detention centres and labour camps where people were detained because of political opinions and activities against Nazi Germany's policies, for religious affiliation, sexual orientation, "asocial", criminal activity or racial reasons. The prisoners in the camp were forced to do hard and exhausting slave labour. The first concentration camp, Dachau outside Munich, was built in 1933. The construction of Dachau was followed by several concentration camps in Germany and later in other countries. Two of them, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau, also served as extermination camps. (See also death camps.)

forcibly move people from one area to another.

a government representative whose task is to liaise with other countries’ leaders, agencies or other representatives. A diplomat is often stationed at the embassy or mission of its country in a foreign country.

to adversely treat an individual or group, to exclude them or deprive them of certain rights. (See also xenophobia.)

usage of chemical substances in order to destroy or prevent growth of disease- carrying microorganisms on material or humans, so that infections can’t be transmitted to others.

outdated branch of science that was popular in the late 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s. The research tried to describe and demonstrate the existence of different "races" with different intrinsic and innate characteristics. Many biologists in the field of eugenics argued that certain "races" were superior to others. In Sweden a so-called State Institute for Racial Biology  was established in Uppsala in 1921, by parliamentary decree. The aim was that its research would help to "promote" the Swedish people's so-called eugenics.

military police.

covered the districts of Krakow, Warsaw, Radom and Lublin in central Poland. The area was occupied by Nazi Germany and was ruled from Krakow by Governor Hans Frank from October 1939 to January 1945.

(abbreviation of the German word Geheime Staatspolizei), the German state's political police from 1933 to 1945. The Gestapo imprisoned and murdered suspected opponents of Nazism.

German Nazi youth organization.

the value of money decreases, the prices increase.

(ITS), was formed at the initiative of the Allies in 1943 as a department of the British Red Cross to search for and register missing people. After the Second World War, ITS was moved to Bad Arolsen in Germany. Here, victims of Nazi crimes and their families can seek information about the fate of their relatives.

argue for something, campaigning.

(Schutzpass in German), document or identification card which protected Jews in Hungary during the Holocaust. The so-called protective passports were issued by diplomats representing neutral countries, including Raoul Wallenberg from Sweden.

a card with coupons needed for buying food that is scarce, for instance during war. In Europe different food products were rationed during the Second World War. For the Jews trapped in the ghettos the food was so strictly rationed that many died of starvation.

crackdown or raid without prior warning. During the Second World War , the Nazis often blocked certain streets or neighbourhoods and conducted raids to check everyone living inside the perimeter.

small town or village in Eastern Europe before the Second World War with a substantial Jewish population (often 30-50 percent of the city's population).

(Schutzstaffel, German for so-called protective groups) a Nazi paramilitary organization in Germany in the years 1925-1945. It was founded as Adolf Hitler's private bodyguard, but grew rapidly from 1929 when Heinrich Himmler became its leader. Under Himmler, the SS became one of Nazi Germany's most powerful organizations. The SS wanted to be an elite within the Nazi Party.

a six pointed star from two triangles, often used as a symbol for Judaism and Jewish culture. During the Second World War the Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe had to wear a yellow star, called a Judenstern, to distinguish them from others. In the central parts of Poland occupied by the Nazis (the so-called General Government), the Jews were forced to wear a white armband with a blue six-pointed star.

symbol of the German Nazi Party NSDAP (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei). From 1935 the symbol on the official black-white-red flag of the German Empire. Swastikas have been found in many parts of the world for several thousand years. The swastika was partly a symbol of luck and happiness. Antique swastikas are often turned to the left and have arms that some regard as a symbol of the sun – rising from the East, settling in the West. On the Nazi symbol, the arms of the cross are in the opposite direction.