Here you will find descriptions of a range of terms, events, themes and institutions featured on the website.
Racial hygiene
As a central pillar of National Socialist ideology, »racial hygiene« advocated for the »purification of the German national body« from so-called »pests« and »ballast existences«. This included Jews, Sinti and Roma, homosexuals, people with disabilities, as well as those labelled as »asocial« or »criminal«. The regime imposed marriage bans, forced sterilisation, institutionalisation, and deportation to camps, or directly murdered those deemed »hereditarily unfit«.
Racial hygienic
As a central pillar of National Socialist ideology, »racial hygiene« advocated for the »purification of the German national body« from so-called »pests« and »ballast existences«. This included Jews, Sinti and Roma, homosexuals, people with disabilities, as well as those labelled as »asocial« or »criminal«. The regime imposed marriage bans, forced sterilisation, institutionalisation, and deportation to camps, or directly murdered those deemed »hereditarily unfit«.
Reformatory
Children and teenagers with no family to care for them or who displayed »undesirable behaviour« were put in homes. The Nazis mainly used church-run establishments for this purpose. The staff were often violent towards the residents and they were also in charge of assessing them. Anyone deemed »ineducable« faced forced sterilisation. In addition, some were put in youth concentration camps or murdered in clinics.
Registered prostitute
For many years the term »Sittendirne« was used in Germany to describe women who were officially registered with the police as prostitutes. The Nazis subjected these women to stricter regulations and increased surveillance. They deployed the »Sittenpolizei« (»morality police«, vice squad) for this purpose. If prostitutes did not comply with the conditions imposed by this police department, they were threatened with a range of punishments, the most severe of which was admission to a concentration camp.
Reich Criminal Police Office (RKPA)
In summer 1937 the Reich Criminal Police Office (»Reichskriminalpolizeiamt«, RKPA) was created in Berlin as the headquarters of the Criminal Police for the entire German Reich – and later for the German-occupied territories too. Police agencies had to submit orders for »preventive police custody« to the RKPA for authorisation. The RKPA specified the detention site, which was usually a concentration camp. From 1939 the RKPA was a separate department under the authority of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA).
In September 1939 the Reich Security Main Office (»Reichssicherheitshauptamt«, RSHA) was created under the leadership of senior SS officer Reinhard Heydrich. Under the authority of the SS, it was the central agency for all police tasks and matters related to security policy in the National Socialist state. Equipped with unlimited legal powers, its tasks included deciding on admissions to concentration camps. The (main) offices of the Gestapo and Criminal Police throughout the Reich were subordinate to the Reich Security Main Office.
The Criminal Police (Kriminalpolizei, »Kripo«) is a regular police division in charge of investigating crimes. In the National Socialist state its tasks additionally included the surveillance and persecution of »community aliens« (»Gemeinschaftsfremde«). People deemed »career criminals« or »asocials« by the Criminal Police were placed under systematic surveillance and were detained indefinitely.
It was up to police officers to decide what was to be considered »asocial behaviour«: the slightest deviation from the norm could lead to imprisonment.
Reich Public Health Office
As a central health authority, the Reich Public Health Office (»Reichsgesundheitsamt«) participated in a range of crimes: it referred people for forced sterilisation or conducted medical experiments in concentration camps. The office’s president, Hans Reiter (1881–1969), disseminated National Socialist racial ideology. For this purpose he drew on a network of health authorities, which had been established in every locality since 1934. Reiter was also in charge of the Research Institute for Racial Hygiene.
As a central health authority, the Reich Public Health Office (»Reichsgesundheitsamt«) participated in a range of crimes: it referred people for forced sterilisation or conducted medical experiments in concentration camps. The office’s president, Hans Reiter (1881–1969), disseminated National Socialist racial ideology. For this purpose he drew on a network of health authorities, which had been established in every locality since 1934. Reiter was also in charge of the Research Institute for Racial Hygiene.
In 1936 the »Research Institute for Racial Hygiene and Population Biology« (»Rassenhygienische Forschungsstelle«) began operating within the Reich Public Health Office. In cooperation with the police, racial theorist Robert Ritter (1901–1951) and his staff examined more than 23,000 Sinti and Roma. From 1941 Ritter additionally conducted involuntary examinations of prisoners in »youth protection camps«. The Nazis used his reports as the basis to decide whether the individuals concerned were to live or die.
Reich Security Main Office (RSHA)
In September 1939 the Reich Security Main Office (»Reichssicherheitshauptamt«, RSHA) was created under the leadership of senior SS officer Reinhard Heydrich. Under the authority of the SS, it was the central agency for all police tasks and matters related to security policy in the National Socialist state. Equipped with unlimited legal powers, its tasks included deciding on admissions to concentration camps. The (main) offices of the Gestapo and Criminal Police throughout the Reich were subordinate to the Reich Security Main Office.
