Study: 22% of young Americans never heard of the Holocaust

According to a survey published on Thursday, one-fifth of young Americans have never heard of the genocide committed against the Jews in World War II or are unclear as to what actually transpired.

By: World Israel News Staff

A recent study entitled “The National Survey of Holocaust Awareness and Knowledge Among Adults in the United States” commissioned by the Claims Conference revealed that a startling percentage of Americans are unaware of key facts regarding what occurred during the Holocaust.

Perhaps even more shocking, 58% of the 1,350 people polled fear that another Holocaust could be perpetrated in the future. The poll also revealed that 22% of people aged 18-24 hadn’t even heard of the Holocaust, while 11% percent of 25-34-year-olds claimed to be unfamiliar with it.

Among respondents who were actually aware that the Nazis committed genocide, 41% of “youths” polled were under the misapprehension that fewer than two million Jews perished, while 31% of “adults” polled concurred with that figure.

According to the Claims Conference website, “Almost half of Americans (45 percent) cannot name a single” one of the 40,000 concentration camps and ghettos in Europe during the Nazis’ reign.

The poll did have a few promising results, including that among those aware of the Holocaust 94% of them knew that Jews were the victims.

“More than nine out of ten respondents (93%) believe all students should learn about the Holocaust in school,” the poll showed. “Eight out of ten respondents (80%) say it is important to keep teaching about the Holocaust so it does not happen again.”

The poll’s results were released on Yom HaShoah, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, when the citizens of the Jewish state gather to memorialize loved ones who were killed in the horrific German genocide, which involved the complicity of and collaboration by individuals from a number of European countries, including Poland, Lithuania, and Greece, among others.