What is the Holocaust? How many Jews were murdered by the Nazi regime? Young people in the USA and some EU countries in particular show clear gaps in knowledge with these questions.
Around six million Jews were systematically persecuted and murdered by National Socialist Germany. But around 80 years after the end of the Second World War, the knowledge of the Holocaust and the Schoah is growing away – especially among the younger generation. This is the conclusion of a survey by the Jewish Claims Conference.
In the age group of 18- to 29-year-olds, the survey in Germany stated that about 40 percent noted that about six million Jews were murdered during the National Socialism period. 15 percent believed that there were fewer than two million. Two percent of all citizens surveyed in the Federal Republic were of the opinion that the Holocaust had not taken place at all.
In total, at least 20 percent of those surveyed believed that two million or fewer Jews were murdered during the Holocaust in seven of the eight countries examined. In Romania it was 28 percent, almost as many with 27 percent in Hungary and in Poland, 24 percent of the participants in the survey. In Germany it was 18 percent.
The Holocaust Index of the Claims Conference
The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, shorter also Jewish Claims Conference or Claims Conference, is a merger of several Jewish organizations. It was founded in 1951 and has its headquarters in New York.
The members are committed to compensation for Holocaust survivors all over the world. Last year, she claimed to distribute more than $ 535 million of compensation to more than 200,000 survivors in 83 countries.
For the current survey on the knowledge of Holocaust and Schoah, the organization carried out a representative survey in eight countries. Between the 15th and 28th November 2023, about 1,000 people were interviewed. The United States, the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Germany, Poland, Hungary and Romania include the United States examined.
Big differences in the Holocaust concept
In France, 46 percent of the respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 stated that they had never heard of the term Schoah. In all other countries, the term was asked about the term Holocaust, which is hardly used in France. In Austria, 14 percent of the respondents between the ages of 18 and 29, never heard of the Holocaust, stated 15 percent in Romania. In Germany, with twelve percent, about one or every tenth, the term Holocaust was unknown. In the United Kingdom, on the other hand, there were only five percent, even fewer the term in the United States (three percent), Poland (two percent) and Hungary (one percent) unknown.
The respondents had four answer options when asked whether they know the term Holocaust or Schoah. The answers “yes, definitely” and “yes, I think” were summarized in a study summary. The answers “no, definitely not” and “No, I don't think” were summarized in the summary for “No”. Due to curves, there may be minimal deviations from the percentages.
Schoah and Holocaust
Schoah or Shoa is the Hebrew word for disaster or doom. In Hebrew, it is used exclusively for the mass destruction of the Jews under the National Socialist rule. The term Holocaust also includes the systematic persecution and destruction of other population groups, such as the Sinti and Roma or politically persecuted. The victims of the National Socialists also include millions of Soviet civilians and other groups.
In almost all countries in which the survey was carried out in November 2023, half or a majority of the respondents were concerned that something like the Holocaust could repeat themselves. A majority of 76 percent expressed this fear, especially in the United States. In Great Britain it was 69 percent, 63 percent in France and 62 in Austria. In Germany, 61 percent of the participants stated that this concern exists.
Central Council of Jews alarmed about ignorance
The Central Council of Jews in Germany was alerted about the results of the survey. “The worrying increase in anti -Semitic verbal and physical violence that we observe in Germany has a large part of its roots in the disinformation and the lack of information about the Holocaust,” said Central Council President Josef Schuster. The study shows the dimension of lack of knowledge, especially with a view to young adults. Politics, education and media would have to counteract together.
Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus was also concerned. “If young people with the terms Holocaust or Shoah can no longer do anything, it is deeply worrying,” said the Greens politician. “Germany's basic democratic understanding is that we keep the memory awake and pass on the knowledge of the crimes of National Socialism to the next generation early – in schools or in training.”
Many companies have been supporting their trainees for years to deal with Nazi history in authentic places. “I would like this to become the rule,” said Paus. “Our democracy is under pressure again. We react with programs such as” Living Democracy! “Or” Youth reminds “.
Plan memorials Events
In Germany, several memorials plan special events on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp on January 27th. Last year, many of the memorials had a persistently high number of visitors, as a survey by the EPD news agency showed. This applies, for example, to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp memorial in Brandenburg, which counted almost half a million visitors in 2024. The Dachau concentration camp memorial in Bavaria, which visited more than 900,000 people, also spoke of a “steadily increasing interest”.
The Berlin documentation center “Topography of Terror”, on the other hand, recorded a decline in visitors by almost 21 percent compared to the previous year. With almost 1.63 million guests last year, the center was the most visited place of commemoration and information about the Nazi regime.
Hardly living contemporary witnesses
The effort to inform about the time of National Socialism and the Holocaust is made more difficult by the dwindling number of contemporary witnesses. Complaints of the Claims Conference still live around 245,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors worldwide in more than 90 countries. Much of them lived in the United States at 49 percent. Almost all of the contemporary witnesses experienced the events as children.
Transparency note: After the first publication, we have specified information about the results of the survey and added a paragraph for the methodology.
