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view·edit Frequently asked questions
Q1: Why does this article have The in the title? Most articles don't.
A1: The name The Holocaust is common usage. Article titles follow subjects, not other articles. See also previous discussions on the question, linked in the move banner below.
Q2: The Holocaust was not only about Jews; the total death toll was more like 11+ million.
A2: As it says in the lead sentence which defines the scope of the article, the Holocaust "was the genocide of European Jews during World War II". As explained elsewhere in the lead and body, "separate Nazi persecutions killed a similar or larger number of non-Jewish civilians and POWs". As also explained in the lead and the body, "the term Holocaust is sometimes used to refer to the persecution of these other groups"; such uses of the term Holocaust constitute "significant minority views" as explained in Misplaced Pages's WP:NPOV policy. In accordance with WP:NPOV policy, Misplaced Pages states the mainstream view in its own voice, while also explaining significant minority views.
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WARNING: ACTIVE ARBITRATION REMEDIESMisplaced Pages:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Antisemitism in Poland#Article sourcing expectations (9 May 2021):
The Arbitration Committee advises that administrators may impose "reliable-source consensus required" as a discretionary sanction on all articles on the topic of Polish history during World War II (1933-45), including the Holocaust in Poland. On articles where "reliable-source consensus required" is in effect, when a source that is not a high quality source (an article in a peer-reviewed scholarly journals, an academically focused book by a reputable publisher, and/or an article published by a reputable institution) is added and subsequently challenged by reversion, no editor may reinstate the source without first obtaining consensus on the talk page of the article in question or consensus about the reliability of the source in a discussion at the Reliable Sources Noticeboard.
The contentious topics procedure applies to this page. This page is related to the Balkans or Eastern Europe, which has been designated as a contentious topic.
This will be a point of contention until we cover this a bit..... it is odd that this is one of the only articles about the topic that doesn't cover that aspect like Holocaust victims...... I can see why things are confusing for our readers.... Thus we end up articles with tags like at Aftermath of the Holocaust. Moxy🍁 04:32, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
It's not confusing readers, and these comments are not indicative of what readers think. Some people not believing that what an article says is true is not an indication of a problem with the article. Reliable sources contradicting the article would indicate a problem. Until and unless somebody brings some actual sources, there's no reason to change the article based on evidence-free talk page comments. Levivich (talk) 15:51, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
We clearly need to be more clear...... as indicated by multiple inquiries here over a period of years. We need to educate the reader off the bat that these things are associated but not the same. It's obvious most only read the first paragraph or so. Moxy🍁 15:58, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
I agree we need to hold the reader's hands but that's excessive and funny...lol..... The first paragraph define what this is it should also define what it is not.Moxy🍁 16:03, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
The first paragraph should define what is, and what it is not?? That doesn't make sense to me. It's not a lot of things? I also disagree that it's clear we need to be more clear. The article gets 125k+ page views per week; one comment a week (always by an IP or brand new account), or 0.001%, doesn't indicate a problem with the article. Levivich (talk) 16:18, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
I agree with Moxy here. The first sentence reads The Holocaust was the genocide of European Jews during World War II., while the FAQ reads: understood as being primarily the genocide of the Jews.
We shouldn't just ill-define something, only to walk things back later. Especially when the FAQ already gives a clear alternative. JackTheSecond (talk) 16:11, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
The FAQ is not an RS. To the extent the FAQ differs from the article (and I don't think it does), the FAQ should be changed, not the article. Levivich (talk) 16:13, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
I find it odd you don't want to educate readers on this point off the bat. Why are we defining this in two different places of the lead? With the second being completely out of place in the context of its paragraph. Moxy🍁 16:16, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
Ok I'll move it back to the first paragraph. I think it flows better in the third but if you think it'll help I guess it doesn't hurt to try. Levivich (talk) 16:19, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
It is wiki linked in the first paragraph. It's also a hatnote at the top of the article. It's also a hatnote in the relevant body section on deaths, and its wiki linked in the body. (And all this for an article that is a tagged POVFORK of this article.) Levivich (talk) 16:52, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
That "primarily" quote in the FAQ is from an older version of the article and no longer appears in the current version. I edited the FAQ to replace that quote with quotes taken from the current version. That should help clear up any confusion between the FAQ and the article. Levivich (talk) 16:53, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
5 million non Jews. It’s so much worse than 6 million Jews. My 100 relatives were Czech. According to hitler’s final solution they were good enough to be worked to death. Gypsies, Jews, & gays went straight to the showers/ovens. Poles & Russians might have had the honor of being worked to death for the reich as well. To only say 6 million Jews cheapens it. The Jews don’t own the holocaust. My 100 relatives got put into the same ovens JWK1970s (talk) 11:31, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
Absolutely right not just jews were the victims of the Nazi genocide. We must acknowledge all victims not just one group. 142.179.239.73 (talk) 15:49, 3 June 2024 (UTC)
The FAQ is not RS or authoritative of any decision. I might be wrong but my understanding is that this article in the past mentioned the other victims alongside Jewish people in the lede. Something weird is going on with how this article is framed so strongly about one identity targeted other others. Obviously others are noticing it too. Spudst3r (talk) 06:04, 12 June 2024 (UTC)
The internal logic of this article as structured doesn't make sense. Currently it defines The Holocaust exclusively as being about Jews, then references another article referred to "Holocaust victims" for the other victims such as gays, Romani, slavs, disabled, political dissidents, etc without mentioning them in this article?! This level of bias did not exist in this article in the past.
Sampling random archives of this page from the past:
Show much more balance. Over time you see an evolution of editing to exclude balanced emphasis of the ~5 million other victims.
