Nazi Terminology

This is a list of words, terms, concepts and slogans of Nazi Germany used in the historiography covering the Nazi regime.
Some words were coined by Adolf Hitler and other Nazi Party members. Other words and concepts were borrowed and appropriated, and other terms were already in use during the Weimar Republic. Finally, some are taken from Germany's cultural tradition.

0–9

* 25-point programme – The Nazi Party platform and a codification of its ideology.

A

* ''Abbeförderung'' ('dispatching, removal') – euphemism for killing.
* ''abgeräumt'' ('cleared away') – slang expression for "murdered".
* ''Abhörverbrecher'' ('wiretapping criminal') – Germans and others in the occupied countries who illegally listened to foreign news broadcasts.
* ''Abkindern'' – an ironically intended colloquial designation for the cancellation of a marriage loan through the production of offspring. In German, ''ab'' means "off" and ''Kind'' means "child".
* ''Ablieferungspflicht'' ('delivery obligation') – delivery duty on farm products and other goods which had to be contributed to the state to be sold on the German market.
* ''Abrechnung mit den Juden'' ('the settling of accounts with the Jews') – the removal of Jews from the German economy and society, eventually leading to their extermination in the Holocaust.
* ''Abschaum'' ('scum') – political adversaries of the Nazis.
* ''SS-Abschnitt'' – SS district or district headquarters.
* ''Absiedlung'' ('resettlement') – the forceful removal of people from German-occupied or annexed regions. This term is synonymous with ''Umsiedlung''.
* ''Abstammungsnachweis'' ('genealogical certificate') – used to establish the purity of one's Aryan descent.
* ''Abteilung'' – a branch, subsection, department or a division within a main office.
* ''Abteilungsleiter'' – the head of a section or department.
* ''Abwehr'' (; 'defence') – a German military intelligence (information gathering) organisation that operated from 1920 to 1944. After 4 February 1938, its name in title was ''Amt Ausland/Abwehr im Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (' Foreign Affairs/Defence Office of the Armed Forces High Command').
* ''Abwehrangelegenheiten'' – counterespionage issues.
* ''Abwehrpolizei'' – counter-espionage police. They were a function of the border police (''Grenzpolizei'') controlled by the Gestapo.
* ''Abwehrstelle'' (AST, ASt) – Military Intelligence Center.
* ''Achsenmächte'' – literally, Axis powers.
* ''"Achtung, Feind hört mit!"'' (; 'Watch out, the enemy is listening!') – Nazi slogan used as a repeated warning against spies published in newspapers, posted in shop windows and restaurants, printed on notepads and even on matchboxes. Also a film.
* Adolphe Légalité – derisory nickname for Hitler in social-revolutionary SA circles following the Reichswehr Trial held before the Leipzig Supreme Court in late September 1930. In the eyes of radical National Socialists, Hitler's Legality Oath had conceded too much to his political enemies, in the same way as had the Duke of Orléans, who adopted the name Philippe Égalité during the French Revolution.
* ''agrarpolitischer Apparat'' (aA; 'Agrarian Apparatus') – Agricultural Affairs Bureau of the NSDAP.
** Leadership hierarchy: ''Reichsleitungsfachberater'' held by Richard Walther Darré; ''Gaufachberater''; ''Bezirksfachberater''; ''Kreisfachberater''; ''Ortsgruppenfachberater''
** Agents: LVL; ''Landesfachberater'' ('consultants')
** Administrative: ''Hilfsreferenten'' ('staff members'); ''Sachbearbeiter'' ('aides'); ''Hilfsreferenten'' responsible for day-to-day propaganda campaign
* ''Ahnenerbe'' ('ancestral heritage') – a think tank established under the patronage of Heinrich Himmler to research the history of the Aryan race and prove its superiority.
** ''Ahnenerbe Forschungs- und Lehrgemeinschaft'' – Society for Research and the Teaching of Ancestral Heritage.
* ''Ahnennachweise'' – genealogical tree used to prove ancestry.
* '' Ahnenpaß'' ('ancestor passport') – an identification card which was supposed to be carried by all Germans to demonstrate one's Aryan race lineage.
* ''Ahnenschein'' ('genealogical chart') – a document used to show correct Aryan descent.
