bar mitzvah
At the age of 13, Jewish boys are considered adults eligible to participate in public worship and are bound to observe Jewish law. Bar mitzvah also refers to the ceremony celebrating the initiation of a Jewish boy into adulthood.
Maccabees
The Maccabees were a group of Jewish freedom fighters who formed around five brothers in the biblical land of Israel. They led a successful rebellion against the invading forces of a Greek ruler and established an independent state in the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE.
Wessel, Horst
A member of the SA Stormtroopers who died in of injuries sustained in a dispute with Communists in 1930. During the Weimar Republic, violent altercations (street fights) between communists and SA members were common. After his death in 1930, Wessel was made a martyr for the Nazi cause and inspired the “Horst Wessel Song”, a Nazi anthem.
Wall Street Crash
Unprecedented crash of the stock market between October 24-29, 1929. The Wall Street Crash signaled the beginning of the Great Depression and worldwide instability. The economic collapse was accompanied by skyrocketing unemployment and poverty in Germany, ultimately contributing to the destabilization of the government of the Weimar Republic and Hitler’s rise to power.
Gestapo
The political police force of Nazi Germany, the Gestapo was responsible for the identification and brutal suppression of opposition to the Nazi state. The name Gestapo is an acronym for Geheime Staatspolizei (literally “Secret State Police”). [...]