# The Holocaust: What does it mean, exactly?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 22, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433 "2005-06-22T20:38:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/1 "2005-06-22T20:38:29Z")
I’ve always heard the term used as a name for Hitler’s extermination of Jews. Was it used by Hitler himself, or did the Jews or someone else come up with the name? Also, did it apply specifically ONLY to the extermination of Jews, or did it include the various other groups (Poles, Gypsies, etc.) that Hitler killed?
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### Author:  [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/2 "2005-06-22T20:44:52Z")
From the OED:
d. the Holocaust: the mass murder of the Jews by the Nazis in the war of 1939-1945. Also used transf., of the similar fate of other groups; and attrib.
The specific application was introduced by historians during the 1950s, probably as an equivalent to Heb. {hdotbl}urban and shoah ‘catastrophe’ (used in the same sense); but it had been foreshadowed by contemporary references to the Nazi atrocities as a ‘holocaust’ (sense 2 c): see quots. 1942-49. The term is in common use among Jews, but seems to be otherwise relatively rare except among specialists.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/3 "2005-06-22T20:48:00Z")
_Other groups_ being Gypsies, Homosexuals, Communists, political opponents, etc.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/4 "2005-06-22T20:48:52Z")
In Hebrew, it’s called _Shoah_, which means (IIRC) something like a catastrophy or a catastophic upheaval.
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/5 "2005-06-22T20:59:34Z")
“Holocaust” is from Greek for “all burned up.” It refers to something being completely incinerated. A misnomer, you say, since some survived?
Ah, but it translates “Shoah”-- a kind of burnt offering in the ancient Israelite Temple Cult which was to be completely incinerated.
I don’t know who first decided that “Shoah” was a better name than “That continent-wide pogrom,” but I think it has a mystical/religious meaning. Then “Holocaust” got applied as a sort of translation…
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/6 "2005-06-22T21:03:03Z")
Or, that’s what I was told once. I need a good cite…
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/7 "2005-06-22T21:07:08Z")
from [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com):
> [@](#):
>
> ```
> Usage Note: Holocaust has a secure place in the language when it refers to the massive destruction of humans by other humans. Ninety-nine percent of the Usage Panel accepts the use of holocaust in the phrase nuclear holocaust. Sixty percent of the Panel accepts the sentence As many as two million people may have died in the holocaust that followed the Khmer Rouge takeover in Cambodia. But because of its associations with genocide, people may object to extended applications of holocaust. When the word is used to refer to death brought about by natural causes, the percentage of the Panel accepting drops sharply. Only 31 percent of the Panel approves the sentence In East Africa five years of drought have brought about a holocaust in which millions have died. In a 1987 survey, just 11 percent approved the use of holocaust to summarize the effects of the AIDS epidemic. This suggests that other figurative usages such as the huge losses in the Savings and Loan holocaust may be viewed as overblown or in poor taste. ·When capitalized Holocaust refers specifically to the destruction of Jews and other Europeans by the Nazis and may also encompass the Nazi persecution of Jews that preceded the outbreak of the war.
>
> Word History: Totality of destruction has been central to the meaning of holocaust since it first appeared in Middle English in the 14th century, used in reference to the biblical sacrifice in which a male animal was wholly burnt on the altar in worship of God. Holocaust comes from Greek holokauston (“that which is completely burnt”), which was a translation of Hebrew ‘lâ (literally “that which goes up,” that is, in smoke). In this sense of “burnt sacrifice,” holocaust is still used in some versions of the Bible. In the 17th century the meaning of holocaust broadened to “something totally consumed by fire,” and the word eventually was applied to fires of extreme destructiveness. In the 20th century holocaust has taken on a variety of figurative meanings, summarizing the effects of war, rioting, storms, epidemic diseases, and even economic failures. Most of these usages arose after World War II, but it is unclear whether they permitted or resulted from the use of holocaust in reference to the mass murder of European Jews and others by the Nazis. This application of the word occurred as early as 1942, but the phrase the Holocaust did not become established until the late 1950s. Here it parallels and may have been influenced by another Hebrew word, ô’â (“catastrophe,” in English, Shoah). In the Bible ô’â has a range of meanings including “personal ruin or devastation” and “a wasteland or desert.” ô’â was first used to refer to the Nazi slaughter of Jews in 1939, but the phrase ha-ô’â (“the catastrophe”) became established only after World War II. Holocaust has also been used to translate urbn (“destruction”), another Hebrew word used to summarize the genocide of Jews by the Nazis.
