Ragnarok

Appendix: German Words and Phrases

Abwehr — German Military Intelligence

Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM) — League of German Girls/Band of German Maidens, female wing of the Hitler Youth.

Einsatzgruppen — SS extermination squads

Gastarbeiter — guest worker

Gau — an administrative subdivision.

Gauleiter — the party leader of a regional branch of the Nazi Party; later, regional leader of a district.

Generalmajor — Major General

Germanica — Moscow, renamed after the war

Hauptsturmführer — SS rank, roughly equal to Captain.

Heer — The German Army

Herrenvolk — master race

Junker — German nobleman

Kessel — ‘caldron,’ German military term for trapping an enemy formation.

Kinder, Küche, Kirche — Nazi slogan, roughly “children, kitchen, church.”

Kriegsmarine — The German Navy

Lebensborn — literally ‘font of life.’ SS-run program for increasing the German population, including measures to encourage breeding and the kidnapping of ‘Aryan’ children from non-German families.

Lebensraum — ‘Living Space.’

Luftwaffe — The German Air Force

Mausefalle — ‘Mouse Trap’

Mutterkreuz — Mother’s Cross

Oberfeldwebel — Heer rank, roughly equal to Master Sergeant

Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW, ‘Supreme Command of the Armed Forces’) — The German General Staff.

Obergruppenführer — SS rank, roughly equal to Lieutenant General.

Obersturmführer — SS rank, roughly equal to First Lieutenant.

Ordnungspolizei — Order Police (regular police force)

Reichsführer-SS — Commander of the SS

Reichsgau — an administrative subdivision.

Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) — Reich Main Security Office

Sigrunen — SS insignia (lightning bolts)

Standartenführer — SS rank, roughly equal to Colonel.

Sturmbannführer — SS rank, roughly equal to Major.

Sturmann — SS rank, roughly equal to Private.

Strumscharführer — SS rank, roughly equal to Master Sergeant.

Swinehund — German insult, literally ‘pig dog.’

Untermensch — subhuman.

Untermenschen — Subhumans, plural of Untermensch.

Unterscharführer — SS rank, roughly equal to Second Lieutenant.

Vaterland — Fatherland.

Volk — The German People.

Volkssturm — German militia.

Wehrmacht — The German Military (often taken to represent just the army (Heer)).