LAGERALTESTER: the camp’s most senior deportee, who had management responsibilities and answered directly to the Lagerführer.

LAGERFÜHRER: subordinate or non-commissioned S.S. officer in charge of the camp. He was the highest-ranking officer in the outside commandos; in the large camps he was a sort of warrant officer. Not to be confused with the Lagerkommandant, who was his superior.

LAGERKOMMANDANT: In large camps with many commandos, he was a superior officer. He commanded the entire camp, in much the same way that a colonel commands his regiment. The rank varied depending on the camp. Hoess at Auschwitz was a colonel (Obersturmbannführer), but Kramer at Bergen-Belsen was a captain (Hauptsturmführer).

LAGERPOLIZEI- LAGERSCHUTZ: Camp police or guard, also deportees assigned to that police or guard.

LAGERSTRASSE: the camp’s central street.

LAUSKONTROLLE: lice inspection.

League of Nations: The peace treaties drafted after the armistice of 11 November 1918, of which the main one was the Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June 1919, were based on the 14 points that President Wilson put forward on 8 January 1918. They proclaimed the right of all peoples to self-determination and advocated the settling of conflicts by bringing them before an international assembly called the League of Nations. The US Congress’s refusal to ratify the Treaty of Versailles weakened the body, which sat in Geneva, Switzerland. After the Second World War it was replaced by the United Nations (UN), whose charter was signed in San Francisco on 26 June 1945. President Roosevelt had already laid the groundwork for the UN in January 1942.

LEBENSRAUM: vital space. In Nazi ideology, this word meant the land necessary for the German people’s survival. Most of it had to be conquered in the Slavic regions of the east.

LEGION DES VOLONTAIRES FRANÇAIS CONTRE LE BOLCHEVISME (LVF): French Volunteers Against Bolshevism. After Germany invaded the USSR, the Frenchman Jacques Doriot created this legion of volunteers. Supported by the Nazis, the LVF was forbidden in the southern zone. It fought on the eastern front. From 1941 to 1944 it was involved in 5,800 engagements.

LORRAINE CROSS: Emblem chosen by Admiral Muselier for the Forces Navales de la France Libre (FNFL). Afterwards it became the symbol of all the Free French fighting forces.

LUFTWAFFE: German air force.

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