I would like to start with an apology if I offend anyone with this question. It is not meant as offensive just as an inquiry.
I was researching the definition of martyr and came across the following definitions:
having suffered death rather than renounce religious beliefs
having suffered greatly or having died for a cause, belief, etc.
I came across this while researching the holocaust. Now, I had always considered those who suffered during that time (Jews along with many other groups) as "martyrs" but most don't seem to fit into the definition. This being because, with very few exceptions, you were not really given a choice as to whether or not you were targeted and both of these definitions seem to imply that an individual had a choice, not that they were born into a religion or were currently a certain religion. Is this still the most accurate term for those individuals or would a different one such as "victims" be more accurate?
This isn't really a historical question, it's a definition question. If you take the definition you used for "martyr" (which most online dictionaries seem to follow), then no, they would not be "martyrs". In fairness, I have very seldom seen the victims of the Holocaust called "martyrs" in English.
But in Jewish circles the boundaries of martyrdom have long been blurry. Since the Middle Ages instances of martyrdom often have involved the people involved simply being killed, not having a choice to convert or die (or, they were given the option, but killed either way). Mobs aren't usually good at presenting people with religious conversion options, they tend to be more into mob violence.
This association (and definition-fudging) happens in Jewish circles too. The usual verbiage about martyrs are that they died על קידוש השם "for sanctification of the [divine] name", which means to choose death rather than renounce Judaism. As with "martyr" this isn't really technically correct, but most of the language about persecution got re-used for the Holocaust. The meaning had already been quasi-expanded to people killed for being Jewish, whether or not their murderers gave them a choice to leave and be saved. Applying the term to those killed in the Holocaust was a logical extension, and it allowed the use of traditional verbiage to be re-purposed, to connect the Holocaust to persecution of Jews in general in Jewish consciousness.
Can you elaborate on whether you mean that you have been taught or told that Holocaust victims were "martyrs" or that this is a view that you came to independently?