Holocaust Vocabulary

1. Holocaust Vocabulary By: William Phillips

2. Oskar Shindler • Oskar Shindler was born in Zwittau, Czechoslovakia in April 18, 1908 under a rich family. Born as a complicated man that was generous and kindhearted but was irresponsible with money. He was married to a woman named Emilie Pezel although they‘re fathers never approved the wedding. Even though he was married he often cheated on his wife because he was a womanizer and was a heavy drinker. When Germany took control of Czechoslovakia Oskar became Germanys spy not because he volunteered but simply for survival. He was a good spy because he was good at making people befriend him and got most of his information from talking to people. If you were to talk to Oskar it was hard to tell if he was for or against. Through out his life Oskar saved over 1,000 Jews and he was considered a “saint walking through hell.”

3. Blitzkrieg • German for “lightning war” it was an important element in German military strategy. The point is to catch the enemy completely off guard with fast and heavy assault. The assault contained a huge front of panzer and tiger tanks with air attacks by Messerschmitt's and Junkers dropping parachuters. It first happened on the invasion of Poland September 1, 1939 and which due to the attack Poland fell to German domination under a week. After Poland Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Nederland's, and Switzerland fell under German control under a matter of days or weeks. http://files.myopera.com/phunganhban/albums/3472772/blitzkrieg-wallpaper.jpg http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/127/4/f/BlitzKrieg_by_Shadow_Tannin.jpg

4. Hitler's Youth • Established in 1926 in Germany Hitler’s Youth was similar to the Boy Scouts of America but instead of becoming an eagle scout you would become a Nazi sworn to fight in the German army. Thedeutsches jungvolk was for male ages 14-18 and Bund Deutcher Madel was for female ages 10-14.There were over 8.8 million members in Hitler's Youth. There was a risk joining Hitler’s Youth you had a chance of being attacked by people that didn’t believed in Hitler’s Youth. During the few last months of the war Hitler’s last option was to use Hitler’s Youth to fight off the Red Army (remember Hitler’s Youth mostly contained people under 18 years of age). It is unknown on how many people died in Hitler’s Youth.

5. Arbeit Macht Frei • German for (work brings freedom). This slogan was placed on most of the main entrances of concentration camps including the infamous Auschwitz. It meant you worked till you were to be killed. It was also was made to calm the fears of Jews that they work the best they could so they would be free but of course they were executed afterwords. The sign was placed by Rudolf Hoess on the entrance even though he did not invent the slogan. On December 18, 2009 the arbeit macht frei sign above the entrance of Auschwitz was stolen and found December 22, 2009 180 miles north of Auschwitz. The criminal was a collector and wanted to make money off of the symbol. But the problem was that the sign was cut in three places and was to be sent to the Auschwitz museum. A replica was placed above the entrance of Aushwitz.