Glossary Of Terms And Abbreviations

glossary ofterms and abbreviationsfound in the archive of theinternational tracing service (its)Last updated November 18, 2016 *The most current version of this Glossary is availableonline at http://itsrequest.ushmm.org/its/Glossary.pdf.* This glossary is frequently updated. To receive a free copyof the latest print version, please mail this copy marked upwith any suggestions for additions or corrections toWilliam ConnellyHolocaust Survivors and Victims Resource Center100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SWWashington, DC 20024-2126HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS AND VICTIMS RESOURCE CENTER100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW Washington, DC 20024-2126 ushmm.orgu.s. holocaust memorial museumRichard EhrlichRichard EhrlichHolocaustSurvivors and VictimsResource Center

IntroductionThis Glossary of ITS Terms & Abbreviations is a work in progress intended to assist those working withthe recently-opened records of the International Tracing Service (ITS), including those whose knowledgeof the German language may be only partial or even entirely lacking. For more information on the ITSand its collections, please visit its website at www.its-arolsen.org and also the U.S. HolocaustMemorial Museum’s ITS information website at www.ushmm.org/its/ , where one may also submitfree-of-charge research requests online.While this Glossary is by no means intended to serve as the only reference work necessary to understandall of the terms found in the ITS records, it is hoped that together with a good German-English dictionary,even someone with little or no knowledge of the German language, in which most (though not all) of theITS records are found, will still be able to make some headway towards understanding these materials.In addition to attempting to explain the commonest terms, abbreviations, acronyms, phrases, euphemismsand symbols employed by the Nazis in their recordkeeping, terms which are rarely found as such instandard dictionaries, an attempt has also been made to interpret many of the specialized codings andterminologies used by the staffs of the International Tracing Service, its predecessor Search Bureauorganizations and other archival organizations charged over the decades with the indexing and processingof the massive corpus of records included in the ITS Archives.It is hoped that as a true work in progress, we can count on researchers and other friends to assist us infilling the many gaps and correcting any errors or omissions that they may encounter in this work.AcknowledgementsOur most heartfelt thanks are naturally due to Herr Wolfgang Luckey of the International Tracing Servicein Bad Arolsen, Germany who served as guide and mentor to the staff of the (then) Survivors Registryduring our department’s July-August 2007 visit there, and who provided us with copies of the many manyin-house glossaries, ready reference sheets and other research tools prepared and used by the ITS staffover the decades. To say that this modest Glossary would not have been possible without the help ofHerr Luckey, Herr Udo Jost, Frau Nicole Dominikus, Dr. Susanne Urban and all the other great folks atthe ITS in Bad Arolsen is a simple statement of fact.Special thanks must also go out to lexicographer Michael A. Titz, author of Wörterbuch Gefahrgut :Seeverkehr, Luftverkehr ; deutsch-englisch, englisch-deutsch (Landsberg am Lech: Ecomed, c2001),whose many expert suggestions for corrections and additions have helped make this Glossary moreclosely resemble the collaborative scholarly effort we had hoped for, and also to Mr. Raymund Schütz,whose glossary in his 2011 paper concerning wartime records of the Netherlands Red Cross,Vermoedelijk op transport, helped cast light on dozens of Dutch abbreviations which had hitherto beenutterly inscrutable to us here.

(Sütterlin Script ) Beispiele Examples Victor jagt zwölf Boxkämpfer quer über den Sylter Deich.Victor chases twelve boxers right over the dike of Sylt. „ Bei jedem klugen Wort von Sokrates rief Xanthippe zynisch: „Quatsch!”With every wise word of Socrates, Xanthippe called out cynically, “Nonsense!”

A A a Ä ä A (i.e. Arbeitserziehungshäftling)labor re-education (or reform) prisonerA (i.e. Anfrage or Anfragekarte)ITS tracing request card (i.e. placed into the Central Name Indexwhenever a tracing request is received, these cards typically containinformation regarding the person sought, the case file or “T/D” numberand information concerning the person or organization seeking theindividual)A. (i.e. Arbeitshaus)work house (i.e. prison or camp factory or labor reformatory)A (i.e. année)year (e.g. “DATE DE NAISSANCE, J M A ” means “Date of birth,D[ay] M[onth] Y[ear] ”) [French]A (i.e. Aussehen)appearance, look (i.e. seen in some laboratory records)A (e.g. ‘A ’, i.e. Aschersleben)Aschersleben Concentration Camp (i.e. subcamp of Buchenwald whereforced labor was employed by the Junkers Flugzeug- undMotorenwerke AG (JFM) [ Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works];e.g. may be seen handwritten as “A” or “AL” on Buchenwald IndividualDocuments’ Arbeitskarten [ labor cards] in the section labeled“KDO.”, indicating transfer to this subcamp as the prisoner’s laborassignment)See also entries for: “Arbeitskarte” and “AL”A (i.e. auf der Flucht erschossen)shot while trying to escape (i.e. code used following death date toindicate reported cause of death in lists of deceased Buchenwaldprisoners compiled in the postwar period as Listen von verstorbenenHäftlingen [by nationality], current ITS Archives designation: 1.1.5.1,folders 457-463)See also entry for: “a (i.e. Bruch)”A (i.e. Albanier [male] or Albanierin [female])Albanian (i.e. prisoner nationality)a. (i.e. aus)out of, from (e.g. “letzte Nachricht a.Auschwitz” means “last newsfrom Auschwitz”)a (i.e. Bruch)fracture, break (i.e. code used following death date to indicate reportedcause of death in lists of deceased Buchenwald prisoners compiled inthe postwar period as Listen von verstorbenen Häftlingen [bynationality], current ITS Archives designation: 1.1.5.1, folders 457463)See also entry for: “A (i.e. auf der Flucht erschossen)”Ä (i.e. Ägypter [male] or Ägypterin [female])Egyptian (i.e. prisoner nationality)1

