What does this unlikely group of strange bedfellows have in common: Ward Churchill, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd and Pat Buchanan?

Answer: They have all recently used Nazi analogies to make a political point having nothing to do with Hitler or his genocidal agenda:

Churchill has had the most attention for his comments about "little Eichmanns" working at the World Trade Center.

PETA promoted an animal-rights campaign titled "Holocaust on Your Plate."

Byrd accused Senate Republicans of acting like Adolf Hitler to stifle debate.

Buchanan compared the Terri Schiavo case to a murder at Auschwitz.

More and more often, political debate in our country is colored by references to Nazis, to Hitler or to the Holocaust.

Holocaust analogies are becoming so common that they have lost their meaning. It's not simply that the references are offensive - although they are, indeed. It's important to remember who the Nazis really were. Hitler and his Nazi party stood for hatred, institutionalized discrimination against Jews, and ultimately the genocidal campaign to rid the world of anyone whose parents or grandparents were Jews. The Nazis denied Jews their civil rights, forced them to leave their jobs and live in ghettos, and ultimately murdered millions of them, simply for being born as Jews.

As we reach the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany's Third Reich, and as the number of survivors and witnesses dwindles, we are faced with the challenge of how to impart the lessons of the Holocaust to new generations. For young people, studying World War II may seem as relevant as studying the Spanish-American War. Now that the Internet is a more readily used resource than the library, they are bombarded by as much disinformation as information. Holocaust deniers would have them believe that there were no concentration camps, no death camps; that Hitler's Nazis didn't have a Final Solution which killed 6 million Jews, including 1 million children; that it is all just a Jewish conspiracy.

Removing the historical meaning from Holocaust terms through their constant, trivial use makes it more difficult to teach the timelessly important lessons of the Holocaust to today's young people and the generations to follow.

Once Holocaust terms have lost their meaning, what are we to do when confronted with new events that may truly deserve comparison, such as the genocides in Rwanda or Darfur? Reserving Holocaust references for those instances enables one to better comprehend the true horror of those modern day atrocities.

Before people call someone a "Nazi," or refer to a horrible situation as a "Holocaust," they should stop and think. Chances are they mean to say their adversary is acting in a bad way, or the situation is a terrible tragedy, and that they do not mean a literal comparison to the murderous actions of the Nazis.

Out of respect for those who perished, and mindful of the importance of keeping Holocaust terms meaningful to accurately describe a painful history whose lessons remain pertinent today, let's save those terms to describe the people who earned them - the real Nazis of the Third Reich - and let's remember their true association with hatred, genocide and evil.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.