* ''Akademiker'' ('academic') – a member of those professions whose exercise required university study as a prerequisite. The term was avoided because it fostered caste mentality and contradicted the ideal of the Volk community. The proportion of academics from a working-class background increased during the Nazi era, but remained minuscule in actual numbers.
* ''Auf Kriegsdauer'' (a. Kr.; 'for the duration of the war') – added to titles to indicate the limited promotion prospects for bureaucrats.
* ''Aktion'' ('action') – euphemism for a mass-murder operation.
* ''Aktion 1005'' – ('Action 1005'), also called the ''Sonderaktion 1005'' ('special action 1005') or ''Enterdungsaktion'' ('exhuming action'), was the 1942–44 secret Nazi operation for concealing evidence of their own largest mass-killings. Laborers – facetiously called "Sonderkommando 1005" ('special commando/s 1005') – would be taken under guard to a closed death camp to clear the site of structures while a sub-unit, the "Leichenkommandos" ('corpse commandos'), were forced to exhume bodies from mass graves, burn the remains (usually on timber and iron-rail "roasts"), and sometimes to grind down larger bone pieces in portable bone-crusher mills. Some ''Einsatzgruppen'' mass graves were also cleared out. (Note: without the ''1005'' appended, in the camps the word ''Sonderkommando'' (lit. 'special unit') euphemistically referred to prisoner-laborers generally who stoked the crematoria, shaved newcomers' hair, processed seized belongings, etc., but were not involved in the exhuming action.)
* ''Aktion Reinhardt'' ('mission/action Reinhardt') – code name given on 4 June 1942 for the assignment to exterminate all Polish Jews in honor of SS Deputy Chief Reinhard Heydrich who had been assassinated during a covert operation.
* ''Aktion T4'' – code name for the extermination of mentally ill and handicapped patients by the Nazi authorities. (Named after Tiergartenstraße 4, the address of Nazi Central Office in Berlin.)
* ''Aktivismus'' ('activism') – political maxim of National Socialism as a "fighting movement", as opposed to "bourgeois passivity". It was claimed that only through an activist stance had it been possible to "defeat terrorist Marxism". However, that which propaganda ennobled as activism was, especially at the grass-roots level, often only blind action for action's sake.
* ''Alles für Deutschland'' ('everything for Germany') – Motto applied to the blades of uniform daggers worn by the SA and National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK).
* ''Allgemeine SS'' (general SS) – general overall body of the SS which included full-time, part-time, active, inactive, and honorary members.
* ''Alljuda'' – antisemitic Germanization of the term ''international Jewry'' that borrowed from the word ''alldeutsch'' ('pan-German'), as in the antisemitic slogan "All-Germany against All-Jewry!" The National Socialists used the word ''Alljuda'' to suggest the ''Allgegenwart'' ('omnipresence') of the Jewish danger and the "world conspiracy of Judaism"; aggressive terminology that degraded Zionism
* ''Alpenfestung'' ('Alpine Fortress') – the region on the Obersalzberg where Hitler was originally supposed to retreat when conducting the battle against the Allies. Hitler never used the ''Alpenfestung'' in this capacity and retreated instead into the bunker in Berlin.
* ''Alter Kämpfer'' ('old fighter') – A Nazi Party member who joined the party or a party-affiliated organization before the ''Reichstag'' election of September 1930, when the Nazi Party made its electoral breakthrough; or who joined the Austrian Nazi Party or an affiliate before the ''Anschluss.'' The first 100,000 members of the Party were eligible to wear the Golden Nazi Party Badge. The "old fighters" tended to be the most extreme anti-Semitics in the party.
* '' Altreich'' ('old country') – after the annexation of Austria in 1938, referred to the part of Germany that was within the 1937 (pre-annexation) boundaries.
* ''Amt'' – a main office, branch or department of a ministry within the Reich.
* ''Amtsgericht'' – a court of law with functions over the whole legal field.
* '' Amtsleiter'' – a convener of NSDAP Party committees. They were personally answerable to Hitler.
* ''Amtswalter'' ('office steward') – Old German-sounding Nazi synonym for "official" or "civil servant" (''Beamter'') and therefore the preferred term for professional functionaries of the party and its branches. Those persons working in the state apparatus continued to be called ''Beamte''.
