"4 in 10 millennials don't know 6 million Jews were killed in Holocaust, study shows
NEW YORK -- More
than one-fifth of millennials in the U.S. -- 22 percent -- haven't
heard of, or aren't sure if they've heard of, the Holocaust, according
to a study published
Thursday, on Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day. The study, which was
commissioned by The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against
Germany and conducted by Schoen Consulting, also found that 11 percent
of U.S. adults overall haven't heard of the Holocaust or aren't sure
if they did.
Additionally, 41 percent of millennials believe two
million Jews or fewer were killed during the Holocaust, the study found.
Six million Jews were killed in World War II by Nazi Germany and its
accomplices.
Two-thirds of millennials could not identify in the survey what Auschwitz was.
"The
survey found there are critical gaps both in awareness of basic facts
as well as detailed knowledge of the Holocaust," said a news release on
the findings.
A majority of American adults surveyed -- 70
percent -- agreed with a statement reading: "Fewer people seem to care
about the Holocaust as much as they used to." And 58 percent of
Americans believe that something like the Holocaust could happen again,
the survey found.
The study on Holocaust awareness and knowledge
in the U.S. was conducted between February 23 and 27 and involved 1,350
interviews with American adults 18 and older.
"This study
underscores the importance of Holocaust education in our schools," Greg
Schneider, executive vice president of the Claims Conference said in a
statement. "There remain troubling gaps in Holocaust awareness while
survivors are still with us; imagine when there are no longer survivors
here to tell their stories."
Israelis stood still on Thursday for a nationwide moment of
silence in remembrance of the Jewish victims, as a two-minute siren
wailed across the country and the nation paid respects to those
systematically killed. As every year on Holocaust Remembrance Day, buses
and cars halted on streets and highways and Israelis stepped out of
their vehicles, standing with heads bowed in solemn remembrance.
The
somber day is also marked by ceremonies and memorials at schools and
community centers. Restaurants and cafes in the ordinarily bustling
streets of Tel Aviv shutter, and TV and radio stations play
Holocaust-themed programs. Dignitaries laid wreaths at Yad Vashem, the
national Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem.
A third of the world's
Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. Israel was established afterward in
1948, and hundreds of thousands of survivors fled to the Jewish state.
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