It is insane to me that I can show up to the[REDACTED] page for The Holocaust, do a keyword search for "homosexual" or "romani" and it yields no significant mention beyond a footnote outside the article. Why are these victims relegated to a separate page? Surely if they are Holocaust victims they deserve mention in The Holocaust article? Spudst3r (talk) 06:31, 12 June 2024 (UTC)
It doesn't really matter what this article used to say or what other Misplaced Pages articles say; Misplaced Pages is not an RS. What matters is what the RS say. I think this definition is well explained by the FAQ and by the article itself, with cites and quotes from RS. Levivich (talk) 19:50, 12 June 2024 (UTC)
@Levivich The article should simply state and address both definitions: the narrow Jewish-only definition, and the broader inclusive definition. There is no necessity to be exclusive when the article can simply be adapted to be inclusive. This is distinctly insulting and demeaning to those groups who were victims, so should be resolved and not dismissed.
The term "Holocaust" itself predates World War II and is not etymologyically or otherwise related to any specific group, see for example E.M. Forster's "A Passage to India" from 1924: "Her friends kept up their spirits by demanding holocausts of natives". Utopial (talk) 16:01, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
Of course it does; the original term meaning "an offering or a sacrifice to a deity that is completely burnt to ashes" has been used metaphorically for a long time. The Great Gatsby uses it in 1925. Richard of Devizes is possibly the first to connect it to the murder of Jews, in the 12th Century. However, meanings of words change, sometimes rapidly; the overwhelming use of the term post-WWII (more specifically, post-1970s) refers to the Shoah, and that should be the focus of this article (as it is); the genocide of the Jews was qualitatively and quantitatively distinctive. --jpgordon16:28, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
@Jpgordon The usage of the word is not exclusively and consistently in reference to the Jewish genocide. Hence, the article should be inclusive. There is no necessity for it to be exclusive - the article can simply state both definitions and be adapted to be inclusive.
The article does state and address both definitions. In the first paragraph of the lead, and in more detail in the terminology and scope section (where it also addresses the pre-Holocaust meaning of the word "holocaust"). The notion that defining the Holocaust as the Nazi genocide of the Jews marginalizes or subordinates other groups is nonsense. Just because scholars use a particular word to describe a particular genocide does not mean they are marginalizing or subordinating other groups who were victims of genocide or other atrocities. (Nobody who argues about this ever brings sources to the discussion, sigh.) Levivich (talk) 12:52, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
Agreed. Between the explanations in the lead and body and the hatnote at the top of the article, I think we're getting readers interested in non-Jewish genocides to the correct target articles. This is in the FAQ for a reason. I wouldn't have said "nonsense", but the marginalization/subordination argument is covered so infrequently in a body of sourcing so expansive that we shouldn't base article changes on that argument. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 13:08, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 15 June 2024
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Request to change wording in fourth sentence of Background.
Current:
- "By the early twentieth century, most Jews in central and western Europe were well integrated into society, while in eastern Europe, where emancipation had arrived later, many Jews still lived in small towns, spoke Yiddish, and practiced Orthodox Judaism."
Proposed Change:
- "still lived" to "continued to live"
Reason:
- Proposed version shows less of a bias or inclination towards assimilation. "Still" can give a sense of inevitability. Both are true but "continued to" is more neutral.
Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 24 June 2024
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So the article says that the total deaths were 6 million jews which is misconception.
6 million jews were murdered during the holocaust write but im addition to 5 million non jews mostly from eastern europe 156.209.67.214 (talk) 04:46, 24 June 2024 (UTC)
More recent scholarship of the Holocaust and of the plights of Jews in Italian-occupied Libya and Egypt and French Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria considers the events in North Africa to be a part of the Holocaust. How can we reflect this in the lead? Can we change the opening, defining sentence to include North Africa? Or include European territories in Africa? Like: The Holocaust was the genocide of Jews in Europe and European territories in Africa during World War II. ꧁Zanahary꧂ 05:43, 1 July 2024 (UTC)
Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 11 July 2024
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Please make note it was not JUST the Jewish population they attempted to exterminate. It was Poles, Romani, Catholics, Gays, Mentally Unfit, and fundamental lessers that were actively sought, corraled, and murdered.
To only note this as the Jewish is a reprehensible shortcoming. Do better.
It was not just the Jewish.
There were dozens of "groups" of citizens deemed unworthy by the German Reich. To not list them as well is a disservice to the horror many experienced just because they weren't Aryan enough. 50.76.156.177 (talk) 20:22, 11 July 2024 (UTC)
view · edit Frequently asked questions
Q1: Why does this article have The in the title? Most articles don't.
A1: The name The Holocaust is common usage. Article titles follow subjects, not other articles. See also previous discussions on the question, linked in the move banner below.
Q2: The Holocaust was not only about Jews; the total death toll was more like 11+ million.
A2: As it says in the lead sentence which defines the scope of the article, the Holocaust "was the genocide of European Jews during World War II". As explained elsewhere in the lead and body, "separate Nazi persecutions killed a similar or larger number of non-Jewish civilians and POWs". As also explained in the lead and the body, "the term Holocaust is sometimes used to refer to the persecution of these other groups"; such uses of the term Holocaust constitute "significant minority views" as explained in Misplaced Pages's WP:NPOV policy. In accordance with WP:NPOV policy, Misplaced Pages states the mainstream view in its own voice, while also explaining significant minority views.
level-4 vital article is rated GA-class on Misplaced Pages's content assessment scale.
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Not done: This is clearly covered in the article. In fact, it's in the first paragraph of the lead. Meters (talk) 20:30, 11 July 2024 (UTC)