‘The Holocaust’–Do We Agree What We Are Talking About?

What exactly is the historical event commonly called ‘The Holocaust’? When reading the enormous historiography on ‘The Holocaust’ one becomes aware that the term is used in various meanings and that important aspects of the event itself are ignored. This essay discusses several issues: first, the epithet ‘The Holocaust’ and its equivalents and the history of their usage; second, the meaning of the fact that the Jewish aspect of the Nazi enterprise has a separate heading; and third, how to historically determine the core characteristics of this event?.