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Main article: Names of the Holocaust
The word holocaust originally derived from the Greek word holokauston, meaning "a completely (holos) burnt (kaustos) sacrificial offering" to a god. Since the late 19th century, 'holocaust' has primarily been used to refer to disasters or catastrophes. By the late 1970s, however, the conventional meaning of the word became the Nazi genocide. The term is also used by many in a narrower sense, to refer specifically to the unprecedented destruction of European Jewry in particular.
The biblical word Shoa (שואה), also spelled Shoah and Sho'ah, meaning "calamity" in Hebrew, became the standard Hebrew term for the Holocaust as early as the early 1940s.[1] Shoa 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.
The word holocaust, as it relates to the Nazi treatment of the Jews, first appeared in a New York Times headline on January 10, 1962. The headline was titled Nazi 'Holocaust' Is Recalled by Eban.
Other related archives15 November, 1918, 1933, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1993 in Yugoslavia, 2005, 7, 500 Danish Jews, AB Action, Adolf Eichmann, Adolf Hitler, Africans, Aktion Reinhard,
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Etymology and usage of the term", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page |
