Terms/Glossary - Rescue in Poland
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.
Aid Operations Organisation for Children
Organisation de Sécours aux Enfants, OSE. Founded Russia, 1912. Operated from Paris, France. Called OZE in Eastern Europe and TOZ in Poland before WWII.
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.
Aktion(en) (G.)
“Operation(s).” Action(s) against Jews, usually arrests and roundups, attacks, deportations or murder. Grossaktion(en) – large operation(s).
Allies (United Nations)
Nations who fought against axis powers. They included the United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, British India, Soviet Union.
Ambassador
Accredited diplomat sent by a country as an official representative to a foreign country. Usually in a capital city, e.g., Paris, Berlin, etc.
American Federation of Labor
A F of L. American foreign policy in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s had declared many of these refugees to be undesirable and did not always qualify for immigration papers. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) had pressured Roosevelt to grant a number of emergency “visitors visas-not for permanent residence in the US.” These temporary emergency visas would temporarily get these refugees out of danger.
American Friends Service Committee, (AFSC)
AFSC, part of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, headquarters Philadelphia, PA; the American Friends Service Committee was not a Jewish organization. However, numbers of Jews volunteered in Europe under its auspices; it was particularly active in German, France, Spain, and Portugal.
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)
USA New York, Paris, Marseilles, Lisbon, Geneva, Switzerland, founded in Paris 1927, French office forced to close in March 1943. The JDC distributed more than 80 million dollars in rescue and relief aid to Jews.
American Red Cross (ARC)
American Aid and Relief Organization.
Annexation
See Anschluss
Anschluss (G.)
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.
Anti-Semitism
Hostility to, prejudice, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is generally considered to be a form of racism.
Antisemitism is manifested in many ways, ranging from expressions of hatred of or discrimination against individual Jews to organized pogroms by mobs or police forces, and military attacks on entire Jewish communities. Nazi Party in Germany adopted Anti-Semitism as official state policy, when it came to power in 1933.
Aryan Papers Documents
Identification showing one was not Jewish. Holder could avoid arrest, detainment and deportation.
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/Ashkenazi (H.)
Jews of European ancestry. The Holocaust of the Second World War decimated the Ashkenazim, affecting almost every Jewish family. It is estimated that in the 11th century Ashkenazi Jews composed three percent of the world's total Jewish population, while an estimate made in 1930 (near the population's peak) had them as 92 percent of the world's Jews. Immediately prior to the Holocaust, the number of Jews in the world stood at approximately 16.7 million. Statistical figures vary for the contemporary demography of Ashkenazi Jews, ranging from 10 million to 11.2 million
Attaché
In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency.
Auschwitz (G.); Oswiecim (P.)
Nazi death camps in Poland. Located near Krakow. Also called Auschwitz-Birkenau. Of the 1.3 million people sent to Auschwitz, 1.1 million were murdered. The death toll includes 960,000 Jews (865,000 of whom were gassed on arrival).
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.
Ausweis (G.)
Work papers, documents.
Axis
Political and military alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan. It also included Bulgaria, Hungary, Finland and Slovakia.
Bank Certificate
Jews leaving Germany or Austria had to turn in most of their assets and money for this they received a bank certificate. Once they received the Bank Certificate and a Police Good Conduct Certificate they would be allowed to apply for an emigration permit. Many of these Jews went to Southern France and were without funds.
Baptismal Certificate
Proof document that one was baptised and thus Christian. A Jew holding one might be spared from arrest and deportation. Baptismal certificates were given to Jews throughout Europe. Some certificates were issued by sympathetic Catholic and Protestant clergymen to Jews. Vatican Nuncios such as Msg. Angelo Rotta (Budapest) and Cardinal Angelo Giuseppi Roncalli (Ankara) issued hundreds of false baptismal certificates to Jews. Baptismal certificates were often forged by Jewish groups.
Beitar Revisionist
Jewish political party
Belzec
Nazi Death camp in Lublin District of the General Government territory of German-occupied Poland. Between 430,000 and 500,000 Jews are believed to have been murdered by the SS at Bełżec.
