Holocaust/holocaust

use "Holocaust" to refer to the Nazis' mass murder of European Jews and others. Although some regard "Holocaust" as unique to Jewish experience and limited to its World War II meaning, the word "holocaust," which has existed since the 14th century, is appropriately used in other contexts: Romanies were also part of the Holocaust—Nazis killed one-fifth to one-fourth of the total Romani population; the genocide of American Indians was a holocaust, as was the enslavement and murders of African peoples; the bombing of Hiroshima was a holocaust and "nuclear holocaust" is a part of our vocabulary. The caution is to reserve "holocaust" for the most egregious cases of humans destroying humans. See also concentration camp, final solution, Gestapo/gestapo, Hitler/little Hitler, Nazi/nazi.