Glossary

Achtung!: Attention!

Achtung, Lagerarzt!: Attention, the camp doctor!

Alles aufstehen!: Everyone, get up!

Alte Kamp-Insassen: Dutch-German term used at Westerbork for senior inmates

Alter Häftling: Senior prisoner, a prisoner who has been an inmate for a long time

Ältester: Literally, elder. A term used in combination with an area specification to indicate the senior or head prisoner in a camp, block, or room

Ambulanz: Outpatients

Appel vorbei: Roll call over

Arbeit macht frei: Work sets you free

Arbeit macht frei… Krematorium drei!: Work sets you free… Crematorium Three!

Arbeitslager: Labor camp

Arztvormelder, antreten!: Those presenting to the doctor, line up!

Aufgehen!: Broken or corrupted German: March!

Aufnahme: Admissions

Aufseherin: Female overseer

Bademeister: Washroom supervisor

Bauhof: Building yard

Bekleidungskammer: Warehouse for prisoner clothing

Berufsverbrecher: Professional criminal

Bewegung: Movement

Bewegung, Bewegung, los, Eile!: Movement, movement, go, hurry!

Birkenallee: Birch Avenue

Block: Word used for the main buildings housing prisoners at Auschwitz and other German camps

Blockältester: Block senior, a prisoner in charge of a block

Blockführerstube: The guardhouse of the SS block overseer

Blockschonung: Block rest, permission to remain in barracks and rest, granted to those unfit to work but not sick enough for hospital

Blöd: Stupid

Blöde: The stupid ones

Blöde Holländer: Stupid Dutchman

Blöde Sauen: Stupid pigs (literally, sows)

Blödes Schwein: Stupid pig

Bunker: The Auschwitz camp jail in the cellar of Block 11

Canada: Nickname for the section of Auschwitz where the warehouses were located

Dalej!: Polish: Go on!

Davai, bystro!: Russian: Come on, faster!

DAW: Short for Deutsche Ausrüstungswerkstatte, the German Equipping Workshops

Der Zug ist schon da: The train has already come

Die Juden sind unser Unglück: The Jews are our misfortune

Distrikt Krakau: District of Krakow

Du Dreckhund: You filthy dog

Du Drecksau: You filthy pig

Du Idiot: You idiot

Effektenkammer: Warehouse for items taken from prisoners on their arrival

Eile: Hurry

Eintritt verboten: No entry

Ein vogel: Literally, a bird, but here meaning a peculiarity or strange habit

Es lebe Polen!: Poland forever!

Faulgas: Marsh gas, also name of a Kommando working on a marsh gas plant

FKL: Short for Frauenkonzentrationslager, women’s concentration camp

Flying Column: Dutch: Vliegende Kolonne. In Westerbork a group of prisoners who had to carry out special tasks that needed to be done quickly

Frauenkonzentrationslager: Women’s concentration camp

Frech: Impudent or cheeky

Gespritzt: Injected

Häftling: Prisoner

Häftling 27903 mit 15 Häftlingen zur Strassenbau: Prisoner 27903 with fifteen prisoners for roadworks

Häftlingskrankenbau: Prisoners’ hospital

Häftlingsnummer: Prisoner number

Hals-Nasen-Ohrenarzt: Ear, nose, and throat doctor

Halt: Stop

Halt’s Maul: Shut up

Halte dich sauber: Keep clean

Hau ruck!: Pull!

Heilkräutertee: Herbal tea

Herrgott Sakrament, verflucht noch mal: God almighty, damn it

Himmel, Arsch und Zwirn, Herr Gott Sakrament, du verfluchter Idiot: For God’s sake, Christ Almighty, you cursed idiot

Hitler verrecke!: Death to Hitler!

