
Nearly half of the young adults in France say they haven’t heard about the Holocaust or don’t know whether they’ve heard about it. That’s according to a study published on Thursday by the Jewish Claims Conference measuring knowledge about the Holocaust across eight countries.
As part of the survey, samples were collected in eight countries with large Jewish populations, as well as countries where Jews were murdered during the Holocaust: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Romania.
The findings reveal a worrying global trend: a decline in knowledge of basic facts about the Holocaust, especially among the younger generation.
“The alarming gaps in knowledge, particularly among younger generations, highlight an urgent need for more effective Holocaust education,” Gideon Taylor, president of the Claims Conference, said. “The fact that a significant number of adults cannot identify basic facts—such as the 6 million Jews who perished—is deeply concerning.”
Indeed, in all the countries surveyed, a significant portion of the population reported not believing that 6 million Jews were really killed. The country with the highest percentage of disbelievers regarding the 6 million statistic was France, at 25%, and the country with the smallest percentage was the US, at 16%.
In seven out of the eight countries surveyed, approximately 20% of respondents reported believing that 2 million Jews or fewer were killed in the Holocaust. Nearly one in four Polish respondents held this view, which is particularly concerning as nearly 3 million of the Jews murdered in the Holocaust were from Poland.
More than half of the Romanian respondents aged 18-29 agreed that the Holocaust occurred but said that the number of Jews reported to have been murdered was greatly exaggerated. This view was shared by 22% of young Hungarians, 33% of young French people, 14% of young Poles, 21% of young Austrians, 13% of young Germans, 15% of young Americans, and 11% of young Britons.
Regarding Holocaust knowledge, when respondents were asked to name concentration camps, extermination camps, transit camps, or ghettos, 26% of all respondents could not name a single one out of more than 40,000 camps established during World War II. Nearly half of Americans did not know the name of a single camp, and a quarter of adults in the UK, France, and Romania couldn’t either.
Across all countries, a significant majority of the adults surveyed agreed that it is important to continue teaching about the Holocaust. In the US and Poland, 96% held this view, 94% in the UK and Germany, 93% in France and Romania, 91% in Hungary, and 90% in Austria. Ninety-five percent of adults in the US said that the Holocaust should be taught in schools, as did 93% in Poland, 92% in the UK, 91% in France, 88% in Hungary, 87% in Germany, 84% in Austria, and 78% in Romania.
Dani Danon, chair of Yad Vashem, said that the survey revealed a “troubling picture” of ignorance regarding the Holocaust, especially in countries where Nazi atrocities took place. “However, we take encouragement from the data showing the desire to increase Holocaust education,” he said. “Yad Vashem works closely with governments and organizations in the surveyed countries and would be happy to expand this cooperation and develop new, tailored ways to reach new audiences, especially among young people.”
This article was translated from Hebrew by Leah Schwartz.