The Coffee House

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/s...ults-study

Almost two-thirds of young American adults do not know that 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, and more than one in 10 believe Jews caused the Holocaust, a new survey has found, revealing shocking levels of ignorance about the greatest crime of the 20th century.

According to the study of millennial and Gen Z adults aged between 18 and 39, almost half (48%) could not name a single concentration camp or ghetto established during the second world war.

Almost a quarter of respondents (23%) said they believed the Holocaust was a myth, or had been exaggerated, or they weren’t sure. One in eight (12%) said they had definitely not heard, or didn’t think they had heard, about the Holocaust.

More than half (56%) said they had seen Nazi symbols on their social media platforms and/or in their communities, and almost half (49%) had seen Holocaust denial or distortion posts on social media or elsewhere online.

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Wow, that is rather sad . I'm not particularly surprised that 63% didn't know 6 million Jews were killed (it seems they were asked for the figure, and a lot of people are just bad with numbers in general) - but, 48% not being able to name a single concentration camp did shock me a bit.

I don't know what the education on World War II is like over there - but here in the UK, this point was made several times over the course of my school years, so I would hope the figures would be better over here...

I find this incredibly disturbing, especially with the rise in antisemitism in North America. At the very least, I remember Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. (I think Dachau had one as well, but don't quote me on that.)

I also fear that there is a growing number of people who flat-out deny the Holocaust, which pisses me off immensely because (from what I've heard) Eisenhower had rolls upon rolls of film worth of pictures taken as evidence of the atrocities committed in those camps, plus there were first-hand accounts for survivors. That's a lot more than we can say for the Armenian Genocide (which I also firmly believe happened) which has academic near-consensus on its validity, and most of the dissenters are from Turkey.

Teaching about the Holocaust in Canada was good when I was in HS. Not sure how good it is these days (some 20 years later).

NEVER AGAIN.

What the heck? :/ Are schools just not teaching about this anymore? When I was in school the teachers encouraged a thorough education of it so we would read several books about it and watch movies about them. It reminds me of a video a YouTuber who went around and asked random people if they knew what the 4th of July meant or Labor day. They were questioned on the holiday on what they thought it was for, when it was established. I am sorry to say that more than half the people who were asked these questions knew nothing about it. They just thought it was a day off from work where they got to drink and party all day.

(09-17-2020, 08:01 PM)Nilla Wrote: [ -> ]What the heck? :/ Are schools just not teaching about this anymore? When I was in school the teachers encouraged a thorough education of it so we would read several books about it and watch movies about them. It reminds me of a video a YouTuber who went around and asked random people if they knew what the 4th of July meant or Labor day. They were questioned on the holiday on what they thought it was for, when it was established. I am sorry to say that more than half the people who were asked these questions knew nothing about it. They just thought it was a day off from work where they got to drink and party all day.

Well, I certainly hope that YouTube video wasn't representative of people's historical knowledge . I think a lot of those YouTube videos just pick the worst comments that provide the most entertainment value for the audience... but, if they didn't do that in this case, then that's pretty shocking.

(09-17-2020, 08:10 PM)Kyng Wrote: [ -> ]

(09-17-2020, 08:01 PM)Nilla Wrote: [ -> ]What the heck? :/ Are schools just not teaching about this anymore? When I was in school the teachers encouraged a thorough education of it so we would read several books about it and watch movies about them. It reminds me of a video a YouTuber who went around and asked random people if they knew what the 4th of July meant or Labor day. They were questioned on the holiday on what they thought it was for, when it was established. I am sorry to say that more than half the people who were asked these questions knew nothing about it. They just thought it was a day off from work where they got to drink and party all day.

Well, I certainly hope that YouTube video wasn't representative of people's historical knowledge . I think a lot of those YouTube videos just pick the worst comments that provide the most entertainment value for the audience... but, if they didn't do that in this case, then that's pretty shocking.

No. lol They went out randomly and picked random people. It was in California on the beach where a lot of people were hanging out. Obviously before COVID.

I’m not so quick to buy into this. Everyone I know knows about the Holocaust.