Religious Glossary - common terms used related to Religion
Holocaust - Genocide of European Jews by Nazi Germany
in the 1930s and 40s; about six million Jewish men, women,
and children were put to death in Nazi concentration camps.
The word, Holocaust, derives from Greek words, meaning complete
destruction, usually by fire. By the end of the 17th century,
the word came to mean a great slaughter or massacre. It is
now used to describe the genocide against the Jews in Europe
by the Nazis.
Derived from the Greek holokaustonwhich meant a sacrifice
totally burned by fire. Today, the term refers to the systematic
planned extermination of about six million European Jews and
millions of others by the Nazis between 1933-1945.
The Holocaust was Nazi Germany's systematic genocide (ethnic
cleansing) of various ethnic, religious, national, and secular
groups during World War II. Early elements include the Kristallnacht
pogrom and the T-4 Euthanasia Program established by Hitler
that killed some 200,000 people.
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