Why are only Jewish people allowed to be classed as Holocaust victims?

OK, this answer is from a Jewish person whose family was affected - you didn't believe there were any among the responders. I don't know who you have encountered who only allows Jewish people to be classed as Holocaust victims. I went to a conference in Vienna some years ago which was for the descendants of victims and perpetrators of the holocaust (and a very moving and amazing conference it was too). Roma and Sinti were represented and talked about a great deal; for rather obvious reasons, there are far fewer descendants of the homosexual victims and on that occasion I wasn't aware of any descendants of the disabled victims or Jehovah's Witness victims, but they were certainly mentioned.

However, it is true that holocaust memorials have tended to focus on the Jewish victims. This may, in part, be because they are largely initiated and funded by people who feel some sense of guilt (not necessarily directly, but on behalf of their nation) and the anti-semitism is the thing that makes them most uncomfortable now. But it is also true that the Jews were much the largest group killed by the Nazis.

It is certainly scandalous that the Roma and Sinti people of central Europe continue to be persecuted. Some Jewish people have been very active in trying to get their plight known, but it is a major disgrace that it is still continuing and the states in question condone or at least turn a blind eye, where they are not actively persecuting.

There is conflicting opinions on the matter of Shabbat elevator usage, most opinions state that its usage is permitted only in special cases, because it sounds like a loophole, and it disrespects the value of Shabbat, in the same way as the halacha forbids the carrying of items in a public area on Shabbat for more then an 8 feet stretch, but the scholars of the talmud forbid carrying something for 8 feet, dropping it, lifting it again and carrying it for the next 8 feet, although it might be according to the halacha, but you are disgracing the Shabbat by loophpoling around. Those with the opinion that it is allowed for everyone to use a Shabbat elevator, believe that god presented a set of rules, and left some space for people to be able to enjoy Jewish life, and it is not considered a loophole, because in the end of the day, no obstruction of Jewish law is being done, and there is no need to add to the law.

I acknowledge that many people were victims of the Holocaust, and no one has ever said that only Jews are "allowed" to be. A victim of the Holocaust is a victim of the Holocaust - the only person who can have a decision in that matter is the person who initiated it, and I don't think I'd feel too privileged if Hitler "allowed" me to a victim. Which I would be, actually - your addition to the question is completely false - as a descendent of Polish Jews, it's entirely likely that my family members were victims.

Holocaust may mean burnt but till the Jews applied it to the dark deeds of the Nazis, it was not used by any group as such. So consider its application as you would a trade mark.

That is to say if others were killed alongside Jews, they are not mostly large enough a group to have a separate tag

A holocaust is defined as a great or complete devastation or destruction, especially by fire. Notice a said 'a' holocaust. Usually when a person referes to the mass murder of the Jews during World War II, they refer to it as "The Holocaust". I believe this is simply because it is the most widely known large genocide in recorded history.

No one said that other victims of similar circumstances are not "allowed" to be refered as holocaust victims. They are simply not refered to as victims of 'The Holocaust' which is what we call what happened to the Jews during WWII.

The word holocaust can be translated as "burnt offering." Most Jews refer to it as HaShoah -- the catastrophe. I'm sure it wasn't the Jews who decided to call themselves burnt offerings!

Anyone is allowed to be classed as a victim. But you're right! Why is it that homosexuals don't remember and mourn the loss of their brothers/sisters? Why is it that the disabled don't mourn the loss of their peers? Why is it that the gypsies don't mourn the loss of their kin? Why is it that Blacks don't mourn the loss of their brothers?

Do you suppose that it's because 6 million of the 12 million exterminated were Jews, and that 2 million of the 6 million were children? Do you suppose it's because the 6 million Jews had millions of immediate family members who mourned their loss, whereas not all homosexuals were exterminated, or all gypsies, or all disabled, etc. You would be hard-pressed to find a Jew today who does not remember and mourn the loss of at least one family member. How many homosexuals, disabled, gypsies, etc. remember and mourn the loss today of their immediate family members?

Yes, why is it that non-Jews don't commemorate the losses of non-Jews. Why is it only the Jews that remember and mourn?

BTW, it was the 1st and only time in history that genocide took place by assembly line.

Hopefully you'll give some thought to how Hitler was able to commit such evil without assistance from the majority of the population. How many Germans, Poles, and Austrians remained indifferent to the suffering of their neighbors?

Give some thought to something constructive for a change. What can we do to prevent the genocide occuring right now, today, in Darfur, Sudan? Do you remember those lost in the recent genocide in Rwanda, or the Armenians? Well, of course, they were "others." Who really cares about them?

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This is not true. Many Romanies, homosexuals, staunch Catholics and various other groups fell foul of the Nazi regime and the concentration camps.

The Germans did organise however great numbers of the Jewish communities and transport them in a calculated fashion.

There would also be other groups of vagrants dissidents and social outcasts, etc. that went less well documented too.

The reason why this is mainly listed as a horror that happened to the Jews. is because they suffered the most losses out of any indevitual group. However, my family is Roman Catholic and we are from the Ukrane. We lost about 10 members of our family during the Holocaust that we never heard from again. Our family estate was burned and our family fortune was stolen. We remember our lost family members in our hearts... so not being recognized as victims does not bother us... we dont need anyone feeling sorry for us... our family line has survived. Good question!

They were victims as well as Jews. Also many thousand of homosexuals got treated that way. I also think that it is correct to use the word Holocaust for all of these people, but probably Jews are the group who was treated more systematically by the crazy Hitler and by the Germans, who passively accepted his theory.

p.s. if you are interested to further your knowledge on this subject I suggest you "the banality of evil", by Hanna Arendt, a great Jew philosopher who uses the theories of Saint Augustine (evil as absence) in order to explain what happened during Hitler's period. Very interesting for understanding the nature of evil and of man.

They have and do, visit the death camps and if you are in UK The Imperial War Museum, the main reason is that something like 6 million Jews were exterminated but no one knows the full figure of the homosexuals, Romanies, handicapped, and disabled, and mentally ill people that were murdered along side them. They are recognised but are in the minority figures, you just have to visit these places to see that.