Beriha (H.)
Hebrew: “Flight” or “Escape.” 250,000 Holocaust survivors were transported from Europe to Palestine between 1944 and 1948. Much of this activity was organized by the Yishuv.
Bermuda Conference
Meeting held in Bermuda April 19-28, 1943 between America and Great Britain. The conference was to resolve Jewish refugee issues. The US and the British government jointly agreed that rescue of Jews was not possible and would not be attempted until the war was won.
Birkenau (G.), Brzeninka (P.)
“Birch tree.” Auschwitz II, the murder facility of the Auschwitz complex, two miles from Auschwitz I, opened June 1940.
Blitzkrieg (G.)
“Lightening war.” First used by Germany against Poland in September 1939.
Blocked visa (blocked entry visa)
Cancelled visa
Caritas Catholica
Catholic Charities established to aid converted Jews. Started in Germany. Aided Jews in many parts of Nazi occupied Europe. Founded by Gertrude Luckner.
Certificate of Exemption
Certificate of Good Conduct
Document required by governments in order to obtain travel papers, such as visas and passports
Certificates of Exemption
A document that would protect a Jew from arrest and/or deportation. These documents were held by essential Jewish workers. These documents were often counterfeit or forged.
Certificate of Good Conduct
Nazi government forced Jews to obtain a good conduct certificate from the German police before they could emigrate from the country.
Chargé d’Affaires
A chargé d'affaires, often shortened to chargé and sometimes to charge-D, is a diplomat who served as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is French for "charged with matters."
Chełmno (P.); Kulmhof (G.)
Nazi death camp located 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of Łódź, near the village of Chełmno nad Nerem. Following the invasion of Poland in 1939, Germany annexed the area into the new territory of Reichsgau Wartheland. The camp, which was specifically intended for no other purpose than mass murder. Operated between Dec. 8, 1941 and the fall of 1942, and from May to August 1944. 250,000 persons were murdered there 99% were Jews. It was destroyed by the SS in January 1945.
Collaboration, collaborator
Cooperation of Polish citizens and German occupying forces. Collaboration between German 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.
Collection Camp
Camps that held Jews and non-Jews. (See Transit Camps.)
Concordat (Latin)
A concordat is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both, i.e. the recognition and privileges of the Catholic Church in a particular country and with secular matters that impact on church interests.
Concentration Camp
“KZ.” Camps established by Nazi government throughout Germany and its occupied territories. Concentration camps were principally labor camps, many Jews and others died in these camps as a result of overwork and poor conditions. There were 10,000 concentration camps and sub-camps.
Consul
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the people of the two countries.
A consul is distinguished from an ambassador, the latter being a representative from one head of state to another, but both have a form of immunity.
Consul General
A consul of the highest rank is termed a consul-general, and is appointed to a consulate-general. There are typically one or more deputy consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls, and consular agents working under the consul-general. A country may appoint more than one consul-general to another nation.
Consulate
The consulate is a diplomatic mission, the office of a consul and is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy. Consulates, are smaller diplomatic missions which are normally located in major cities of the receiving state (but can be located in the capital, usually when the sending country has no embassy in the state).
Converting to Christianity
Jews converted to Christianity to a avoid persecution, or to avoid arrest and deportation. See baptismal certificates. Catholic and Protestant leaders aided in this to protect Jews.
Courier
Individual who carried information, and documents.
Death camp
The Nazi government built six camps that were used as killing centers for Jews and others. Jews from Europe 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 removal of Jews or others to concentration camps or murder centers
Deportation center
Transit camp. Place from which Jews and others were sent to concentration or death camps.
Deutsche Reichsbahn (G)
German: German State Railroad. Responsible for transporting deportees to the death camps in Poland. 77 deportation trains left France between 1941-1944.
Diplomacy
The profession, activity, or skill of managing international relations, typically by a country's representatives abroad.
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one or more other States or international organizations.
The main functions of diplomats are: representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending State; initiation and facilitation of strategic agreements; treaties and conventions; promotion of information; trade and commerce; and friendly relations.
