defining the Holocaust?

[jbor]

This is from the online dictionary entry millison cited. Note the final 
sentence under 'Word History' in particular:

http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=Holocaust

Usage Note: When referring to the massive destruction of human beings by
other human beings, holocaust has a secure place in the language. Fully 99
percent of the Usage Panel accepts the use of holocaust in the phrase
nuclear holocaust. Sixty percent accepts the sentence "As many as two
million people may have died in the holocaust that followed the Khmer Rouge
takeover in Cambodia." But because of its associations with genocide,
extended applications of holocaust may not always be received with
equanimity. When the word is used to refer to death brought about by natural
causes, the percentage of the Panel's acceptance drops sharply. Only 31
percent of the Panel accepts the sentence "In East Africa five years of
drought have brought about a holocaust in which millions have died." Just 11
percent approved the use of holocaust to summarize the effects of the AIDS
epidemic. This suggests that other figurative usages such as "the huge
losses in the Savings and Loan holocaust" may be viewed as overblown or in
poor taste.

Word History: Totality of destruction has been central to the meaning of
holocaust since it first appeared in Middle English in the 14th century and
referred to the biblical sacrifice in which a male animal was wholly burnt
on the altar in worship of God. Holocaust comes from Greek holokauston
("that which is completely burnt"), which was a translation of Hebrew ôlâ
(literally "that which goes up," that is, in smoke). In this sense of "burnt
sacrifice," holocaust is still used in some versions of the Bible. In the
17th century the meaning of holocaust broadened to "something totally
consumed by fire," and the word eventually was applied to fires of extreme
destructiveness. In the 20th century holocaust has taken on a variety of
figurative meanings, summarizing the effects of war, rioting, storms,
epidemic diseases, and even economic failures. Most of these usages arose
after World War II, but it is unclear whether they permitted or resulted
from the use of holocaust in reference to the mass murder of European Jews
and others by the Nazis. This application of the word occurred as early as
1942, but the phrase the Holocaust did not become established until the late
1950's. Here it parallels and may have been influenced by another Hebrew
word, sho¹ah ("catastrophe"). In the Bible sho'ah has a range of meanings
including "personal ruin or devastation" and "a wasteland or desert." Sho'ah
was first used to refer to the Nazi slaughter of Jews in 1939, but its
phrase ha-sho'ah ("the catastrophe") only became established after World War
II. Holocaust has also been used to translate hurban ("destruction"),
another Hebrew word used to summarize the genocide of Jews by the Nazis.
This sense of holocaust has since broadened to include the mass slaughter of
other peoples, but when capitalized it refers specifically to the
destruction of Jews and other Europeans by the Nazis and may also encompass
the Nazi persecution of Jews that preceded the outbreak of the war.


It seems to me that Deborah Lipstat's words apply to millison:

> "[...] deniers misstate, misquote, falsify statistics
> and falsely attribute conclusions to reliable sources. They rely on books
> that directly contradict their arguments, quoting in a manner that
> completely distorts the authors' objectives. Deniers count on the fact that
> the vast majority of readers will not have access to the documentation or
> make the effort to determine how they have falsified or misconstrued
> information."
> --from Deborah Lipstat's book _Denying the Holocaust_, as quoted in
> The Hon. Mr. Justice Gray's 11 April 2000 judgement in the suit by
> David Irving against Penguin books and Lipstat, wherein Gray found
> against Irving, a Holocaust denier.