The SS (»Schutzstaffel«) under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler was envisioned as an elite paramilitary organisation of the National Socialist state. With Himmler’s takeover and reorganisation of the police, the SS became the regime’s central instrument of terror. In 1934, it was given control over all concentration camps. The Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), formed in 1939 as the planning centre for crimes in German-occupied Europe, was subordinated to it.
The Criminal Police (Kriminalpolizei, »Kripo«) is a regular police division in charge of investigating crimes. In the National Socialist state its tasks additionally included the surveillance and persecution of »community aliens« (»Gemeinschaftsfremde«). People deemed »career criminals« or »asocials« by the Criminal Police were placed under systematic surveillance and were detained indefinitely.
It was up to police officers to decide what was to be considered »asocial behaviour«: the slightest deviation from the norm could lead to imprisonment.
The Nazis established the »Secret State Police« (Geheime Staatspolizei, abbr. Gestapo) to combat political opponents. It was also instrumental in the persecution of minorities. Gestapo officials did not require a court warrant to search apartments or to detain people, send them to concentration camps or murder them. They tortured people under interrogation to force confessions out of them. In the occupied territories members of the Gestapo participated in mass shootings and other crimes.
Reichstag Fire Decree
On the evening of 27 February 1933, the Reichstag went up in flames. The Nazis accused the communists of arson. The next day Reich President von Hindenburg (1847–1934) enacted the »Regulation on the Protection of People and State«, also known as the Reichstag Fire Decree. This overturned basic rights including the freedom to assemble, the right to free speech and the freedom of the press. Directly afterwards the police and the SA rounded up thousands of members of the Communist party and other political prisoners and put them in jail or in unofficial, improvised concentration camps.
The Sturmabteilung (SA) was the paramilitary organisation of the NSDAP, sworn to Adolf Hitler. The SA incited anti-Semitism and violently attacked political opponents. After Hitler’s appointment as Reich Chancellor, the SA served as »auxiliary police« in Prussia, arresting and torturing individuals, often in »wild camps«. By 1934, it had approximately four million members. Hitler curtailed the SA leadership’s efforts to transform it into a comprehensive party militia by disempowering it.
On the evening of 27 February 1933, the Reichstag went up in flames. The Nazis accused the communists of arson. The next day Reich President von Hindenburg (1847–1934) enacted the »Regulation on the Protection of People and State«, also known as the Reichstag Fire Decree. This overturned basic rights including the freedom to assemble, the right to free speech and the freedom of the press. Directly afterwards the police and the SA rounded up thousands of members of the Communist party and other political prisoners and put them in jail or in unofficial, improvised concentration camps.
Research Institute for Racial Hygiene
In 1936 the »Research Institute for Racial Hygiene and Population Biology« (»Rassenhygienische Forschungsstelle«) began operating within the Reich Public Health Office. In cooperation with the police, racial theorist Robert Ritter (1901–1951) and his staff examined more than 23,000 Sinti and Roma. From 1941 Ritter additionally conducted involuntary examinations of prisoners in »youth protection camps«. The Nazis used his reports as the basis to decide whether the individuals concerned were to live or die.
As a central health authority, the Reich Public Health Office (»Reichsgesundheitsamt«) participated in a range of crimes: it referred people for forced sterilisation or conducted medical experiments in concentration camps. The office’s president, Hans Reiter (1881–1969), disseminated National Socialist racial ideology. For this purpose he drew on a network of health authorities, which had been established in every locality since 1934. Reiter was also in charge of the Research Institute for Racial Hygiene.
In 1936 the »Research Institute for Racial Hygiene and Population Biology« (»Rassenhygienische Forschungsstelle«) began operating within the Reich Public Health Office. In cooperation with the police, racial theorist Robert Ritter (1901–1951) and his staff examined more than 23,000 Sinti and Roma. From 1941 Ritter additionally conducted involuntary examinations of prisoners in »youth protection camps«. The Nazis used his reports as the basis to decide whether the individuals concerned were to live or die.
Residential institutions (Fürsorgeheim)
Young people without a caring family or those exhibiting what was deemed undesirable behaviour were sent to residential institutions (Fürsorgeheim). The National Socialists relied on facilities primarily operated by the churches. Staff in these homes were often violent and tasked with evaluating the young people: If deemed »uneducable«, they faced forced sterilisation. Others were sent to youth concentration camps or murdered in clinics.