Diplomatic immunity
Diplomatic immunity is a form of legal immunity that ensures diplomats are given safe passage and are considered not susceptible to lawsuit or prosecution under the host country's laws, although they may still be expelled.
Displaced Person (DP)
Displaced persons camps in post-World War II Europe were established in Germany, Austria, and Italy, primarily for refugees from Eastern Europe and for the former inmates of the Nazi German concentration camps. A "displaced persons camp" is a temporary facility for displaced persons, whether refugees or internally displaced persons. Two years after the end of World War II in Europe, some 850,000 people lived in displaced persons camps across Europe.
Distribution center
Mostly located in occupied Europe, these centers held interned Jews and others prior to deportation.
Dror Habonim (H.)
Hebrew: “Freedom”; Zionist Youth Group part of Labor Movement. Founded before World War I in Russia as a self-defense group. Moved to Poland after Communist Revolution. Branches were located throughout the world and Palestine.
Dutch-Paris Rescue Network/Underground
The Netherlands, France, Belgium, Spain and Switzerland. Affiliated with Seventh Day Adventist Church.
Embassy (see also Legation)
A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from one state or an organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving state. In practice, the phrase diplomatic mission usually denotes the resident mission, namely the embassy, which is the main office of a country's diplomatic representatives to another country; this is usually, but not necessarily, in the receiving state's capital city. Consulates, on the other hand, are smaller diplomatic missions which are normally located in major cities of the receiving state (but can be located in the capital, usually when the sending country has no embassy in the state). As well as being a diplomatic mission to the country in which it is situated, it may also be a non-resident permanent mission to one or more other countries. There are thus resident and non-resident embassies
Emergency visa
Also “unblocked visa.” The US State Department authorized consuls in France to issue a limited number of visas outside of the US quota system. Several hundred of these special visas were issued to artists, writers, intellectuals trapped in Southern France, particularly in Marseilles.
Emigration
Leaving country of origin.
Emissary
Alternate title for the post or rank of ambassador.
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.
Fascism
A political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual.
Final Solution
Endlösing der Judenfrage in Europa; German: “Final Solution of the Jewish Problem in Europe.” This was the German codename for the murder of 6 million Jews.
Flight Tax
see Reichsfluchtsteuer. Jews were forced to pay an exorbitant fee in order to flee from Germany. This was a large part of their savings or capital.
Forced Labor Service
Polish people were impressed by the German government to work for the Nazi war industries.
Foreign Minister
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations.
French Forces of the Interior (EFI)
The French Forces of the Interior (French: Forces françaises de l'Intérieur) refers to French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II.
French Jewish Scouts
Eclaireurs Israélites de France (EIF), France, established 1923
Garel Network
Réseau Garel. Headquarters, Lyons, France; offices Limoges, Paris.
Gendarm
Constable, police. Many collaborated with German occupying forces to enforce antisemitic policy and aid in round-ups and deportations.
Geneva Conventions
The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for humanitarian treatment in war.
Gestapo
German: Geheime Staatspolizei; German State Secret Police. It was placed under the jurisdiction of the SS in 1936. It was later incorporated into the SD under Reinhardt Heydrich. Later headed by SS General Heinrich Mueller. IVB4 was a department of the Gestapo. It was an instrument of terror and repression under the authority of SS Chief Heinrich Himler.
Ghetto
During the Holocaust, more than 1,000 Nazi ghettos were established to hold Jewish populations, with the goal of exploiting and killing the Jews as part of the Final Solution.
Greater Reich
Germany and Austria after its annexation in 1938.
Hagana
Underground/clandestine Jewish Army from Palestine.
Hakhshara
Hebrew: “Training”; agricultural training farm.
Hashomer Hatzair
Hebrew: “Young Guard”; Socialist-Zionist Youth Movement; organized to help young Jews train for life on collective farms (kibbutzim) in Palestine (Israel); many became partisans and rescuers during the war.
Hasidei Umot Ha’Olam (H.)
Righteous Among the Nations; Righteous Person. This honorary title is awarded to non-Jews by the State of Israel who rescued Jews during the holocaust.
