The Holocaust

Etymology and Usage of the Term

Child survivors of the Holocaust were filmed during the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp by the Red Army. January, 1945.

The term holocaust originally derived from the Greek word holokauston, meaning a "completely (holos) burnt (kaustos)" sacrificial offering to a god. Since the late nineteenth century, "holocaust" has primarily been used to refer to disasters or catastrophes.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word was first used to describe Hitler's treatment of the Jews from as early as 1942, though it did not become a standard reference until the 1950s. By the late 1970s, however, the conventional meaning of the word became the Nazi genocide.

The biblical word Shoa, also spelled Shoah and Sho'ah, meaning "destruction" in the Hebrew language, became the standard Hebrew term for the Holocaust as early as the early 1940s. [1]

Shoah is preferred by many Jews and a growing number of others for a number of reasons, including the potentially theologically offensive nature of the original meaning of the word holocaust. Some refer to the Holocaust as "Auschwitz," transforming the most well-known death camp into a symbol of the whole genocide.

The word "genocide" was coined during the Holocaust.