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Definition: Holocaust from An Illustrated Dictionary of the Third Reich

Holocaust (from the Greek holókaustos). Hólos means “whole” and kaustós, “burnt.” The term designates the genocide (q.v.) of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, a program of systematic statesponsored murder by Nazi Germany throughout Nazi-occupied territory. Also known as Shoah (“catastrophe”) in Hebrew.


Holocaust

From Encyclopedia of Global Studies
The term Holocaust addresses the systematic annihilation of Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II. It has since evolved into a global icon representing the perils of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and other forms of state-sponsored atrocities. Approximately six million Jews perished in the Nazi annihilation in Germany. Millions of others—including Gypsies and homosexuals—were also killed. But the primary objective of the extermination camps, where inmates were killed in gas chambers and by other means of mass execution, was what the Nazis referred to as the “final solution to the Jewish question.” The word holocaust has its roots in ancient Greek ( holókauston —literally referring to wholesome destruction resulting from fire) and its general usage predates the German murder of European Jewry. The term came to be associated with the Nazi campaign to destroy the Jews in the 1950s, and the reference to the Holocaust as a singular event became established. However, it was not until the…
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Full text Article Holocaust

From Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable
The name given to the murder of some 6 million Jews by Hitler in the Second World War. The terror began within a month of Hitler's becoming German chancellor in January 1933. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 deprived Jews of German citizenship, and the night of 9-10 November 1938 saw the Kristallnacht , a…
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Full text Article holocaust

From The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style
Holocaust has a secure place in the language when it refers to the massive destruction of humans by other humans. In our 1987 survey 99 percent of the Usage Panel accepted the use of holocaust in the phrase nuclear holocaust . Sixty percent accepted the sentence As many as two million people may…
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Etymologically, a holocaust is a ‘complete burning’, and the word was originally used in English for a ‘burnt offering’, a ‘sacrifice completely consumed by fire’(Mark 12, 33, ‘more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices’ in the Authorized Version, was translated by William Tindale in 1526 as…
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Full text Article Holocaust

From Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices
The Holocaust refers to the systematic murder of persons deemed undesirable by Nazi Germany during World War II. Known as Hitler's “Final Solution,” this genocide campaign was responsible for the death of more than 6 million Jews, the single largest targeted group. In the postwar aftermath and to…
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Full text Article Holocaust

From Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology
The Holocaust refers to the annihilation of Jews under Nazi German leader A. Hitler (1889–1945) during World War II, as well as the associated mass murder of other groups such as gypsies, homosexuals, the disabled, and non-Jewish Poles. Some scholars prefer the Hebrew term Shoah (destruction) …
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Full text Article Holocaust

From Encyclopedia of World Religions: Encyclopedia of Judaism
During the Holocaust, Jews were forced to wear a...
Also known as: Shoah 1933–1945 Nazi-perpetrated genocide during World War II The Holocaust, called the Shoah in Hebrew, refers to the period from January 30, 1933, when Adolph Hitler became chancellor of Germany, until May 8, 1945, when Germany surrendered to the Allies. Historically, the English…
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Full text Article Holocaust

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(hŏl'Әkôst´´, hō'lӘ–), name given to the period of persecution and extermination of European Jews by Nazi Germany. Romani (Gypsies), homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, the disabled, and others were also victims of the Holocaust. Although anti-Semitism in Europe has had a long history, organized…
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Full text Article Holocaust

From The Oxford Companion to International Relations
The term “Holocaust” is widely used when referring to the project of physical annihilation of the “Jewish race,” conceived and administered by Nazi Germany in the course of World War II. A special name was felt necessary for the atrocity perpetrated against the Jews (the only other ethnic group that…
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Full text Article holocaust

From The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language
Great destruction resulting in the extensive loss of life, especially by fire. a. Holocaust The genocide of European Jews and other groups by the Nazis during World War II: “Israel emerged from the Holocaust and is defined in relation to that catastrophe” (Emanuel Litvinoff). b. A massive slaughter: …
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Full text Article Holocaust, the

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
The annihilation of an estimated 16 million people by the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945, principally in the numerous extermination and concentration camps , most notably Auschwitz (Oświȩcim), Sobibor , Treblinka , and Maidanek in Poland, and Belsen , Buchenwald , and Dachau in Germany. Camps…
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