Holocaust (disambiguation)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Look up holocaust in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Holocaust can mean:

  • The Holocaust, or Shoah, the systematic killing mainly of six million Jews, but also of Gypsies, Slavs, homosexuals and other "undesirable" groups in Europe during World War II. Since 1978, this has been the main meaning of the English term.
  • Holocaust (sacrifice), a burnt offering, from Greek holo-kauston "all burnt". The original sense, referring to a completely-burnt sacrifice
  • By extension the word was used in English to refer to other acts of obliteration by burning (or massacres in general). See:

See also Names of the Holocaust for a discussion of the history and usage of the word.

[edit] Other genocides

Post-1970s coinings of the type "name Holocaust" in the sense of "genocide" or "mass murder" imply a comparison to the Shoah and are often used polemically.

[edit] Other uses

[edit] See also