* ''Amt Feierabend'' ('Office for After-Work Activity') – aimed to organize workers' after-work activities as part of the Strength Through Joy policy.
* ''Amt Volksbildungswerk'' ('Office for Popular Education') – aimed to organize ideologically approved education for workers as part of the Strength Through Joy policy.
* ''Anbauschlacht'' – Battle for Cultivation.
* ''Angstbrosche'' ('badge of fear') – an ironic expression for the Nazi Party pin worn by latecomers to the Party in 1933.
* ''Anhaltelager'' – a temporary detention camp.
* ''Anordnung'' – an order, instruction or regulation.
* ''Anschluss'' (''Anschluß'') – annexation, in particular the annexation of Austria in March, 1938.
* Anti-Comintern Pact – the agreement by Germany, Japan, and Italy to oppose the Communist International (the Comintern) directed by Josef Stalin and the Soviet Union.
* ''Arbeit adelt'' ('labor ennobles') – Motto applied to the blades of uniform daggers worn by officers of the Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD, the State Labor Service).
* ''Arbeit macht frei'' ('work will set you free') – an old German peasant saying, not invented by the Nazis. It was placed above the gate to Auschwitz by the commandant Rudolf Höß. The slogan which appeared on the gates of numerous Nazi death camps and concentration camps was not true; those sent to the camps certainly would not be freed in exchange for their hard labor. Instead they were generally worked to death or exterminated when they could no longer perform labour for the Reich.
* ''Arbeitnehmerschaft'' ('workforce') – the Nazis took this word to mean both manual and mental workers.
* "''Arbeitertum der Faust und der Stirn''" ('Workers of both manual and mental labor') – blue-collar and white-collar workers. This was the Nazi Party self-description as an "all-inclusive workers' party".
* ''Arbeitsdienstführer'' ('labor service leader) – an official responsible for labor output and performance in a concentration camp.
* ''Arbeitserziehungslager'' ('workers' educational camps') – camps established for recently released concentration camp inmates designed to provide additional training for industrial work.
* ''Arbeitsplatzwechselverordnung'' (APWVO) – a legal order to change jobs.
* ''Arbeitsscheue'' – a person who avoids work. Germans who rejected opportunities to work were categorized and placed in protective custody (''Schutzhaft''), which implied that they were slackers. In most instances, they were reported to the Gestapo and thereafter interned at the Buchenwald concentration camp for a three-month period.
* ''Arbeitsschlacht'' ('battle for work') – propaganda term for the totality of measures involved in work creation. Because of its military and activist sound, ''Arbeitsschlacht'' was one of Hitler's favorite terms until 1937 (the ''de facto'' end of unemployment). It was patterned after the Fascist Italian ''battaglia per il grano'' ('battle for grain').
* '' Ariernachweis'' – a Certificate of Descent (to show " Aryan" heritage) (popular name).
* '' Aryan'' – the Germanic "master race" or ''Übermensch'', according to Nazi doctrine.
* '' Arisierung'' ('Aryanization') – the process of making something " Aryan" through the seizure of Jewish property in favour of a non-Jewish German.
* ''Asoziale'' ('asocial people') – during the Nazi era, the term was derogatory, akin to "scum" or the ''ballastexistenzen'' ('ballast-existences' – dead weight, waste-lives) of the socially marginalized, those considered by the Nazis to be undesirables. It included the homeless, migrant workers, beggars, vagrants, large families from the lower social strata, families from the edge of town, "like gypsy" migrants, the so-called "work shy", alcoholics, prostitutes and pimps. Gypsies (as they were called by the Nazis) were considered to be "foreign race ''asoziale''".
* ''Aufbruch der Nation'' ('a new start for the nation') – nationalist interpretation of the beginning of the First World War; it was adopted by the "National Socialist Revolution" to emphasize the overcoming of the party state and of pluralism. This was a parallel concept to the National Rising (''Erhebung'').
* ''Aufsichtsverwaltung'' – supervisory administration'
* Auschwitz – a town near Kraków in southern Poland that was the site of the largest Nazi concentration camps.
