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More than 10% of Americans Under 40 Think Jews Caused the Holocaust
A new U.S. survey published on Wednesday found that 11% of respondents believed the Jews were responsible for the Holocaust and 15% thought the Holocaust was a myth or exaggerated. Nearly half of the respondents had seen Holocaust denial online, but 20% said people talk about it too much, according to a story in the Jerusalem Post.
The survey was organized by the Claims Conference, an organization that coordinates reparations payments for Holocaust survivors. They surveyed 1,000 respondents between the ages of 18 to 39 across all 50 states.
The survey also found that there was little correlation between Holocaust education and knowledge about the Holocaust in each respective state. Holocaust knowledge was particularly low in the state of New York, even though the state has the highest proportion of Jewish residents in the country. Only 37% of respondents knew that 6 million Jews had died in the Holocaust. More than a third believed that just 2 million Jews had been killed, and 48% of respondents could not name a single concentration camp or ghetto.
The survey also probed the visibility of Holocaust denial online. A total of 56% reported seeing Nazi symbols on social media or in their communities, and 49% had seen Holocaust denial or distortion online.
Greg Schneider, the executive vice president of the Claims Conference, said: “Not only was their overall lack of Holocaust knowledge troubling, but combined with the number of Millennials and Gen Z who have seen Holocaust denial on social media, it is clear that we must fight this distortion of history and do all we can to ensure that the social media giants stop allowing this harmful content on their platforms.”
