A Holocaust is a disaster that results in the large-scale destruction of life. Although the term has been used to describe many catastrophes over the centuries, today it has a more specific meaning. The Holocaust refers to the annihilation of millions of Jews and other peoples by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany during World War II.
The Holocaust has become a symbol of brutality and of one people's inhumanity to another. The catastrophe is still widely discussed, studied, and dramatized in films and on television in hopes that no one will ever forget what happened. Many people fear that, if the disaster is forgotten, such crimes might be repeated. In the words of philosopher Emil Fackenheim, "Civilization must struggle with the memory of the Holocaust because it cannot afford to bury it."