He Halutz (Halutzim; H.)
Hebrew: “Pioneer.” Jewish youth organization that helped prepare young Jews for immigration to Palestine.
HIAS-HICEM
The Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) was established in New York in 1885 and was reorganized in 1901. It was created to help Jewish refugees enter the United States and other countries, including Latin and South America and Canada.
The United Committee for Jewish Immigration (HIAS-ICA-EMIGDIRECT; HICEM) was founded in New York City in 1927 with the merger of three refugee and relief societies. HICEM facilitated the rescue and emigration of tens of thousands of Jews throughout Nazi occupied Europe. It arranged for emigrants to receive life-saving visas. It also arranged for the shipping and transportation of Jews to the United States, Palestine, South America, Latin America and Australia. HICEM members often broke the law and used illegal methods for helping Jews leave the Nazi orbit.
Holocaust (Greek)
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population.
Holy See
See of Rome, is the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, known as the pope, which includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome with universal ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the worldwide Catholic Church.
Immigration
Entering a new country.
Immigration Quota
The United States imposed limitations on immigration after 1924. Strict quotas were enforced by the State Department.
International Brigades
Volunteers from all over the world who fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Many were Jewish.
Irgun
Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organization), Palestine
“Israel”
Name male Jews were forced to use on German and Austrian identification papers and documents.
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,” Jude, Juif, Jew
Stood for Juif (Jew). Stamped on German, Austrian and Czech passports.
Jewish Agency Yishuv
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
Polish Jews were forced to wear a yellow Star of David with the word “Juif.”
Joint (JDC)
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC; AJDC). American Jewish philanthropic relief and rescue agency founded in 1914. It helped tens of thousands of European Jews to leave Europe and provided relief and care throughout the war. It contributed more than 78 million dollars, 1933-1945.
Judenfreunde (G.)
Jew friends, friends of Jews. Aiding or helping Jews was a serious crime in Nazi Germany.
Judenfreundlichkeit (G.)
Friendliness to Jews. Helping Jews in Nazi Germany or in its occupied territories was highly illegal and could result in a death sentence.
Judenhelfer (G.)
Jew helper. Crime in Nazi Germany
Judenrat (G.) Jewish Council
Department of Jewish Affairs in RSHA. (Bureau IVB4). Responsible for planning and implementing anti-Jewish actions and deportations.
Kennkarte (G.)
Identification card or document.
Kibbutz (H.)
Collective farm or factory community in Palestine, later Israel.
KZ (Katzet)
Konzentrationslager (G.); concentration camp. There were thousands of these camps throughout Nazi occupied Europe.
Landsmann (G., Y.)
Countryman
Landsmannschaften (G.)
Jewish mutual aid society.
League of Nations
The League of Nations, (French: Société des Nations, was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. Founded on 10 January 1920 following the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War, it ceased operations on 20 April 1946
Legation
A legation was a diplomatic representative office of lower rank than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an ambassador, a legation was headed by a minister. Ambassadors outranked ministers and had precedence at official events. Legations were originally the most common form of diplomatic mission.
Likely to become a public charge
US immigration law, which sought to limit immigrants to the U.S. who were poor or had no relatives in the states who could help them.
Maccabi
Jewish youth organization. Helped prepare young Jews for immigration to Palestine.
Mischling (G.)
Mischling (German; lit. "mixling"; plural: Mischlinge) was a pejorative legal term used in Nazi Germany to denote persons of both Aryan (Nazi pseudo-scientific delineation for Germanic) and Jewish ancestry as codified in the Nuremburg racial laws of 1935.
Mossad le Aliya Bet (H.)
Jewish underground organization, often operated illegally to smuggle Jews from Europe to Palestine.
Nansen Passport
Nansen passports, originally and officially stateless persons passports, were internationally recognized refugee travel documents from 1922 to 1938, first issued by the League of Nations to stateless refugees. They quickly became known as "Nansen passports" for their promoter, the Norwegian statesman and polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen.
Nazi, Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945, that created and supported the ideology of Nazism.
