Language of Deception

By: Remi Moses, Katalina Vue, Alvaro Badillo,

Noah Wilson

Definitions
Selection / Selecktion - Term for using
whom to kill. The process of choosing
(selecting) victims from the gas chamber by
separating from those considered fit to
work.
Shower - Language of deception of the gas
chamber.
Sonderkommando -German word meaning
special commando.

Definitions
Action / Aktion Appel Aryanization Final Solution-

Language of Deception
Kapo - A prisoner in charge of a group of inmates.
Liquidation - This was a term used by Nazis referring to
the removal of prisoners.
Organize - This was a word used by Auschwitz
prisoners referring to stealing food.
Roundup - This was a term used by the Nazis to collect
Jews to put them into labor.

Group Discussions
Q. Which words do you think were coined by the Nazis as
a language of deception, to mask what was really going
on?
I think the words aryanization, liquidation and roundup were words
disguised because, nobody would really think of what they actually
meant in this time being. Especially the Jews.
I think the word Final Solution, Aryanization, Liquidation, and round up were coined by the
Nazis as language of deception because only the Nazi new what the words meant so they
used them so the jews wouldnt know what they're talking about.
Aryanization, liquidation, Final solution and round up were words the Nazis used as disguises
for their real plan. I think this because the words don't have the same meaning as their
meanings to the Nazis.

Group Discussions
Q. Which words do you think may have been coined by
prisoners themselves?
I think the word organize was coined by the Jews because, to them it
meant to steal food so they could survive.
The word Organize and kapo were coined by the jews themselves because a Kapo was also a
prisoner so he could help the other prisoners organize food.

The word Organize was coined by the prisoners because the last thing
you would think organize means is to steal food.

Group Discussions
Q. Which of the words describe some general aspect of the
Holocaust?
Aryanization, liquidation and final solution are words that have the general
aspect of the Holocaust.
Liquidation, Final solution, Aryanization , round up and sonderkommando we some aspect of the
Holocaust because they rounded up the jews for labor and if they didn't work right then they
would kill them.
Aryanization, Liquidation, Final Solution, and round up. were the general aspect of the
Holocaust because theses words all explain what they did to the Jewish people.

Group Discussion
Q. Which of the words describe the concentration camps in
particular?
Appel, Kapo and organize describe the concentration camps in particular because, appel is roll
call, Kapo is a prisoner in charge, and organize was a word used by Jews to steal food.
Appel, kapo, organize, Roundup, describe the concentration camps because in roundup they
gathered all of the jews to get put in labor/Concentration camps and the kapo was also a
prisoner in a camp that has been there longer.
Appel, Kapo and Organize describe the concentration camps because Appel and organize all
were things that happened on a daily, and Kapos were prisoners that helped organize and to
help steal food.

Group Discussion
Q. Why do you think Spiegelman kept these specialized words in Maus rather
than replace them with ones more easily understood?
I think Spiegelman kept using the specialized words so the intensity could
stay the same and the readers would be just as intrigued as in the book
Night.
I think Spiegelman kept this more complex words so that the mice can make
themselves look smart and so it looks like there like us humans that are able to
use complex words.
I think Spiegelman kept this vocabulary because he wanted to show the importance of these
special words and phrases. These words were probably used frequently.