Tipsheet

First Nationwide Poll Asking Youth About the Holocaust Produces Disturbing Results

Cortney O'Brien
Cortney O'Brien  |  September 16, 2020 1:45 PM

A new survey about the Holocaust has revealed "shocking levels of ignorance about the greatest crime of the 20th century," the Guardian reported on Wednesday. The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) released their new U.S. Millennial Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Survey on Wednesday, and found that young adults under 40, for some reason or another, don't know much at all about one of the most evil crimes in history.

The Guardian pulled out some of the more disturbing numbers, beginning with the fact that 63 percent of those surveyed said they didn't know that 6 million Jews had been killed during the Holocaust.

Almost two-thirds of young American adults do not know that 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, and more than one in 10 believe Jews caused the Holocaust, a new survey has found, revealing shocking levels of ignorance about the greatest crime of the 20th century.

According to the study of millennial and Gen Z adults aged between 18 and 39, almost half (48%) could not name a single concentration camp or ghetto established during the second world war.

Almost a quarter of respondents (23%) said they believed the Holocaust was a myth, or had been exaggerated, or they weren’t sure. One in eight (12%) said they had definitely not heard, or didn’t think they had heard, about the Holocaust. 

More than half (56%) said they had seen Nazi symbols on their social media platforms and/or in their communities, and almost half (49%) had seen Holocaust denial or distortion posts on social media or elsewhere online. (The Guardian)

Another question revealed that one in ten respondents answered that Jews had caused the Holocaust.

“The results are both shocking and saddening, and they underscore why we must act now while Holocaust survivors are still with us to voice their stories,” said Gideon Taylor, president of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference).

Word quickly got around on social media.

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