Numerus Clausus
Quota. Quota systems were used to exclude Jews from professions, businesses and schools.
Nunciature (I.)
An apostolic nunciature is a top-level diplomatic mission of the Holy See, equivalent to an embassy. However, it does not issue visas, nor does it have consulates.
The head of the Apostolic Nunciature is called a nuncio, an ecclesiastical diplomatic title. A papal nuncio (officially known as an Apostolic nuncio) is a permanent diplomatic representative (head of diplomatic mission) of the Holy See to a state.
Nuncio
An apostolic nuncio (also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is appointed by and represents the Holy See, and is the head of the diplomatic mission, called an Apostolic Nunciature, which is the equivalent of an embassy. The Holy See is legally distinct from the Vatican City or the Catholic Church
Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws (German: Nürnberger Gesetze, were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany beginning on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag. Over the next years, an additional 13 supplementary laws were promulgated that further marginalized the Jewish community in Germany. Axis allies enacted these laws against Jews.
Occupied Zone
Area occupied by the German Army and civil government.
ORT
Organization for Rehabilitation through Training. Agriculture and Trade Training for Jews, Russia, established 1880. Also in France and Poland.
OSE
See Children’s Aid Rescue Society.
Palastina Amt
Palestine Office. Palestine Offices, located throughout Europe (usually in capitols), issued Palestine Certificates. These were staffed by Jewish volunteers from Palestine.
Palestine
From 1880 large-scale Jewish immigration began here, almost entirely from Europe, based on an explicitly Zionist ideology. The government of Great Britain publicly supported Zionism during World War I with the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Jews fled the holocaust to British Palestine.
Palestine Certificates
A certificate issued by the Yishuv, and authorized by the British mandatory government, that allowed Jews in Europe to immigrate legally to Palestine.
Partisans
Resistance fighters against German occupying forces.
Passeur (F.)
French word for guide. These were individuals who guided refugees across international borders.
Passport
Official document issued by a country of origin for an individual to travel between countries. Many Jews and stateless individuals did not possess passports. Passports were often forged to allow refugees to escape.
Pogrom (Ru.)
“Attack”
Police Certificate – Certificate of Good Conduct
Document needed by a refugee in order to obtain visas or other travel documents. Immigrants leaving Germany, Austria or France were required to obtain a police certificate signifying that the immigrant could leave the country. This was to prevent wanted refugees from escaping the country. The certificate was given to the immigrant and a stamp was often placed in the passport.
POW
Prisoner of War
Quisling
Collaborator, traitor. An individual who aids or helps an opposing or occupying force.
Ration card, ration book
Needed to purchase food or other vital necessities. There were often sold on the black market or forged.
Refoulment
Non-refoulement is a fundamental principle of international law that forbids a country receiving asylum seekers from returning them to a country in which they would be in likely danger of persecution based on "race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion."
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. In France, the RSHA office was headed by SS Obersturmführer Helmut Knochen. He was responsible to Himmler and the SS office in Berlin. Other RSHA officers were SS-Sturmbannführers Herbert Martin Hagen and Kurt Liska, SS-Hauptsturmführer Theodore Dannecker. Coordinated the murder of more than 75,000 Jews in France.
Reichsfluchtsteuer, The Reich Flight
The Reich Flight Tax was a capital control law implemented in order to stem capital flight from the Weimar Republic. The law was created through decree in 1931 by Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg. The Reich Flight Tax was assessed upon departure from the individual's German domicile.
During the Third Reich, the use of the Reich Flight Tax shifted away from dissuading wealthy citizens from moving overseas and was instead used as a form of "legalized theft" to confiscate Jewish assets. The departure of Jewish citizens was desired and permitted by the Nazi government – even after the Invasion of Poland – until a decree from Heinrich Himmler forbade Jewish emigration on 23 October 1941. The tax was used as a "partial expropriation" to seize the assets of Jewish refugees who were persecuted and driven to flee their homeland.
Red Cross
International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC). Red Cross delegates or representatives were able in some cases able to aid or protect Jews. They had protective immunity.
