The genocide of the Jews in Europe, known as the Holocaust, is a terrifying example of how mass violence can be used to exterminate an entire population. That, in effect, was the objective of the Holocaust: the mass murder of the Jews of Europe and the destruction of the Jewish people as a whole. The Holocaust provided the background to the Genocide Convention that was adopted by the member states of the United Nations on 9 December 1948. The term genocide was formulated by the Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, and his definition of genocide is used to this day. Research into other cases of genocide uses the Holocaust as a benchmark, whether consciously or subconsciously. This becomes evident in the methodology and the use of related terms such as ‘victims’, ‘perpetrators’ and ‘bystanders’. When cases of mass violence and genocide are analysed or discussed, the Holocaust is often used as an example. This is known as the Holocaust paradigm.