Is holocaust a term or just a name given to the specific event?

I didn't know how to phrase that.
what I'm really trying to say is holocaust a THING or is it just the name given to the massacre of the jews led by Hitler.?

 
It's an event!

From Answers.com

Holocaust
n.

Great destruction resulting in the extensive loss of life, especially by fire.

Holocaust The genocide of European Jews and others by the Nazis during World War II: “Israel emerged from the Holocaust and is defined in relation to that catastrophe” (Emanuel Litvinoff).

A massive slaughter: “an important document in the so-far sketchy annals of the Cambodian holocaust” (Rod Nordland).

A sacrificial offering that is consumed entirely by flames.

        Simply a Rose to brighten your day,
        And maybe lessen the cares in your way;
        And also, too, to help you to know,
        That in knowing you, many others grow!

Hi!
("just"?...)
Yes. the word holocaust existed before WWII.

Webster defines it as : "1. a great or complete devastation or destruction,
especially by fire. 2. a sacrifice completely consumed by fire; burnt offering.
3. the Holocaust , the systematic mass extermination of European Jews in Nazi concentration camps prior to and during World War II."

There were holocausts long before WWII... And it has become the single-most recognized word associated with, and used to, define that particular abomination. }:>