Refugee
Individual isplaced from his or her country of origin.
Relief Committee for War-Stricken Jewish Population
RELICO, Geneva, Switzerland, active in Portugal, Spain, Tangier & Casablanca, 1939-1945.
The Relief Committee for the War-Stricken Jewish Population (RELICO) was founded by Dr. Abraham Silberschein in September 1939 under the umbrella of the World Jewish Congress. RELICO was originally founded to search for missing relatives and to provide assistance to Jewish refugees in Europe. RELICO enabled groups to leave Germany and go to South America and Palestine. It helped refugees in Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and France.
Rescue Network(s)
Cooperation between agencies and groups to aid or rescue Jews. There were numerous such groups operating throughout Europe and the free world.
Removal Order
Übersiedlungsaktion (G.). German order allowed civilians to be conscripted into forced labor and transferred at will.
Rescue of Jews
It is estimated that more than one million Jews were aided or rescued from Germany, Austria, France and other parts of Nazi-occupied Europe. Rescue took place between 1933-1945. There were hundreds of Jews and non-Jewish relief and rescue organizations and groups, both public and private.
Rescue of Jews by diplomats
Diplomats from many countries aided Jews escape arrest and deportation. They provided visas and other document to leave German occupied or controlled areas. Some diplomats actively protected Jews. Examples are Italian Diplomats in France and Budapest.
Rescue Networks
Organizations dedicated to providing aid and rescuing Jews. There were numerous rescue networks throughout Europe helping Jews survive the war. Some rescue networks included Jewish and Non-Jewish participants. Examples of rescue networks included: OSE, The French Jewish Scouts, The Garel Network, The Nimes Committee, The Westerweel Group, and Zegota.
Resistance
Opposition to Nazis and their collaborators.
Righteous Among the Nations
Non-Jews who rescued Jews during the Holocaust. Official title and honor created by the State of Israel in 1953. Hasidei Umot Ha’Olam (H.).
“Sarah”
Name female Jews were forced to use on German and Austrian identification papers and documents.
Sephardim
Jews of Spanish origin.
She’erit-ha Pleta (H.)
“The surviving remnant.” A biblical term used to denote Holocaust survivors.
Shelichim (H.)
Emissaries from the Jewish Agency for Palestine (Yishuv).
Sho’ah (H.)
Hebrew: “Catastrophe”; term commonly used in Israel for the Holocaust
Sobibor
Nazi death camp built and operated by Nazi Germany as part of Operation Reinhard. It was located in the forest near the village of Sobibór in the General Government region of German-occupied Poland. In total, 170,000 to 250,000 people were murdered at Sobibor.
Socialist Zionist
Jewish youths who believed in living in a communal lifestyle, joined groups such as the Hashomir-Hatzair and Dror
Sonderbehandlung (G.)
“Special Treatment.” Murder.
Spanish Republicans
Volunteers from Spain and other countries who fought against Franco forces in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939. When the war ended, thousands of Spanish Republicans fled to Southern France. Many were interned in the French camps of Gur and Le Vernet. Many were Jewish volunteers.
Spiritual Resistance
SS; Schutzstaffel (G.)
The Schutzstaffel (SS; also stylized as ᛋᛋ with 'Protection Squadron') was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II. The Allgemeine SS was responsible for enforcing the racial policy of Nazi Germany and general policing. The SS-Totenkopfverbände "Death's Head Units"), ran the concentration camps and death camps. Additional subdivisions of the SS included the Gestapo and the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) organizations. The SS was the organization most responsible for the genocidal killing of an estimated 5.5 to 6 million Jews and millions of other victims during the Holocaust. Members of all of its branches committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during World War II (1939–45). The SS was also involved in commercial enterprises and exploited concentration camp inmates as slave labor.
Star of David
After September 19, 1941, in Germany, Jews over the age of six were forced to sew a yellow Jewish star on their clothing. This was later mandatory in Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, the Netherlands and Hungary.
Submarine
Jews who hid their identity in German occupied territories, often passing as Aryans or non-Jews.
Swiss Rescue Organization
Le Secours Suisse aux Enfants, Swiss Red Cross, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon.
