holocaust or shoah

This interesting article is marred by the use of words, that the Nazis favored. "Extermination" is done to harmful insects. That Nazis considered Jews and Roma (Gypsies) to be vermin, so designated some places "Vernichtungslager" (extermination camps). The Nazis' terms should not be used.

Auschwitz was a murder facility. Most of those sent there were murdered on arrival. Some were murdered slowly, i.e., by starvation, exposure, or untreated disease. The murder method matters little.

Use of words other than "murder" is a form of genocide denial. The essence of genocide is that the victims - innocent of any wrong-doing - are targeted with malice aforethought.

A "killing" can be accidental. A "killing" can be completely lawful, if in self-defense against imminent, lethal peril. A murder is never lawful.

Thus, the Nazis did not "kill" newborns and their mothers. There was nothing accidental about Nazi actions. The Nazis murdered newborns and their mothers.

Use of "killed" suggests that the newborns - or their mothers - were somehow a threat to the Nazis. Use of "killed" signifies acceptance of the Nazi framework, wherein Jews were viewed as a lethal peril to Germans.

No Jews "died" at Auschwitz, but about 1.5 million were murdered there.

The author also writes that, ", the couple was sentenced to jail in Auschwitz". This is quite wrong. The Nazi regime committed genocide. Genocide is the negation of law. A "sentence" is prescribed according to law. The Nazis had no law. Those, whom they disliked, they transported to Auschwitz and other murder facilities.

In short, this article needs to be re-written, to get rid of Nazi language. The Nazis were wrong in all that they did. Their perversions of language should not be used,

• • • My arguments are not "pseudolinguistic". While I read/speak languages beyond English, I wouldn't describe myself as a linguist.

      Many under-appreciate the importance of accuracy in word use. This carelessness is akin to a mechanic's failure to use the right type and amount of engine coolant. The engine may work, for a while, but damage, slowly, will be done.

      The historiography of the Nazi genocide is pervaded by use of the Nazis' terms. The Nazis' terms should not be used: to do so validates the Nazis' worldview.

      One often reads of Jews being "deported" to Auschwitz. "Deportation" is a legal process, by which a person with no lawful right to be in a country, is returned to a country, wherein that person has a lawful right to reside.

      From the Nazis' perspective, Jews had no right to live in any Western European country. Thus, the Nazis considered they were "deporting" Jews to Poland, whence the Nazis assumed (likely correctly) Germany's Jews originated. What the Nazis did was to transport Jews.

      Genocide is the negation of Rule of Law: terms that relate to Rule of Law should not be used to describe any step in a genocide. Thus, the Nazis arrested no one and executed no one. There were only murders.

      Auschwitz was not a "concentration camp". That term was coined by the British, during the Boer War (1899-1902). To crush resistance by Afrikaaners - who rejected British rule - the British moved Afrikaaner non-combatants to "concentration camps" to keep them from helping their fighters. The British did not seek to murder these non-combatants: many died of hunger and/or diseases caused by poor sanitation.

      The Nazis redefined the term "concentration camp". The first, Dachau, was set up soon after the Nazis took power. Those sent to Dachau were sent there to be abused, e.g., by forced labor, beatings, etc. The Nazis' goals: get Jews to leave Germany and terrorize others into accepting Nazi rule.

      Once World War II started, the Nazis further re-defined "concentration camp": such places became murder facilities. Those sent there - Jews, Roma, some war prisoners, German anti-Nazis, etc. - were sent there to be murdered. Most were, on arrival. At Treblinka, almost all sent there were murdered on arrival or within 24 hours. Treblinka was a "murder facility".

      In short, the term "concentration camp" should not be used. It is factually wrong.

      Finally, the term "Holocaust" is viciously anti-Jewish. It is based on Greek words, which mean "to sacrifice by fire". For Jews - most of whom accept some form of the Law that Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai - even the appearance of human sacrifice is forbidden (See, for example, Leviticus 18:21). There's a far better (and shorter) Hebrew word - "Shoah" (catastrophe) - which accurately describes the Nazi genocide.

      Those, who use the Nazis' terms - most of which were designed to conceal their crimes behind a façade of legality - do so in ignorance. These Nazi terms need to be replaced by words that do not hide the Nazis' horrors.

      
      

      
      
      

       

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