Alone in Berlin (Penguin Modern Classics)

∗ SA is the ‘Sturmabteilung’ or ‘storm troopers’, a paramilitary group that helped bring Hitler to power and whose members were known because of their uniform colour as the ‘brown shirts’.

† Organization Todt was a military construction and logistics unit run by Fritz Todt. The RAD, or Reichsarbeitsdienst (‘Empire work service’) was a six-month forced labour programme for all young Germans, with a component of military training. Sonderführer (‘Special leader’) was not a specific position in any hierarchy, but conferred as the need arose. A Politischer Leiter, or political leader, was any Nazi Party official. They wore golden brown uniforms. ‘Golden pheasant’ was a nickname for Hermann Göring, who was given to ostentatious uniforms. The BDM, or Bund Deutscher Mädel (The ‘League of German Girls’) was the girls’ branch of the Hitler Youth, for girls of ten to twenty-one years old.