Alarming: 66% of Young Americans Have Never Heard of Auschwitz

The Claims Conference in the U.S. recently conducted a comprehensive survey among American citizens about the Holocaust.

The results will shock you. According to the survey findings, 31% of U.S. citizens do not believe 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, but think that only around 2 million Jews perished during the war years. This figure is even higher among those born in the 1980s and 1990s, with 41% of them holding this belief.

Which concentration camps in Europe have you heard of? Likely most readers could name many ghettos and camps. Yet, nearly half of Americans cannot name even one concentration camp. This concerns 45% of all U.S. citizens. Moreover, 41% have never heard of Auschwitz. If we examine only the younger citizens, 66% have never heard of this most infamous concentration camp.

Could another Holocaust occur? The data here is also troubling. 68% of respondents admitted they believe anti-Semitism exists in the U.S., with 34% stating there are many neo-Nazis in the U.S. Above all, 58% of Americans think a Holocaust-like event could happen again.

Furthermore, 70% of U.S. citizens claim that today, people are much less interested in the Holocaust compared to the past. There is a general consensus that there are significant gaps in young people's and students' knowledge about the Holocaust, and that schools need to take responsibility for teaching and educating on this topic. Ninety-three percent of Americans believe it’s important for students to learn about the Holocaust in school, with 80% emphasizing its importance to prevent another Holocaust.

The survey apparently covers many additional aspects related to Holocaust knowledge among U.S. residents and is set to be published on the upcoming Holocaust Remembrance Day, according to Julius Berman, President of the Jewish Claims Conference against Germany.

Berman remarked on the frightening fact that today's generation lacks basic knowledge about the horrors of the Holocaust. It’s crucial to learn from this, to explore how the next generation can be educated about the Holocaust so it is not forgotten. A special "task force" has been established with the goal of preserving the memory of the Holocaust. This group includes Holocaust survivors and representatives from educational institutions, museums, and non-profit organizations dedicated to Holocaust education—like the U.S. Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem, the Jewish Agency, the Claims Conference, and George Washington University.

Greg Schneider, Senior Vice President of the Claims Conference, emphasizes that the significant gaps in knowledge revealed by the survey exist even today, while Holocaust survivors are still among us. But what will happen when there are no survivors left to tell their stories? He asserts the importance of preserving these individuals' memories and teaching future generations about the Holocaust.