Have you heard of the Holocaust?
Of course, you have. I believe (and I hope) that people who read this blog are at least averagely well-informed. But a new survey has revealed an astonishing (and very worrying) lack of knowledge of the Holocaust and widespread prejudice against Jews.
A recent survey by CNN found that about one European in 20 in the countries surveyed has never heard of the Holocaust, even though it’s less than 75 years since the end of World War II, and there are still tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors alive today.
Lack of Holocaust knowledge is particularly striking among young people in France: One out of five people there between the ages of 18 and 34 said they’d never heard of it.
In Austria — the country where Hitler was born — 12% of young people said they had never heard of the Holocaust. Austria also had the highest number of people in the survey saying they knew “just a little” about the Holocaust. Four out of 10 Austrian adults said that.
Across Europe, half of respondents said they know “a fair amount” about the Holocaust, while only one out of five people said they know “a great deal.”
[Americans do not fare any better: A survey carried out on behalf of the Claims Conference earlier this year found that 10% of American adults were not sure they’d ever heard of the Holocaust, rising to one in five millennials. Half of all millennials could not name a single concentration camp, and 45% of all American adults failed to do so.]
I can recommend an informative and accessible book on the Holocaust which I have reviewed here.