>
> ```
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### Author:  [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/8 "2005-06-22T21:09:38Z")
The term “Holocaust” meaning the Nazi genocide was only widely used after the TV miniseries of that name.
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/9 "2005-06-22T21:13:22Z")
Yeah, when I was a kid, “Final Solution” was the catchphrase.
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### Author:  [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/10 "2005-06-22T21:14:47Z")
It seems that there is a distinction between the word _holocaust_ and the term _The Holocaust_. Based on what I’m reading in this thread, the former can refer to a variety of atrocities throughout history, while the latter refers to those committed by the Nazis around the time of WWII. Correct? Now, does the latter refer ONLY to the Jews, or to all of the groups?
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### Author:  [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/11 "2005-06-22T21:35:32Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#):
>
> The term “Holocaust” meaning the Nazi genocide was only widely used after the TV miniseries of that name.
You mean this [miniseries](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077025/)?
Do you have a cite?
According to the OED: “… The specific application was introduced by historians during the 1950s…”
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/12 "2005-06-22T21:37:42Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#):
>
> The term “Holocaust” meaning the Nazi genocide was only widely used after the TV miniseries of that name.
I doubt this very much. Cite?
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/13 "2005-06-22T23:06:37Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> I doubt this very much. Cite?
I’m absolutely certain that it’s wrong. I only hope he was joking.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/14 "2005-06-22T23:12:19Z")
> [@postcards](#):
>
> You mean this [miniseries](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077025/)?
>
> Do you have a cite?
>
> According to the OED: “… The specific application was introduced by historians during the 1950s…”
It was probably used in academic circles that far back, but it took years for the term to trickle down to the general public. I remember it gaining acceptance around the time of the movie (probably a little before). When I was growing up in the 60s, I never heard the usage at all and, when I finally did, I didn’t particularly like it. We used to refer to it as the concentration camps, Nazi genocide, or final solution.
But I had never heard the term attached to the Nazi genocide until after I had graduated from college in 1974.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/15 "2005-06-23T00:16:41Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> But I had never heard the term attached to the Nazi genocide until after I had graduated from college in 1974.
I’ll see your anecdote and raise you one anecdote. I heard the term in High School in the late 60s/early 70s. In fact, I’ve heard it used for as long as I can remember.
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/16 "2005-06-23T00:58:48Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#):
>
> I don’t know who first decided that “Shoah” was a better name than “That continent-wide pogrom,” but I think it has a mystical/religious meaning. Then “Holocaust” got applied as a sort of translation…
I vaguely remember Claude Lanzmann stating that he coined the the term “Shoah” but had borrowed it in some way from a rabbi. But my memory on this, assuming Lanzmann is right is very blurry…
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2005, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/17 "2005-06-23T01:01:37Z")
I meant of course coining it as a word used in reference to the nazi genocide…
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### Author:  [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2005, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/18 "2005-06-23T05:21:20Z")
> [@John Mace](#):
>
> I’ll see your anecdote and raise you one anecdote. I heard the term in High School in the late 60s/early 70s. In fact, I’ve heard it used for as long as I can remember.
Second that – I went to high school 1976-1980, and clearly recall “The Holocaust” description. I’m still getting over viewing the Auschwitz films at that time.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/19 "2005-06-24T20:37:47Z")
[An earlier thread on the subject.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=5445)
Also, on a program called “The History of Britain” which I saw on the History Channel, “holocaust” (or the Middle English equivalent) was referred to a purge of Jews in Britain as early as the 12th or 13th century. The modern usage might have arisen independently, though.
Personally, the first time I ever heard the term in this connection was in the miniseries [QB VII (1974)](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0071039/combined). That was the name of the book written by Abraham Cady. I never read Uris’s book (1970), so I don’t know that that same name was used in it.
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### Author:  [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holocaust-what-does-it-mean-exactly/309433/20 "2005-06-24T22:36:22Z")
I believe **rfgdxm** is misquoting the trivia section on that [Imdb page](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077025/trivia):
> [@](#):
>
> _The term ‘Holocaust’ didn’t exist **in the German language** until the '80s. Due to the great success of the mini series it became common knowledge._
[bolding mine]