Hygienisch-bakteriologischen Untersuchungsstelle der Waffen-SS und Polizei Südost: Hygienic-Bacteriological Research Center of the Waffen SS and Police, South East

Interne Abteilung: Internal Department

Judenblut spritzt vom Messer: Jewish blood is dripping from the knives

Kapo: A prisoner who oversaw other prisoners in work details

Kesselkommando: Kettle-carrying detail

Kolkhoz: A collective farm

Kommandantur: Camp commandant’s office

Kommando: A work detail or squad

Kommandoführer: SS overseer of a work detail

Krakauer Zeitung: A Krakow newspaper

Krankenbau: Hospital (in Auschwitz, the Krankenbau was spread out over several blocks)

KZ: Short for Konzentrationslager, concentration camp

Lager: Camp, also used as an administrative unit for subdivisions within a larger camp

Lagerältester: Camp senior, the camp’s head prisoner. As the term Lager—camp—was also used for subdivisions within Auschwitz and Birkenau, there was more than one Lagerältester

Lagerarzt: Camp doctor (an SS medical officer) As the term Lager—camp—was also used for subdivisions within Auschwitz and Birkenau, there was more than one Lagerarzt

Lagerfriseur: Camp barber

Lagerführer: SS officer in charge of the camp

Lagerstrasse: Camp street

Lagersuppe: Camp soup

Le professeur hollandais: French: The Dutch professor

Los!: Go!

Los, Schweinehunde!: German: Move it, you swine! (Literally, pig-dogs)

Mussulman: Muslim, camp slang for a prisoner in an extreme state of physical and mental exhaustion

Nebellager: Short for Nacht und Nebellager, camps where prisoners were held and executed in secret

No Pasarán: Spanish: They shall not pass, Republican rallying cry in the Spanish Civil War

Oberscharführer: SS rank: senior squad leader

Obersturmführer: SS rank: senior assault leader

Operationssaal: Operating theater

Oscha: Short for Oberscharführer, senior squad leader

Pfleger: Nurse, used to designate a general assistant’s job held by prisoners in the camp hospitals. Not all Pfleger had medical qualifications and most of their duties were non-medical

Pflegerstube: Nurses’ room

Prämienschein: Bonus token

Prominent (noun): A privileged prisoner

Rapportführer: SS officer in charge of roll calls

Rassenschande: Racial outrage, a violation of Nazi laws prohibiting sexual contact between “races”

Rein: Clean

Reinlichkeit ist der Weg zur Gesundheit: Cleanliness is the path to health

Reservepfleger: Reserve nurse: a prisoner who has been approved as a Pfleger but is waiting to be appointed to a block

Röntgenraum: X-ray room

Rotspanier: Spanish Reds, term for Germans who fought for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War

Rottenführer: SS rank: section leader

Sanitäter: Orderly

Sanitätslager der Waffen-SS: Waffen SS Medical Supply Center

Sauberkeit ist der halbe Weg zur Gesundheit: Cleanliness is halfway to health

Scharführer: SS rank: squad leader

Scheisse, Arzt: Shit, Doctor

Scheissmeister: Latrine supervisor

Schnell! Los! Tempo!: Quick! Go! Fast!

Schreibstube: Office

Schulungslager: Training camp

Schutzhäftling: Prisoner in protective custody

SDG: Short for Sanitätsdienstgrad, SS medical orderly

Selection: Camp term for the selection of prisoners for extermination

Sonderkommando: Special detail, prisoners who worked in the gas chambers and crematoria

SS-Krankenrevier: SS hospital

SS-Revier: Short for SS-Krankenrevier, SS hospital

SS Sonderdienst: A Nazi paramilitary formation in occupied Poland

SS-Standortverwaltung Süd-Ost: SS Local Administration South East

Standgericht: Military court

Standortarzt: Doctor for the SS garrison

Stehbunker: Standing bunker

Stój: Polish: Stop

Strafkommando: Punishment detail

Stubenältester: A prisoner in charge of a room

Sturmbannführer: SS rank: assault unit leader

Sturmmann: SS rank: storm trooper

Transport: The deportation or movement of a group of Jews or other prisoners

Très charmant: French: very charming

Übermensch: A superman, used here ironically to indicate a Nazi fantasy of the superior Aryan

Überstellung Strafkommando Birkenau: Transfer to the Birkenau punishment detail

Unterscharführer: SS rank: junior squad leader

V = Victoria: V = Victory

Vergesse nicht deine Seife: Don’t forget your soap

WA: Short for Dutch: Weerbaarheidsafdeling, the paramilitary wing of the NSB, the Dutch National Socialist party

Was ist hier los, ihr Dreckhuren!: What’s going on here, you filthy whores!

Wiener Blut: Viennese spirit

Wir fahren gegen Engeland: We are sailing against England

Zigeunerlager: Gypsy camp, part of Birkenau concentration camp

Zivilarbeiter: Civilian worker

Zum Befehl: At your command

Zwischen Nacht und Nebel: Literally, between night and fog