* ''ausgebombt'' ('bombed out') – people rendered homeless due to the Allied bombing campaign against Germany during World War II.
* ''Auslandsdeutsche'' ('Germans in foreign countries') – people of Germanic blood who spent their formative years in a German community abroad. Nazi doctrine held that such people were still entitled to the full rights of being German, especially those who remained affiliated with the Fatherland. A considerable number of them were in the United States and Argentina.
* ''Auslandsnachrichtendienst'' – intelligence service covering foreign countries. This was one of the functions of the SD as Amt VI of the RSHA.
* '' Auslandsorganisation'' (AO; 'Organization for Foreigners') – a NSDAP organization tasked to supervise Germans abroad.
* ''Ausrichtung'' ('alignment') – a favorite NS word, borrowed from military usage, for external and internal "normalization" of the movement's followers. External uniformity of dress corresponded to inner ideological alignment regarding NS goals.
* ''Ausrottungsmaßnahmen'' – extermination measures.
* ''Außenpolitisches Amt'' (APA; 'Foreign Policy Office') – a NSDAP foreign policy office overseen by Alfred Rosenberg.
* ''Außenstelle'' – also known as ''Außendienststelle''; outstation or outpost of the SiPo and SD.
* ''Autobahn'' – The "autobahns", a freeway system planned by the Weimar Republic but constructed by Nazi Germany. The autobahn construction program was enthusiastically implemented by Hitler as a public works project to help fulfill his promise to reduce unemployment. The autobahn system was used as a model for the construction of the United States Interstate Highway System by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who remarked on the efficiency of the autobahn for military transportation while in Germany as the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force.

B

* ''Badeanstalten'' "bathhouses" – gas chambers disguised as bathhouses
* ''Bahnschutzpolizei'' – railway protection police
* '' Bandenkampfabzeichen'' – "(Anti-) bandits-campaign badge": Nazi military uniform award for participating in ''Bandenbekämpfung'' operations; see below.
* ''Bandenbekämpfung'' – "bandit fighting": anti-partisan warfare. The term ''Banden'' was used instead of ''partisans'' to dehumanize those deemed to be enemies. All Jews and anyone living in a partisan-controlled area was to be killed with the assumption that they were "bandits", resulting in the mass murder of civilians.
* ''Bann, ban'' – Old German word meaning "area of command authority" (thus, ban-mile). It was revived by the Hitler Youth to designate a division of four to six ''Stämme'' (stems), or subbans, led by an HJ ''Bannführer''. The ''Bann'' corresponded to the ''Untergau'' in the League of German Girls, and to the ''Jungbann'' in the Jungvolk.
* '' Bayreuther Festspiele'' – The "Bayreuth Festival", a festival of Wagnerian opera held since 1876 (and still held today) in Bayreuth, Germany. Because of Hitler's love of the music of Wagner, all the leading Party functionaries and their wives were expected to attend the Bayreuth Festival. Hitler said, "Anyone who does not appreciate the music of Wagner cannot understand National Socialism".
* ''BDM-Werk Glaube und Schönheit'' – "BDM Belief and Beauty Society" – A special branch of the '' Bund Deutscher Mädel'' (League of German Girls) began in January 1938 and open to girls age 17 to 21.
* ''Bedarfsschein'' – special voucher which allowed one access to otherwise scarce goods or wares.
* "''Befehl ist Befehl''" – "An order is an order"; Germans typically followed orders as an obligation, particularly in military contexts. This statement was frequently used as a rationale to justify mass murder.
* ''Befehlshaber der Ordnungspolizei'' (BDO) – Headquarters of the Order (uniformed) Police.
* '' SS-Begleitkommando des Führers'' (SS Escort Command of the Führer) – originally an eight-man SS squad assigned with protecting the life of Adolf Hitler during the early 1930s. The ''Begleitkommando'' was later expanded and became known as the ''Führerbegleitkommando'' (Führer Escort Command; FBK). It remained responsible for Hitler's personal protection until 30 April 1945.
* ''Bekanntmachungen'' – proclamations; throughout occupied Europe, German authorities posted decrees and notifications, unauthorized removal of one was punishable by death.
