Glossary - KEY TERMS & SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE
Lesson 1: To help guide you on your journey about Nazi Germany, you have been provided with a list of key terms and significant people. This lesson is an introduction to the entire topic of Germany, and can be constantly referred to, and used as a guide when responding to set questions. Be sure to write the below terms in your work book and add any important terms you come across in your research.
Adolf Hitler – The leader of the Nazi Party
Aryan – racial grouping of Eastern European people, generally having light hair, blue or green eyes
Fuhrer Myth – The idea that Hitler was not just another national leader, but was something different and special; the hero of the fatherland, the man that the nation had been waiting for. He was both ‘extraordinary’ and yet quite ‘ordinary’. This was the essence of the “Fuhrer myth.”
Gestapo – Secret State Police controlled by Goering and then Himmler, who were aimed at finding anyone opposed to the Nazi regime. They were free of judicial restraint and were widely feared.
Hitler Youth (Hitler Jugend) – youth group where young recruits where filled with the notions of racial purity and patriotism
Indoctrinate - Teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs through propaganda and one sided education
Joseph Goebbels – Minister for Enlightenment and Propaganda from 1933 – 1945, had complete control of all radio, television and all press in Germany. Can be held responsible for the creation of the “Fuhrer myth.”
Leni Riefenstahl –German film director, responsible for producing many Nazi propaganda films, close friend of Adolf Hitler. After the war she claimed to have no knowledge of the crimes committed by the Nazi party.
Master Race – Hilter’s Aryan ideal of what he expected the world to be like.
Propaganda – Information, esp. of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.
SA – “The Storm troopers/ Brown shirts” – the SA were the Nazi’s para-military force, were known for their brutality on the street.
SS – “Schutzstaffel” – the SS were originally Hitler’s body guard, they were the elite members of the military, brutal, all racially ‘pure,’ and ran the concentration camps from 1934.
Swastika - symbol in the form of an equal-armed cross with each arm continued at a right angle. Main symbol of the German Nazi Party.
Totalitarianism - totalitarianism is a form of government in which the state controls all aspects of the lives of its people. The political parties ideology acts as a form of state religion
Triumph of the Will – Nazi propaganda film directed by Leni Reifenstahl aimed at glorifying the Nazi movement.
Adolf Hitler – The leader of the Nazi Party
Aryan – racial grouping of Eastern European people, generally having light hair, blue or green eyes
Fuhrer Myth – The idea that Hitler was not just another national leader, but was something different and special; the hero of the fatherland, the man that the nation had been waiting for. He was both ‘extraordinary’ and yet quite ‘ordinary’. This was the essence of the “Fuhrer myth.”
Gestapo – Secret State Police controlled by Goering and then Himmler, who were aimed at finding anyone opposed to the Nazi regime. They were free of judicial restraint and were widely feared.
Hitler Youth (Hitler Jugend) – youth group where young recruits where filled with the notions of racial purity and patriotism
Indoctrinate - Teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs through propaganda and one sided education
Joseph Goebbels – Minister for Enlightenment and Propaganda from 1933 – 1945, had complete control of all radio, television and all press in Germany. Can be held responsible for the creation of the “Fuhrer myth.”
Leni Riefenstahl –German film director, responsible for producing many Nazi propaganda films, close friend of Adolf Hitler. After the war she claimed to have no knowledge of the crimes committed by the Nazi party.
Master Race – Hilter’s Aryan ideal of what he expected the world to be like.
Propaganda – Information, esp. of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.
SA – “The Storm troopers/ Brown shirts” – the SA were the Nazi’s para-military force, were known for their brutality on the street.
SS – “Schutzstaffel” – the SS were originally Hitler’s body guard, they were the elite members of the military, brutal, all racially ‘pure,’ and ran the concentration camps from 1934.
Swastika - symbol in the form of an equal-armed cross with each arm continued at a right angle. Main symbol of the German Nazi Party.
Totalitarianism - totalitarianism is a form of government in which the state controls all aspects of the lives of its people. The political parties ideology acts as a form of state religion
Triumph of the Will – Nazi propaganda film directed by Leni Reifenstahl aimed at glorifying the Nazi movement.