Wikipedia's first sentence called it “phrase which refers to the idea that jews went passively to their deaths during the holocaust”. Today it says “simile that refers to facing a negative situation clueless of its consequences”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “A proverb regarding the Jewish Holocaust "”. It now reads “Proverb regarding passivity”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Proverb regarding the Jewish Holocaust Not to be confused with Like Sheep Led to Slaughter . " Like sheep to the slaughter " ( Hebrew : כצאן לטבח ) is a phrase that refers to the idea that Jews went passively to their deaths during the Holocaust . It derives from a similar phrase in the Hebrew Bible that favorably depicts martyrdom in both the Jewish and Christian religious traditions. Opposition to the phrase became associated with Jewish nationalism due to its use in Josippon and by Jewish self-defense groups after the 1903 Kishinev pogrom . During the Holocaust, Abba Kovner and other Jewish resistance leaders used the phrase to exhort Jews to fight back. In postwar Israel, some demonized Holocaust survivors as having gone "like sheep to the slaughter" while armed resistance was glorified. The phrase was taken to mean that Jews had not tried to save their own lives, and consequently were partly responsible for their own suffering and death. This myth, which has become less prominent over time, is frequently criticized by historians, theologians, and survivors as a form of victim blaming .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1292770108.
The opening as it stood in 2020
A proverb regarding the Jewish Holocaust " Like sheep to the slaughter " ( ) is a phrase which refers to the idea that Jews went passively to their deaths during the Holocaust . It derives from a similar phrase in the Hebrew Bible which positively depicts martyrdom in both the Jewish and Christian religious traditions. Opposition to the phrase became associated with Jewish nationalism due to its use in Josippon and by Jewish self-defense groups after the 1903 Kishinev pogrom . During the Holocaust, Abba Kovner and other Jewish resistance leaders used the phrase to exhort Jews to fight back. In postwar Israel, some demonized Holocaust survivors as having gone "like sheep to the slaughter" while armed resistance was glorified. The phrase was taken to mean that Jews had not tried to save their own lives, and consequently were partly responsible for their own suffering and death. This myth, which has become less prominent over time, is frequently criticized by historians, theologians, and survivors as a form of victim blaming .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 963259157.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Proverb regarding the Jewish Holocaust " Like sheep to the slaughter " ( ) is a phrase that refers to the idea that Jews went passively to their deaths during the Holocaust . It derives from a similar phrase in the Hebrew Bible that favorably depicts martyrdom in both the Jewish and Christian religious traditions. Opposition to the phrase became associated with Jewish nationalism due to its use in Josippon and by Jewish self-defense groups after the 1903 Kishinev pogrom . During the Holocaust, Abba Kovner and other Jewish resistance leaders used the phrase to exhort Jews to fight back. In postwar Israel, some demonized Holocaust survivors as having gone "like sheep to the slaughter" while armed resistance was glorified. The phrase was taken to mean that Jews had not tried to save their own lives, and consequently were partly responsible for their own suffering and death. This myth, which has become less prominent over time, is frequently criticized by historians, theologians, and survivors as a form of victim blaming .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1175009791.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “phrase which refers to the idea that jews went passively to their deaths during the holocaust”. Today it says “simile that refers to facing a negative situation clueless of its consequences”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “A proverb regarding the Jewish Holocaust "”. It now reads “Proverb regarding passivity”. Read the current article and compare.
2020
Oct '23
2025
martyr
1
1
1
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2020, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
phrase which refers to the idea that jews went passively to their deaths during the holocaust
Now
simile that refers to facing a negative situation clueless of its consequences
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