* ''Bekennende Kirche'' also ''Bekenntniskirche'' – "Confessing Church". The groups of Protestant churches and clergymen that resisted Nazification. Many dissenting pastors in this movement paid the ultimate sacrifice for their disagreement with the regime.
* Bergen-Belsen – concentration camp located near the German village of Bergen, nearby Hannover. Anne Frank died there.
* '' Berghof'' – Adolf Hitler's home in the Obersalzberg of the Bavarian Alps near Berchtesgaden, which he purchased in 1933.
* ''Berufskammern'' – Nazi's professional organizations.
* ''Beschwerliches Leben'' – synonym for Unnütze Esser "useless eaters".
* ''Besatzungsverwaltung'' – occupation administration
* ''Besitzbürgertum'' (Property-owning Bourgeoisie) – pejorative term referring to upper middle class property owning people early in the Nazi regime's existence.
* ''bestimmungsgemäß behandelt'' – treated according to orders or regulations
* ''Betreuen'' "look after" – imprison in a concentration camp
* ''Betreuungsausschuß'' – managing committee
* ''Betreuungsvertrag'' – support contract
* ''Beutegermane –'' Volksdeutsche
* ''Bevollmächtiger'' – plenipotentiary
* ''Bewachungsmannschaft'' – a guard detachment of the SS in a concentration camp
* ''Bezirksleiter'' – NSDAP district leaders.
* ''Bildungsbürgertum'' – educated member of the bourgeoisie
* ''Blechkrawatte'' – "tin necktie," nickname for the Knight's Cross
* Blitzkrieg – lightning war; quick army invasions aided by tanks and airplanes. A form of attack generally associated with the German armed forces during the Second World War. ''Blitzkrieg'' tactics were particularly effective in the early German campaigns against Poland, France, and the Soviet Union.
* ''Blockleiter'' – lowest official of the NSDAP, responsible for the political supervision of a (city) block, usually 40 to 60 households (also called ''Blockführer'' in some cases).
* ''Blockwart'' – see ''Blockleiter''
* ''Blumenkriege'' ('Flower Wars') – expression utilized by Joseph Goebbels referring to the German diplomatic successes in both Austria and Czechoslovakia, when instead of being greeted by bullets, German soldiers were showered with flowers in jubilant displays of support.
* ''Blutbewußtsein'' – blood consciousness; pride in one's Germanic race and the act of behaving in accordance with Nazi ideals.
* ''Blutfahne'' "Blood flag" – An SA flag bloodied in the attempted Beer Hall Putsch in Munich 9 November 1923, and revered by the Nazi Party, used in ceremonies. The flag was supposedly made sacred to the Nazi cause through the blood of early NSDAP martyrs and it was used for dramatic effect and in esoteric rituals whereby Hitler 'consecrated' new party members (particularly at the Nuremberg Rallies) by holding the flag in one hand while touching the new members as they passed by him. It disappeared towards the end of the War and is presumed to have been destroyed.
* '' Blutorden'' – "Blood Order" – The medal instituted by Hitler in March 1934 and awarded to Nazis who took part in the November 1923 Beer-Hall Putsch or persons who were a member of one of its formations by January 1932 (continuous service). In 1938, members who could receive it was expanded to persons who rendered outstanding service to the Party. Further party members who lost their lives in the service of the Party could be awarded it. In June 1942, Reinhard Heydrich (posthumously) was the last to be awarded the medal. This award was one of the highest of the NSDAP and under 6,000 were given.
* '' Blut und Boden'' – " Blood and soil". Slogan adopted by the Nazis; it was originally coined by the German former Social Democrat August Winnig, cfr. his ''Das Reich als Republik 1918–1928'', (Stuttgart and Berlin: Cotta, 1928), pg 3.
* ''Blut und Ehre'' (Blood and Honor) – Motto applied to the blades of some uniform daggers worn by the ''Hitlerjugend'', or Hitler Youth.
* ''Blutschande'' (Blood Shame) – the German word for "incest" which was misappropriated by Hitler and the Nazis, who equated it with the defilement of German racial purity through intermarriage with other non-Germanic races.
