My German isn’t what it once was by a long shot, but I recognized most of them anyway.
Regards,
Shodan
I only recognized 3, two of them from TV/movie use, and the 3rd probably because I remember the separate words from German class 35-ish years ago. Then again, I hated history when I was in school, especially the dark side of history. So it doesn’t surprise me that I’m so unfamiliar.
Clearly more people need to see ‘Swing Kids’.
I can’t believe anyone here could score less than 5. I got about 18, but what… no Kristallnacht?
The one I found most puzzling was “Kraft durch Freude”, which I figure must be some kind of sandwich spread…
- WW II was one of the things that first got me interested in history*, back when I was in the single-digit age group.
- The others being the USCW and WW I.
I know most of them for two reasons: 1. I’m a history buff and 2. This summer I spent 30+ hours wandering around Auschwitz with a survivor.
From that experience I can ad words like:
Konzentrationslager, KZ=concentration camp
SS-Arzt=SS Doctor
Lagerarzt=Camp doctor
Spritze=injection
Zwillinge=twins
I literally spent my summer in hell.
I am a little lost.
Why are these Nazi terms? I thought most were German.
Just picking one- Stalag - was in use before Nazi’s were in power.
I got three - Arbeit macht frei, Sieg Heil, and the Sonderkommando. I read a book a while back that I recommend highly; it’s called Auschwitz: A Doctor’s Eyewitness Account. It was written by Miklós Nyiszli, a Hungarian Jewish doctor who worked closely with Mengele as his medical assistant. The work of the Sonderkommando is described in detail, as well as how Auschwitz functioned as a whole.
Was Sitzkrieg a term used by the Nazis or even (broader) in Germany at all? To clarify your definition, it’s the period of relative inaction by the western allies between the invasion of Poland and the subsequent declaration of war, and the invasion of the low countries. The term was coined AFAIK by the British press after Blitzkrieg. I’ve never seen what the period was termed in Germany, who was quite busy in Poland, after all.
I read an anecdote about a fellow during the period who was tasked with siting railroad guns in Great Britain for use as coastal defense during the expected invasion. He had the maps out for an area and found an interesting short spur that lead in a curve from the main line to nothing that showed on the map. Curves are nice because they let you easily do the gross aiming without having to turn the gun too much off the track center.
He decided to investigate in person and found the disused spur easily enough. Upon following the curve he discovered there was a shed built right over the tracks at its end. The windows were really dirty and it was dark inside, but he could see some sort of machinery inside the shed.
About that time a gaffer from the local village arrived with a bobby in tow who wanted to know why in the hell he was snooping around the shed. It turned out that the machinery was a railroad gun and since the end of the Great War the gaffer had been paid a pound or two a month to keep it dusted and oiled. “Good Gawd, squire. You meant to say you didn’t know it was there?”
As I said earlier probably ‘terms relating to WWII Germany’ would probably have been more accurate, but it’s a bit late to edit now.
The only time I had heard Sonderkommando was in “Sonderkommando Elbe” - the German Kamizakes. The main difference from the Japanese ones were, (a) they only tried to crash into other planes (and in mid-air), and (b) they were expected to eject from their planes if they survived the impact.
Some I knew from other contexts, others from having some German, there’s a few where I recognize the term but can’t drag up its meaning - since it’s 6:27am, I gave my brain a sleepcheck and marked all three types.
I got most of them, but I studied that part of history and also,for some reason I,ll never understand because we ain’t Nazis, I used to sit on Daddy’s knee as he wanged away on the piano belting out “Lilli Marlene”
Nitpick: “Blitzkrieg” and “sitzkrieg” were coined by the Western press, not the German military or government. Blitzkrieg is, of course, lightning war, while sitzkrieg, loosely translated, means the “phony war” when the French and British armies took no significant action against Germany between the invasion of Poland and the invasion of France.
I got about half of them. I’ve read a fair amount of WWII history.
I only knew the two common ones.
If the terms weren’t used regularly on Hogan’s Heroes, I don’t know what they mean.
Only familiar with Anschluss.
I sort of recognized a few I didn’t check, because I couldn’t actually define them.