Vocabulary Discussion of The Perils of Indifference

-METAPHYSICAL
1. pertaining to or of the nature of metaphysics.
2. Philosophy.
a.concerned with abstract thought or subjects, as existence, causality, or truth.
b.concerned with first principles and ultimate grounds, as being, time, or substance.
3.highly abstract, subtle, or abstruse.
Origin: 1375–1425; late ME metaphisicalle < ML metaphysicālis.

-GULAG
1. the system of forced-labor camps in the Soviet Union.
2. a Soviet forced-labor camp.
3. any prison or detention camp, esp. for political prisoners.
Origin: 1970–75; < Russ Gulág, acronym from Glávnoe upravlénie ispravítelʾno-trudovýkh lageréĭ Main Directorate of Corrective Labor Camps

-ETYMOLOGY
1. the derivation of a word.
2. an account of the history of a particular word or element of a word.
3. the study of historical linguistic change, esp. as manifested in individual words.
Origin: 1350–1400; ME < L etymologia < Gk etymología, equiv. to etymológ(os) studying the true meanings and values of words (étymo(s) true + lógos word, reason) + -ia -y

-SS MURDER SQUADS
The German Einsatzgruppen (task groups) were execution squads that went in to places after the Wehrmacht. The squads were composed of kriminal polizei, Gestapo, Waffen SS and SD men. These Einsatzgruppen were responsible for killing over one million Jews.

-WEHRMACHT
Literally "defense force."
The name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy) and the Luftwaffe (air force). The Waffen-SS, an initially small paramilitary section of Heinrich Himmler's Allgemeine SS that grew to nearly a million strong during World War II, was not officially part of the Wehrmacht, but subject to OKW, OKH, as well as Field Command. Thus, the Waffen-SS was, de facto, a fourth branch of the Wehrmacht.
Although it is technically incorrect, the word Wehrmacht is often used to refer specifically to the German Army of the Second World War, as opposed to the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe.

-APARTHEID
1. (in the Republic of South Africa) a rigid policy of segregation of the nonwhite population.
2. any system or practice that separates people according to race, caste, etc.
Origin: 1945–50; < Afrik, equiv. to apart APART + -heid -HOOD