Holocaust
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The word holocaust means 'complete destruction by fire'. The ancient Greeks would kill animals for their gods. This was called sacrifice. They believed some of the gods wanted every part of their sacrifices burnt, not just one part. This was a holocaust.
Now, the word holocaust means "the intentional killing of a large number of people."
World War II
When the word "Holocaust" is spelled with a capital 'h', it usually means The Holocaust during World War II, when the Nazis killed millions of Jewish, Slavic, and Roma people in concentration camps. See also the article "The Holocaust".
Other holocausts
There have been a lot of holocausts through history, including the killing of people from ethnic groups in Bosnia, which was called ethnic cleansing, and the killing of large numbers of Aborigines in Australia by settlers. Some people also call the mass killing of Native Americans by invading European forces a holocaust. The killings of millions of Africans during captivity /enslavery is considered by African Americans and others as "The Black Holocaust."
The Genocide in Guatemala was similar to the World War II holocaust. Genocide is the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. In Guatemala, the army and its paramilitary forces attacked many Guatemalan villages and murdered the people and broke the buildings. [citation needed]
