Holocaust meaning: the word, the history and how to use it

Holocaust meaning and definition in three senses

Readers wondering what is the definition of holocaust first need to know which sense is meant, so here they are in order of use.

1. The Holocaust (capital H). The deliberate murder of around six million Jewish men, women and children across Europe by the German state and its allies and collaborators, between 1933, when persecution began, and 1945, when the war in Europe ended. It is the best known example of genocide.
2. A holocaust (small h). Great destruction or loss of life, especially by fire, as in the phrase nuclear holocaust, a feared war that would destroy cities.
3. Old religious sense. A sacrifice that was completely burnt on an altar. This is now rare outside discussions of ancient worship and old Bible translations.

What happened in the Holocaust

From 1933 the German government passed laws that stripped Jews of rights, jobs and property, using propaganda and racial prejudice to turn the public against them. After war began in 1939, Jews in occupied countries were forced into ghettos. From 1941, mobile killing units shot hundreds of thousands, and the regime built killing centres, such as Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka, where victims were murdered in gas chambers.

Other groups were also persecuted and murdered, including Roma, people with disabilities, Poles and other Slavic peoples, Soviet prisoners of war, gay men, Jehovah's Witnesses and political opponents. Historians debate how widely the term Holocaust should be applied to these groups; many use it for the genocide of the Jews and describe the other crimes alongside it. The secret police known as the Gestapo played a central part in the system of terror.

From burnt offering to proper name

Records of holocaust in English start in the mid 1200s, meaning a sacrifice burnt whole. It came through Old French or Late Latin from Greek holokauston, "a thing wholly burnt". From the 1670s it was also used for a massacre or great destruction. During the Second World War some writers used it for the murder of Europe's Jews, and the capitalised form, the Holocaust, as a name for that genocide is recorded from 1957. It became the standard English term over the following decades.

Holocaust or Shoah

Many Jewish communities, and the state of Israel, use the Hebrew word Shoah, meaning catastrophe. Some people prefer it because holocaust originally meant a religious offering, and they feel that the murder of millions should not be described with a word linked to sacrifice. Others use Holocaust because it is the most widely understood term in English. Both are respectful and correct. The Roma genocide is also known as the Porajmos in some Romani communities.

Using the word with care

• Capitalise Holocaust when you mean the genocide of European Jews.
• Use the small h sparingly. Phrases like nuclear holocaust are accepted, but casual comparisons, such as calling a sports defeat a holocaust, are widely seen as offensive.
• Holocaust survivor means a person who lived through the persecution. Many survivors gave testimony so the history would not be lost.
• Holocaust denial is the false claim that the genocide did not happen or was much smaller. The historical record, including documents, photographs, trials and survivor accounts, is extensive, and denial is a crime in several countries.

Remembering the Holocaust

Schools in many countries teach about it so students understand how prejudice, discrimination and propaganda can lead to mass murder. International Holocaust Remembrance Day falls on 27 January, the date in 1945 when Soviet troops reached Auschwitz. In Israel, Yom HaShoah is held each spring. Museums, memorials and survivor archives preserve names and stories. Our law, politics and society section holds related history and civic vocabulary, and each entry there aims for the same care.