Glossary

During its investigations the Criminal Police often compiled a »criminal dossier«. This included previous convictions and charges, but also details of the individual’s family and living circumstances. At the end of the dossier was an evaluation of the person concerned and a police recommendation for subsequent measures.

Between 1945 and 1949 the US army conducted 489 trials in its zone of occupation. In the »Dachau Trials« a total of 1,672 people were accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. In the six main trials, camp personnel but also prisoner functionaries from several concentration camps, including Flossenbürg, faced charges. The court handed out 426 death sentences, most of which were later commuted to prison terms.

After »Operation T4« was officially terminated in summer 1941, doctors continued the programme of murder in the form of »decentralised euthanasia«. By the end of the war in 1945, around 130,000 patients with mental and physical disabilities or supposed »hereditary illnesses« died in institutions throughout the territory of the German Reich as a result of food deprivation, lethal doses of medication or targeted murder.  

State employment offices were established during the Weimar Republic with the task of placing people in work. From 1933 they became an instrument of National Socialist labour policy. Employment offices played a role in the persecution of people who for various reasons refused to take up work; they withdrew their welfare benefits and reported them to the police. In World War Two, German employment offices were involved in the deportation of forced labourers and in the Holocaust. 

The Nazis used the term »euthanasia« (from the Ancient Greek for »good death«) to describe the murder of people with mental or physical disabilities. In the framework of »Operation T4«, in 1940–1941 doctors and nursing staff killed more than 70,000 patients with mental and physical disabilities living in institutional settings.  Following public protests, the programme was officially terminated, but it continued in secret. By 1945 around 300,000 patients across Europe had been murdered in killing institutions through lethal doses of medication or deliberate starvation.

Extermination camps (»Vernichtungslager«) were established by the National Socialists to systematically murder Jews, Sinti and Roma, and other targeted groups deemed undesirable. Between 1941 and 1945, the SS established eight death camps in occupied Poland and Belarus. These camps were designed for the rapid and mass murder of people without first exploiting their labour. Of the approximately 6 million Jews murdered, around 2.7 million perished in the extermination camps.

Between 1953 and 1969 people who had been persecuted under National Socialism could claim financial »compensation« on the basis of the Federal Compensation Law (BEG) enacted by the West German government. People who had been persecuted on »political, racial, religious or ideological grounds« were eligible to make a claim. However, the provisions excluded many people who had been persecuted, including homosexuals, forced labourers, Roma and Sinti, but also »asocials« and »career criminals«.

The female criminal investigation department was a distinct branch of the Criminal Police tasked with prosecuting offences involving minors. Female officers were expected to combine both welfare and policing roles. During the National Socialist era, the department targeted youths deemed deviant and women accused of prostitution. As a tool of terror, it oversaw youth concentration camps.

During the National Socialist period doctors forcibly sterilised around 400,000 people. The Nazis considered mental and physical traits to be hereditary. For this reason, they took action against people they considered »inferior«; these people were to be prevented from having children. Around 5,000 people died as a result of this medical procedure; others were later murdered in clinics. Hundreds of thousands remained childless due to this state-organised measure.

During the National Socialist period doctors forcibly sterilised around 400,000 people. The Nazis considered mental and physical traits to be hereditary. For this reason, they took action against people they considered »inferior«; these people were to be prevented from having children. Around 5,000 people died as a result of this medical procedure; others were later murdered in clinics. Hundreds of thousands remained childless due to this state-organised measure.