Abbreviations: Danish Rescue and Relief
See below for Glossary of Terms
AA
German Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt)
AFSC
American Friends’ Service Committee (Quakers), USA
BDS
Chief German Security Official (Befehlshaber der Sicherheitsdienstes)
HIAS
Hebrew Immigrant Aid and Sheltering Society, headquarters New York, USA
HICEM
Umbrella organization composed of HIAS, ICA, and EMIGDIREKT (Berlin Aid Society)
ICRC
International Committee for the Red Cross
NRS
National Refugee Service, USA
RSHA
Reich Security Division (Reichssicherheitshauptamt)
SD
Germany Security Service, a division of the RSHA (Sicherheitsdienst)
SIPO
Germany Security Police (Sicherheitspolizei)
YMCA
Young Men’s Christian Association, USA
Glossary of Terms
Affidavit in Lieu of Passport
Many refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied territories left their countries illegally without passports, papers or identity cards. Local consuls and diplomats could issue an affidavit in lieu of passport as a means of providing refugees with a document that could legally allow them to cross international borders.
Aliya
Hebrew: “Ascend.” Immigration of Jews to Palestine
Aliya Bet
Illegal Immigration to Palestine (Israel). Organized by the Irgun and Haganah during the British Mandate period. Especially active in 1934-1948. Chartered and organized numerous ships to Palestine.
Anschluss
German: “Annexation”; German annexation of Austria by Germany on March 13, 1938. It was accomplished by popular vote. It put approximately 189,000 Austrian Jews under German rule. Many thousands fled to Southern France, especially after the Kristallnacht action of November 10, 1938.
Aryanization
Expropriation – confiscation of Jewish property, businesses and money in Germany and German-occupied Europe. Under these laws and the French Statut des Juifs, more than 42,000 Jewish businesses and properties were confiscated in France.
Ashkenazim
Jews of European ancestry
Auschwitz Protocols
Vrba-Wetzler Report. Rudolph Vrba and Alfred Wetzler escape from the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in 1943. They successfully escaped to Slovakia, where they prepared an elaborate report of the murder of Jews. The report was translated into numerous languages and sent around the world.
Axis
Political and military alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan.
Beriha
Hebrew: “Flight”
Collaboration, collaborator
Cooperation of French citizens and German occupying forces. Collaboration between French officials or private citizens and the Nazi government enabled them to Aryanize Jewish businesses, enforce antisemitic laws, and arrest and deport Jews and other enemies of the Nazis to the concentration and death camps.
Death camp
The Nazi government built six camps that were used as killing centers for Jews and others. Jews from France were deported to three of these camps: Sobibor, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau. 75,000 Jews from France were murdered in these camps.
Denaturalization
Removal of citizenship.
Deportation
Forced relocation
Evian Conference
Conference held in the French resort town of Evian, July 6-15, 1938. It was attended by 33 countries. Its purpose was to resolve the refugee crisis that resulted from the German annexation of Austria and thousands of Jews fleeing from Germany and Czechoslovakia. Virtually nothing of substance was accomplished at this conference, as no countries were willing to accept Jewish refugees.
Final Solution
Endlösing der Judenfrage in Europa; German: “Final Solution of the Jewish Problem in Europe”
Gestapo
German: Geheime Staatspolizei; German State Secret Police. Headed by SS General Heinrich Mueller. IVB4 was a department of the Gestapo.
Hakhshara
Hebrew: “Training”; agricultural training farm. Several of these farms were located in Southern France.
He Halutz
Hebrew: “Pioneer.” Jewish youth organization that helped prepare young Jews for immigration to Palestine.
IVB4
Gestapo and SS “Jewish Office,” headquartered in Berlin, in charge of arrest and deportation of Jews in France and other occupied countries. Headed by SS Colonel Adolph Eichmann, his deputies were Dieter Wisliceny and Major Alois Brunner.
J
Stood for Juif (Jew). Stamped on German, Austrian and Czech passports.
Jewish Agency
Jewish Agency for Palestine. Established in 1921 to establish Jewish self rule in the British Mandate of Palestine. It set up Palestine Offices to promote immigration to Palestine.
Jewish Badge
Jews were not forced to wear Jewish badges in Denmark.
Partisans
Resistance fighters against German occupying forces.
Passport
Official document issued by a country of origin for an individual.
Reich Security Division (RSHA)
German: Reichssicherheitshauptamt. Reich Security Main Office. Combined offices of Nazi Gestapo (Secret Police), Security Service (SD) and Police (SIPO). Headed by SS General Reinhard Heydrich and later Ernst Kaltenbrunner. It coordinated the final solution for the murder of Jews of Europe and millions of others.
Red Cross
International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC)
Refugee
Individual displaced from his or her country of origin.
Righteous Among the Nations
Non-Jews who rescued Jews during the Holocaust. Official title and honor created by the State of Israel in 1953.
Sho’ah
Hebrew: “Catastrophe”; term commonly used in Israel for the Holocaust
Visa
Document that permitted bearer to travel through, enter and exit a country. There were entry, exit and transit visas. Visas could be attached to or stamped in passports.
Yishuv
Hebrew: “Settlement”; Prewar Jewish Community in Palestine/Israel. Established under British mandate by League of Nations in 1921.
Youth Aliya
Jewish youth organization that prepared Jews to emigrate to Palestine.