"Fighting Hitler: A Holocaust Story," Vocabulary from the article

For Scholastic Scope, Lauren Tarshis presents the story of a Jewish teenager who fought the Nazis during World War II.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. petty
    preoccupied with unimportant matters in a spiteful way
    Like most of Warsaw's 350,000 Jews, Ben doesn't dwell on the petty hatreds of ignorant people.
    The adjective also means "small and of little importance." At the time that a neighbor hissed "Dirty Jew," Hitler had not invaded Poland yet, so the words were petty to Ben. But soon, the hatred grew larger than petty words, and Ben and his family were no longer safe dwelling among the anti-Semites' narrow vision of how the world should look.
  2. annihilation
    total destruction
    As Ben's family is enjoying their dinner, Germany's leader, Adolf Hitler, is plotting the annihilation of Europe's 9 million Jews.
  3. vermin
    any of various small animals or insects that are pests
    He compared them to "vermin," calling them "subhuman," and "an inferior race."
  4. eliminate
    end, take out, or do away with
    "Eliminate the Jews," Hitler exclaimed, "and you will eliminate all of Germany's problems!"
    The structure of the exclamation makes both uses of the verb seem the same. This helps Hitler to emphasize that Jews are synonymous with problems, and that eliminating them would be a good thing. But the first use of "eliminate" is actually synonymous with "annihilate" which means "kill in large numbers."
  5. efficiency
    skillfulness in avoiding wasted time and effort
    With shocking swiftness and brutal efficiency, the Nazis and Polish police cracked down on Warsaw's Jews.
  6. confiscate
    take temporary possession of a security by legal authority
    Many Jewish-owned businesses, including Ben's father's, were confiscated.
  7. sorrow
    an emotion of great sadness associated with loss
    Ben looked with sorrow at those around him -- women holding tight to their babies, men in business suits, teachers from his school, little girls wearing their finest dresses and shoes.
  8. sneer
    smile contemptuously
    Ben saw a sneering policeman shove an old woman who lagged behind the crowd.
  9. desperate
    fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless
    Rage at the Nazis burned inside Ben as conditions became more desperate.
    The adjective also means "showing extreme urgency or intensity because of great need." This could describe the starving family's need for food, but the chosen definition is a better fit for the overall conditions of Jews in Poland.
  10. ghetto
    a poor densely populated city district
    Like many young people, Ben soon learned tricks for sneaking out of the ghetto to find food for his family.
  11. sabotage
    destroy property or hinder normal operations
    They blew up factories, sabotaged railroads, stole weapons shipments, and upset the flow of supplies to German troops.
  12. partisan
    a fervent and even militant proponent of something
    Stories about partisans like the Bielskis spread through the Warsaw Ghetto, offering a glint of hope to boys like Ben.
  13. endure
    continue to live through hardship or adversity
    He learned to shoot, to fall asleep on the cold forest ground, to endure days in rain-soaked clothing, and to ambush Polish policemen and steal their weapons.
  14. hostile
    characterized by enmity or ill will
    Danger lurked everywhere in the hostile countryside, where Poles could earn rewards for turning in Jews to the Nazis.
  15. dire
    fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless
    Just months after joining the partisans, Ben received word that his family in Warsaw was in dire straits.
    Compare with "desperate"--both adjectives have other definitions, but they are used in the same way in their example sentences. The phrase "dire straits" means "a state of extreme distress"--which could be filled with emotions of fear, dread, or terror and could lead to a loss of hope (desperation or despair).
  16. compound
    an enclosure of residences and other buildings
    Their group eventually grew to 1,600 fighters operating from a large compound in the forest.
  17. volunteer
    do work by choice
    Ben volunteered for dangerous missions blowing up cargo trains carrying supplies meant for German troops.
  18. liquidate
    get rid of by killing
    The Nazis had "liquidated" the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943, first burning down buildings, then taking the surviving 42,000 men, women, and children by train to the death and forced labor camps.
  19. execute
    kill as a means of socially sanctioned punishment
    Many of the men who helped murder Ben's family and friends were executed for their crimes.
    The verb also has the less legal definition of "murder in a planned fashion." This would apply to the Nazis who executed ("carry out or perform an action") the orders to execute the Jews. Compare with "liquidate"--which also has financial definitions ("eliminate a debt by paying it off," "settle the affairs of by determining debts and assets" and "convert into cash"), and was used by the Nazis to make the executions sound cleaner and less like murder.
  20. smolder
    have strong suppressed feelings
    The rage and sadness were still smoldering inside him, of course, but he also had a strong sense of his own good fortune.
Created on Thu May 14 13:28:19 EDT 2015 (updated Thu May 14 15:54:22 EDT 2015)

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