a.A. (i.e. auf Anordnung)by order ofa.A. (i.e. aus Amersfoort)out of [or ‘sent from’] Amersfoort (i.e. Polizeiliches DurchgangslagerAmersfoort [ Amersfoort Police Transit Camp])See also entry for: “P.D.L. Amersfoort”A.A. (or ‘AA’, i.e. Arbeitsamt)employment officeAA (i.e. Auswärtiges Amt)Foreign OfficeAAL (i.e. Außenarbeitslager)outlying labor camp (i.e. of a concentration camp or ghetto)A.& K.Mü (i.e. Apelbom-Kossoy, München)Apelbom-Kossoy Law & Notarial Offices [in] Munich(i.e. this organization, with offices in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Munich,assisted many Holocaust restitution claimants; frequently noted as acase’s enquirer in the lower left hand corner of Anfragekarten[ research request cards] of the Central Name Index)Aantekeningencomments, remarks, notes [Dutch]a.a.O. (i.e. an angegebene Orte)at the indicated or specified locationAA Warschau (i.e. Arbeitsamt Warschau)Warsaw Labor Office (i.e. refers to lists of the Employment OfficeWarsaw on Polish forced laborers in Germany collection, current ITSArchives designation: 2.2.4.1)Aaw. H. (i.e. Ausantwortungshaft)held in detention by one duly-authorized authority at the request ofanother authoritya. B. (i.e. auf Befehl)by order ofA.B. (i.e. Apeldoornse Bos)Apeldoornse Bos [also referred to as “Apeldoornsche Bosch”](i.e. Dutch Jewish psychiatric institution located in the forests nearApeldoorn where Jews had been treated for psychiatric disorders usingmodern methods since 1909. The horrific “evacuation” of the patientsof this hospital to Westerbork concentration camp occurred on January21, 1943. This “A.B.” notation for residents of this institution issometimes seen at upper right of cards of the Dutch Wartime Card Fileof Jews, current ITS Archives designation: 1.2.4.2) [Dutch]See also entries for: “Apeldoorn” and “Opgen.”Ab (e.g. ‘’, i.e. Altenburg)Altenburg Concentration Camp (i.e. subcamp of Buchenwald located atthe Altenburg branch munitions factory of Hugo Schneider AG[HASAG]; sometimes seen as the handwritten ligature shown here,with elements that might also be interpreted as the letters “A, l, T, and bor G”, at in the lower right of some documents found in theBuchenwald Individual Documents sections, current ITS Archivesdesignation: 1.1.5.x, indicating transfer to this subcamp as theprisoner’s labor assignment)See also entries for: “Alt” and “HASAG”A.B.A. (i.e. Armeebekleidungsamt)army uniform post, army clothing depot2

A.B.C. (i.e. Afwikkelingsbureau Concentratiekampen)Concentration Camp Settlement Bureau (i.e. Dutch tracing andconcentration camp information center that existed on the site of theliberated former Vught Concentration Camp, near the town of’s-Hertogenbosch, from November 26, 1944 to December 18, 1946;first known as the Afwikkelingsbureau Concentratiekamp Vught[ Settlement Bureau [at] Vught], it was later absorbed and succeededby the Informatiebureau van het Nederlandse Rode Kruis[ Information Office of the Dutch Red Cross], which was alsocommonly known as the Nationaal Opsporingsbureau [ NationalTracing Bureau]) [Dutch]Abendappellevening assembly or roll call (of prisoners)abg. (i.e. abgemeldet)de-registered (i.e. from a specific location or residence), official noticeof departure givenAbgabe bestätigt (e.g. ‘AAbgang (e.g. ‘’)surrender [of property] confirmed (i.e. preprinted above prisonersignature line on obverse of Effektenkarten [ personal effects cards])’)departure (i.e. may also mean “disbursement” or “withdrawal” in thecontext of payments such as those recorded on Geldverwahrungskarten[ money [account] cards], which are often seen in the IndividualDocuments sections of concentration camp records)See also entry for: “Geldverwahrungskarte”Abgang am [date]departure on [date]Abgang d. Flucht (i.e. Abgang durch Flucht)escaped (literally: “departure through flight”)Abgang d.Tod (i.e. “Abgang durch Tod”)“departure through death” (i.e. euphemistic term seen in concentrationcamp Ab- und Zugangslisten [ Arrivals and Departures Lists])See also entries for: “abgesetzt” and “Abtragung”Abgang durch Tod (or, ‘Abgang durch Tod!’)“departure through death” (i.e. euphemistic term seen in concentrationcamp Ab- und Zugangslisten [ Arrivals and Departures Lists])See also entries for: “abgesetzt” and “Abtragung”Abg. d. Fl. (i.e. Abgang durch Flucht)escaped (literally: “departure through flight”)abgegeben am [date]surrendered on [date], given up on [date]abgelegtdiscardedabgemeldetderegistered (i.e. from a specific location or residence), official noticeof departure givenSee also entry for: “Abmeldung”abger. (i.e. abgereist)departed, traveled away (i.e. may indicate “deported”)abgereist (or ‘Abgereist:’)departed, traveled away (i.e. may indicate “deported”)abgesandt am [date]sent on [date]3