Definition of holocaust. 1 : a sacrifice (see sacrifice entry 1 sense 2) consumed by fire. 2 : a thorough destruction involving extensive loss of life especially through fire a nuclear holocaust.

Holocaust historians commonly define the Holocaust as the genocide of the European Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1941 and 1945. [a] Donald Niewyk and Francis Nicosia, in The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust (2000), favor a definition that includes the Jews, Roma, and the disabled: "the systematic, state-sponsored murder of ...

The word ‘holocaust’ comes from ancient Greek and means ‘burnt offering’. Even before the Second World War, the word was sometimes used to describe the death of a large group of people, but since 1945, it has become almost synonymous with the murder of the European Jews during the Second World War. That's why we use the term 'the Holocaust'.

1. holocaust - an act of mass destruction and loss of life (especially in war or by fire); "a nuclear holocaust". destruction, devastation - the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists. 2.

The Holocaust (Shoah) is the term for the murder of around six million Jews by the Nazi regime and their collaborators during the Second World War. Between 1941 and 1945, the Nazis sought to eliminate the entire Jewish community of Europe. Jews were murdered by death squads called Einsatzgruppen or transported to extermination camps. Six million of the eleven million …