Teheran Children
Rescue of nearly 1,000 child refugees who travelled from Central Asia to the Middle East as they fled the holocaust from Poland, Russia, Uzbekistan, Iran to Israel.
Third Reich
Nazi Germany, 1933-1945.
Tiyul
“Trip” or “Excursion.” Named for rescue operations of Jews by escorting them across the borders to safety. Jewish youth groups were heavily involved in these rescue operations.
Transit Camp
Camp set up by the SS to concentrate Jews in one area in preparation for deportation to the concentration or death camps. Westerbork was a transit camp in Holland and Drancy was a transit camp set up in the outskirts of Paris, France.
Treblinka
Nazi death camp built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) south of the village of Treblinka. The camp operated between 23 July 1942 and 19 October 1943 as part of Operation Reinhard, the deadliest phase of the Final Solution. During this time, it is estimated that between 700,000 and 900,000 Jews were killed in its gas chambers.
Unitarian Service Committee
USC, HQ Boston, Massachusetts. Rescue and aid organization operating in France.
Universal Labor Service Edict
Notdienstverordnung (G.). German edict allowing conscription of civilians for forced labor.
Unoccupied Zone
Area of Southern France not occupied by German forces June 1940-September 1943. Also called Vichy.
Vatican, Vatican State
Although the Holy See is sometimes referred to as the "Vatican", the Vatican City State was distinctively established with the Lateran Treaty of 1929, between the Holy See and Italy, to ensure the temporal, diplomatic, and spiritual independence of the papacy. As such, papal nuncios, who are papal diplomats to states and international organizations, are recognized as representing the Holy See, and not the Vatican City State, as prescribed in the Canon law of the Catholic Church.
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.
Wehrmacht (G.)
German Armed Forces. Was the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. Closely cooperating with the SS and the Einsatzgruppen, the German armed forces committed numerous war crimes. The majority of the war crimes took place in the Soviet Union, Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece and Italy.
Westerweel Group
Underground rescue network headed by Joop Westerweel* (1899-1944), a Dutch Christian. Working with Jewish groups, it smuggled Jews from France into Spain. Westerweel was shot in 1944 by Germans.
White paper
The White Paper of 1939 was a policy paper issued by the British government, led by Neville Chamberlain, in response to the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. After its formal approval in the House of Commons on 23 May 1939, it acted as the governing policy for Mandatory Palestine from 1939 to the 1948 British departure. This action planned to end Jewish immigration by 1944 and to allow no more than 75,000 additional Jewish migrants. At the end of the five-year period in 1944, only 51,000 of the 75,000 immigration certificates provided for had been utilized, and the British offered to allow immigration to continue beyond cutoff date of 1944, at a rate of 1500 per month, until the remaining quota was filled.
Women’s International Zionist Organization
WIZO. Founded 1924. Operated in France as Federation of Jewish Women of France for Palestine (UFJ).
Work as a Means of Rescue
Jews were saved from murder in the holocaust while being employed in the German War effort. Factory owners or businessmen like Oscar Schindler intentionally protected their Jewish workers.
Yishuv (H.)
Hebrew: “Settlement”; Prewar Jewish Community in Palestine/Israel. Established under British mandate by League of Nations in 1921.
Young Men’s Christian Association
YMCA, USA, see also Czech Aid, Marseilles. Led by Donald A. Lowrie in France.
Youth Aliya
Jewish youth organization that prepared Jews to emigrate to Palestine.
Zionist, Zionism
Modern Zionism emerged in the late 19th century in Central and Eastern Europe as a national revival movement, both in reaction to newer waves of antisemitism and as a response to Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment. Soon after this, most leaders of the movement associated the main goal with creating the desired state in Palestine, then an area controlled by the Ottoman Empire.
Zionist Youth Groups
Within Europe, they were the nucleus of the Jewish resistance movements in the ghettos and camps of the Holocaust, and the partisans. They also led the escape (Beriha) from Europe following the war, particularly to Palestine, where most surviving members settled.
Updated November 24, 2021