The idea of the Holocaust is usually associated with the genocide of millions of Jews by Nazism.
From the Latin holocaustum , the holocaust is a mass killing of human beings . Its use is linked to the genocide of some six million Jews during World War II carried out by the Nazi regime in Germany .
The Holocaust, in this sense, was a planned extermination program devised by Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders who appealed to the industrialized and systematized murder of certain social groups. While the main victims were Jews, other groups were also persecuted, such as gypsies, homosexuals, and the disabled.
Origins of the Holocaust
A plan that was executed by Adolf Hitler but that was previously created and designed by the commander-in-chief of the SS (Military, Police and Security Organization of Nazi Germany): Heinrich Himmler. He, who would later become Minister of the Interior, methodically established the elimination of the various social groups that, in his point of view, prevented the creation of the famous Aryan race that would give solidity, power and superiority to the aforementioned German nation.
The massacre was carried out in various stages. The Nazis established concentration camps where prisoners were used as slaves until they died, either from illness or physical exhaustion.
Many Holocaust victims died in concentration camps.
Some concentration camps
There were many extermination camps that were set up during the time that Hitler was in charge of the country. Among them, for example, Belzec stands out, which was one of the first to be launched.
To that we should add others that, unfortunately, have become well-known scenarios in the History of the 20th century. This would be the case of the Auschwitz camp, which was created with the idea that it would be the place where Jews circulating throughout the European continent would be murdered.
However, other cruel and equally murderous methods were also used to end the lives of the prisoners in these concentration camps. Thus, for example, many died from the forced labor to which they were subjected, from the beatings given to them by the Nazi leaders, from being shot or even because of the hunger they suffered.
On the other hand, in the territories annexed by Nazi Germany, ghettos were created where Jews were locked up to be transported on freight trains to the aforementioned camps. Those who did not die on the journey were eventually murdered in gas chambers.
The definition of holocaust varies according to sources. The number of victims depends on the historical studies considered. There are those who even go so far as to deny the Holocaust and the existence of the gas chambers.
Other uses of the notion of holocaust
It should be noted that, beyond this historical fact, the concept of holocaust was used in the religious sphere to refer to the sacrifice of animals in large bonfires .
The holocaust was frequent in different pagan Greek and Roman rites, as well as in certain Jewish sacrifices.
It must also be emphasized that the word holocaust is used to refer to the total sacrifice of one's interests or affections, made by a specific person, motivated fundamentally by the love he or she feels towards another.