* ''Blutzeuge –'' an NSDAP martyr
* ''bodengebunden'' – bound to the soil
* ''bodenständiger Kapitalismus'' – 'home country-orientated capitalism' or 'sedentary capitalism' – productive capitalism, i.e., industry (as opposed to unproductive 'nomadic' capitalism, i.e., financial speculation, believed by the Nazis to be dominated by the Jews) was a Nazi economic concept.
* ''Bombenflüchtling'' – bomb refugee; German city dweller sent to the countryside due to the Allied bombing attacks.
* ''Bombensprengkommando'' – bomb detonation detachments; prisoners in the SS-Baubrigaden who had to recover exploded munitions during the cleanup of bombed German cities.
* '' Breitspurbahn'' (broad-gauge railway) – a planned 3-meter (9 ft 10 in) broad-gauge railway, a personal pet project of Adolf Hitler, with double-storey coaches to run between major cities of '' Großdeutschland''.
* '' Braunes Haus'' – The Brown House – national HQ of the NSDAP in Munich, Germany, opened 1931; Hitler purchased the Barlow Palace which was the old Italian embassy when Bavaria was an independent state.
* ''Braunhemden'' ( Brownshirts) – the SA. The SA leadership obtained khaki colored shirts that were supposed to be sent to German troops stationed in African colonies prior to World War I, and thus the color brown became a symbol of the Nazi party.
* ''Brigadeführer'' "brigade leader" – an SA and SS rank, equivalent to brigadier general.
* Buchenwald – concentration camp located near Weimar, Germany
* '' Bücherverbrennung'' – book burning
* '' Bund Deutscher Mädel'' (BDM) – NSDAP "League of German Girls," the female branch of the Hitler Youth. It had three million members in 1937.
* ''Burschenschaft'' – student association (predates Nazi Party). Many of these organizations were instrumental in the adoption of Pan-Germanic anti-Semitic ideals for future SS members while they attended university.
* ''Bürgerbräukeller-Attentat'' (Beer Hall Attempt) – connotes the unsuccessful assassination attempt upon Hitler's life on 8 November 1939 in Munich.

C

* Carinhall – country estate of Hermann Göring outside Berlin. Named in honor of his first wife Carin Göring (1888–1931).
* ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei im Reichsministerium des Innern'' – (Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior). Title conferred on Heinrich Himmler by Hitler in June 1936. Traditionally, law enforcement in Germany had been a state matter. In this role, Himmler was nominally subordinate to Interior Minister Frick. However, the decree effectively placed the police under the national control of members of the SS.
* ''Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD'' – (Chief of the Security Police and SD) or CSSD. Title first conferred on Reinhard Heydrich and after his death, Ernst Kaltenbrunner when chief of the ''Reichssicherheitshauptamt'' (Reich Security Main Office or RSHA, which included the Gestapo, SD and Kripo).
* ''Chef der Zivilverwaltung (CdZ)'' – ( Chief of the Civilian Administration) Official title of the head of the Nazi occupation administration in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg which lasted from 10 May 1940 to 10 September 1944. The office was held by Gustav Simon, Gauleiter of the neighbouring German Gau of Trier-Koblenz (since 1942 Gau Moselland).
* ''Chefsache'' (matter for the leader) – a top secret document or a matter which had to be decided by the leader (Hitler) himself.
* Chełmno (Kulmhof) – the first camp constructed solely for extermination (''Vernichtungslager''). Located approximately 60 kilometers from Łodz, upwards of 300,000 Jews were killed at Chełmno by German firing squads and mobile gas vans.
* '' Columbia-Haus'' (Columbia House) – infamous ''Gestapo'' prison set up immediately following Hitler's assumption of power in January 1933 which housed political opponents, Jews, and anyone deemed an enemy of the Nazi regime. Various forms of torture were employed there.
* Comintern – abbreviated version of 'Communist International' (term not unique to Nazism).
* ''Christlich-Sozialer Volksdienst'' or CSVD (Christian Social People's Service) – organization founded by the merger of the two Protestant political groups, the ''Christlich-soziale Reichsvereinigung'' (Christian Social Reich Association) and the ''Christlicher Volksdienst'' (Christian People's Service) to advocate for the Protestant religious cause. It was dissolved shortly after the Nazis seized power.
* Cyclon B – Alternative spelling of '' Zyklon B'', trade-name of a cyanide-based insecticide used to kill over one million people in gas chambers.

