Widespread Lack of Holocaust Knowledge in the U.S. (2020)

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.claimscon.org/millennial-study/

NEW YORK, NEW YORK: September 16, 2020 – Gideon Taylor, President of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), today announced the release of the U.S. Millennial Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Survey, the first-ever 50-state survey on Holocaust knowledge among Millennials and Gen Z. The surprising state-by-state results highlight a worrying lack of basic Holocaust knowledge, a growing problem as fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors – eyewitnesses to a state-sponsored genocide – are alive to share the lessons of the Holocaust.

Nationally, there is a clear lack of awareness of key historical facts; 63 percent of all national survey respondents do not know that six million Jews were murdered and 36 percent thought that “two million or fewer Jews” were killed during the Holocaust. Additionally, although there were more than 40,000 camps and ghettos in Europe during the Holocaust, 48 percent of national survey respondents cannot name a single one.

The state-by-state analysis yielded a particularly disquieting finding that nearly 20 percent of Millennials and Gen Z in New York feel the Jews 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. “We need to understand why we aren’t doing better in educating a younger generation about the Holocaust and the lessons of the past. This needs to serve as a wake-up call to us all, and as a road map of where government officials need to act.”

The study reveals that Wisconsin scores highest in Holocaust awareness among U.S. Millennials and Gen Z. Arkansas has the lowest Holocaust knowledge score1, with less than 2-in-10 (17 percent) of Millennials and Gen Z meeting the Holocaust knowledge criteria.

*snip*

I was shocked.

[moondust]

1. Those who do not read history

are doomed to repeat it. - George Santayana

[dembotoz]

2. shocked my state did well

as i grow older i have come to understand with great dismay how long ago ww2 and all the atrocities happened.

I always understood never again would not last forever but i had imagined it might last longer than this.

Perhaps it helps explain how the neo nazis are seen as less than totally evil. Good people on both sides... NOPE

Folks just don't know.

During conversations about immigration, sometimes the ms St Louis comes up. Folks haven't a clue.
I don't know what to do.

[zipplewrath]

3. History in general

I had one ask me if Washington was ever "in the military".

I had one send me a meeting notice for Dec. 7th. I responded in the affirmative along with the phrase, "A day that will live in infamy". I later asked if she caught the reference. She said, "Isn't that a line from a movie?"

I had fun "quizzing" my younger staff about various historical events. I asked what if anything they knew about "Kent State". I got a variety of answers including, "there's no state named Kent is there?" None of them remembered anything about a shooting.

[Irish_Dem]

9. I wish you were joking, but I know you are not.

Honest to god.

No wonder no one cares that we are back to 1933 Germany.
They don't know what it is....

[Solly Mack]

4. That's beyond tragic. More than a little scary, too.

[Nevilledog]

5. I've always loved history, so this just feels blasphemous.

[Solly Mack]

6. Blasphemous is a good word for it.

[kacekwl]

7. Hard to imagine, I don't know of

a middle school that doesn't make a trip to the Holocaust museum in Illinois. I don't know about other states if they have such a thing. If not then surely students are taught about.

[Irish_Dem]

10. Right some states send high school kids on a trip to Wash DC.

And the Holocaust Museum is something they see.

[Irish_Dem]

8. I'm surprised New York scored in the low knowledge group.

They have always had a highly regarded public education system.

And they have a high concentration of Jewish citizens.