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Hitler, Adolf

(Encyclopedia)Hitler, Adolf äˈdôlf hĭtˈlər [key], 1889–1945, founder and leader of National Socialism (Nazism), and German dictator, b. Braunau in Upper Austria. By July, 1944, the German military si...

Jonas, Franz

(Encyclopedia)Jonas, Franz fränts yōˈnäs [key], 1899–1974, Austrian Socialist politician. Jonas was mayor of Vienna (1951–65) and a member of parliament (1962–65). In 1965 he was elected president, and in...

musical instruments

(Encyclopedia)musical instruments are classified in various ways, but the system devised in 1914 by Kurt Sachs and E. M. von Hornbostel has been accorded recognition by both anthropologists and musicologists becaus...

Gestalt

(Encyclopedia)Gestalt gəshtältˈ [key] [Ger.,=form], school of psychology that interprets phenomena as organized wholes rather than as aggregates of distinct parts, maintaining that the whole is greater than the ...

anti-hero

(Encyclopedia)anti-hero, principal character of a modern literary or dramatic work who lacks the attributes of the traditional protagonist or hero. The anti-hero's lack of courage, honesty, or grace, his weaknesses...

minnesinger

(Encyclopedia)minnesinger mĭnˈĭsĭngˌər [key], a medieval German knight, poet, and singer of Minne, or courtly love. Originally imitators of Provençal troubadours, minnesingers developed their own style in th...

Heinemann, Gustav

(Encyclopedia)Heinemann, Gustav go͝osˈtäf hīnˈəmän [key], 1899–1976, West German political leader. A corporation lawyer and wartime leader of the Confessing Church, he helped found the Christian Democratic...

Diels, Otto Paul Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Diels, Otto Paul Hermann, 1876–1954, German chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Berlin, 1899. From 1899 to 1915, Diehls was on the faculty at the Univ. of Berlin. In 1916, he joined the Univ. of Kiel, where he ...

Green, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Green, Paul, 1894–1981, American dramatist, b. Lillington, N.C., grad. Univ. of North Carolina, 1921. He is known for his realistic plays depicting the lives of blacks and white tenant farmers. His ...

black humor

(Encyclopedia)black humor, in literature, drama, and film, grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary characters or situations are usu...