D

* ''Daseinskampf'' – struggle for existence. Word used in Nazi circles referring to the struggle against perceived enemies (Jews, Slavs, Communists, Roma, and others).
* ''Das System'' – "The System." Derogatory Nazi term for the Weimar Republic.
* ''"Denn heute gehört uns Deutschland/Und morgen die ganze Welt"'' – "Today, Germany belongs to us/And tomorrow the entire world", a line from the 1932 song ''Es zittern die morschen Knochen'' ("The Frail Bones Tremble") written by Hans Baumann that became the official marching song of the Reichsarbeitsdienst (''Reich Labor Service'') in 1935. This was loosely translated into English as ''Today Germany, Tomorrow the World'', implying that the Nazis intended to take over the world.
* ''Deutsche Ansiedlungsgesellschaft'' – German Settlement Company
* '' German Workers' Party (Austria-Hungary)'' (DAP) – Austria-Hungary party which was the predecessor of the Austrian and Czechoslovak ''Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei'' (DNSAP), founded on 14 November 1903.
* ''Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP) (German Workers' Party) – was a short-lived political party started in Munich and the precursor of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (''Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'', NSDAP); commonly referred to in English as the Nazi Party. The DAP only lasted from January 1919 until February 1920.
* ''Deutsche Arbeitsfront'' (DAF) – The 'German Labour Front' was the Nazi's substitute organisation for trade unions, which had been outlawed on 2 May 1933.
* ''Deutsche Ausrüstungswerke'' (DAW; German Armament Works) – an armaments organization established in 1939 under SS control.
* ''Deutschblütig'' – "German-blooded, of German blood" was a legal term after the Nuremberg Laws, which certified one as a member of the German race. (See below: ''Fremdblütig'')
* '' Deutsche Christen'' – the "de-Judaized" Christian church; those who were "Nazified". They removed the whole Old Testament from the Bible.
* ''Deutsche Glaubensbewegung'' (German Faith Movement) – neo-pagan Church formed during the Nazi era, intended to replace traditional Christian institutions.
* ''Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei'' (DNSAP) – the Austrian "German National Socialist Workers' Party".
* ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'' – German National Railway. Formed under the Weimar Republic by merging Germany's various railways, and nationalized by the Nazis in 1937. Continued to operate in East Germany until 1994.
* ''Deutsche Umsiedlungs-Treuhand GmbH'' – The German Resettlement Trust Ltd.
* ''Deutsche Wirtschaftsbetriebe GmbH'' – German Economic Enterprises Ltd.; Created by the SS and controlled by the WVHA.
* ''Deutscher Frauenorden'' (DFO) – German Women's Order. The leader was Elsbeth Zander.
* ''Deutscher Gruß'' – the "German greeting". Also known as the Hitler salute (''Hitlergruß''). Used when addressing Hitler, higher-ranking Party, SA or SS officers, or the ''Reich'' officials. Imposed on the Armed Forces in lieu of the military salute after the 20 July plot.
* '' Deutscher Luftsportverband'' (DLV) – German Air Sports Association, clandestine predecessor of the ''Luftwaffe'', formed under Hermann Göring in his role of National Kommissar for aviation with former Deutsche Luft Hansa director Erhard Milch as his deputy.
* '' Deutscher Nationalismus'' – "German nationalism", the main core ideological basis of the NSDAP.
* '' Deutscher Nationalpreis für Kunst und Wissenschaft'' – German National Prize for Art and Science, a substitute/rival award to the Nobel Prizes, which the Nazis forbade Germans to accept.
* ''Deutscher Orden'' – German Order, the highest decoration of the Nazi Party; awarded only 12 times, in most cases posthumously. Cynically nicknamed the "Dead Hero Medal."
* ''Deutsches Jungvolk'' – NSDAP-controlled association for boys before they were old enough to enter the Hitler Youth at age 14.
* '' Deutsches Kreuz'', German Cross – military decoration instituted to bridge the gap between the Iron Cross 1st Class and the Knight's Cross. Awarded in gold for valor in combat and in silver for distinguished service.
* ''Deutschland Erwache!'' – "Germany awake!" a Nazi slogan. It was used on the vexilloid