41% of Americans dont know what Auschwitz was.

[Cattledog]

Link to tweet

[sandensea]

1. And, I believe, another 20% don't believe it happened.

A big part of why monsters like Trump - and yes, Bibi - are possible.

[ProudLib72]

2. Here is a direct link to the survey in the Jerusalem Post

Link: http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Survey-exposes-American-ignorance-about-Holocaust-549567

Simply terrifying!

[marble falls]

3. Never again is being replaced by never knew. Whoa. 41%......

[redstatebluegirl]

4. Those who don't know history are bound to repeat it.

[Lee-Lee]

5. Thats amazingly sad

I have had the opportunity to visit both Auschwitz and Dachau. It is an immensely sobering experience.

[sdfernando]

9. Very sobering

I was born in Munich but my Dad was in the Army and we were stationed at Dachau. The Army took over the camp and that is were we lived. Word has it we lived in old SS living quarters. My oldest brother used to play with his friends over near the crematorium. This was before it was turned into a memorial and somewhat restored.

[inanna]

28. I really want to do the same.

I have researched Auschwitz (and the other camps) a lot on the internet, but that's just not the same as actually going there and seeing it firsthand.

Though it is very sad...

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

6. Not surprised. nt

[Stuart G]

7. Here is the problem. This film needs to be taught in high school..."Night and Fog"

Everyone needs to see a film, called..."Night and Fog".. and...the word.... Auschwitz...needs to named to the place in the movie....Then they will never forget it.. Here is a link to this truly "horrific" film. I showed it to hundreds of students..They did not forget it. It was part a topic called "Man's Inhumanity to Man"..

One of the most horrific moments in teaching in high school for me, came after showing this film. A student came up to me after class with his close friend. A very quiet but extremely bright student. His friend told me his story...As he, and his mom fled out the window, the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia came into his house and shot dead his father. I taught in a school with a wide variety of students from all over the world.

When I first started showing this in the mid 70s..I felt that this couldn't happen again. Little did I know, that it was happening in the mid 70s.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048434/

Oh? You haven't seen it...probably at the library..

[SoCalNative]

10. This was shown at a special assembly

when I was in high school. It was presented by the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

[Stuart G]

15. I am glad somebody shows it. Or showd it. Oh, I hate to say this..but the U.S. Calvery

did exactly the same thing to Native Americans..

This book too is horrific.."Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown...

You need a very strong stomach and desire to read the truth about our own country's treatment of people to want to read it...good luck. This one too is at the library.

And..I must add this: Fewer people know the story of how we treated Native Americans, than know the story of the holocaust,,,,...and that is also very sad!!

[Doodley]

8. And 41% support Trump.

[sinkingfeeling]

11. Just unbelievable. How did Americans become so uneducated?

[Luciferous]

14. Underfunding of public education

[Stuart G]

18. The teacher's in high school have to want to teach this..that's how.

Then, if they want to teach this, they have to know "how" to teach this. It has to fit in somehow to the curriculum ..Now, if you want to teach this, then you can easily fit it in. But, you have to know that this film even exists. It is awful to watch and truly horrific. So, I will now describe horrific..you are warned

One scene shows captured Nazi soldiers carrying victims heads to a grave..(filmed after the Americans entered the concentration camps) Yea,,,, real heads of people who were once alive..Another scene shows a tractor at the camps shoveling dead bodies into a grave..dozens of people the Nazi's killed..

When I showed the film I discussed above..if students did not want to watch, I let them go to the library. I watched it maybe 40 times. .......................................One more very important fact you will not believe......
..................General Eisenhower wanted these scenes to be filmed...Yes, he wanted this...Why???

So, these scenes could be shown in what was called, "newsreals" in movie theaters. These were 10 to 15 minutes of recent news that people watched before the regular showing of the movies. Eisenhower wanted people to know what the Nazis did at the concentration camps.. Without footage for people to see, very few would believe.

Before there was TV news, there were these "newsreals" in movie theaters.....It is how many people "Saw the News" before there was TV....yes..there was a life before TV.. Eisenhower wanted these films to be shown to everyone that went to the movies. (and in the 40s, everyone did go to the movies..usually once a week, because that was the major form of entertainment then)

[sinkingfeeling]

20. I think you replied to wrong person. I didn't say a word about any

movie and since I'm 70, I well aware of life without TV. I also recall when WWII was taught in detail in history classes as was the Holocaust.

[Luciferous]

12. How do they not know this? My 11 year old

knows this! They have discussed WW2 in school.

[dameatball]

13. I will defer to any real teachers, but I don't think history, geography are taught much anymore

[OldHippieChick]

16. Though I am not proud to say this, I am not as

familiar with the events leading up to or during WWI as I should be. I remember that the assassination of the Archduke was part of the impetus, but I don't remember which side the Italians were on, etc. I do think that certain major events should be taught and ingrained no matter the timeframe - eg. Gettysburg, Auschwitz, but not everything sticks if it is too long ago. I know that many of my history classes didn't get around to WWII as they took too long on other events. I was left to learn of WWII on my own, but my father fought in that war, so it wasn't so distant. However, the fact that so many of our young people are this ignorant is shameful. Shame on us.

[still_one]

17. I guess what I would ask is what percent of those asked have at least a high school educatioon.

This is actually quite concerning because it means it can happen again

[procon]

19. Older generations like the Baby Boomers learned from their parents

and relatives, school, movies, books and magazines back in the day, all of them covered the big stories of WWII. Kids today get a chapter on WWII in their history textbook with maybe a paragraph on the atrocities Auschwitz.

Terrible events in history are more likely to be whitewashed, marginalized or omitted in states like Texas where Republican run the school boards and use their power to rewrite history.

[marybourg]

21. Some of us - older than the boomers -

actually remember the news reaching our families in the U.S. of the opening of the camps and the horrors found there. I remember my mother and grandmother talking about this. I remember screams and shrieks. I remember a few family members eventually reaching the U.S through the Red Cross. But in 20 years, there'll be very few of us left.

[Elwood P Dowd]

24. Yep, my father and 5 uncles served in WWII. I heard all about it when I was a little

kid. It was also taught in history class then before today's revisionary repukes took over so many schools systems.

[misanthrope]

22. Am I supposed to be surprised?

As someone who has spent more than a half-century in Alabama, there's nothing shocking in this. Not in the slightest.

Have you taken notice of popular culture for the last half-century, the last three decades particularly? Have you seen what passes for entertainment, what gets ratings on TV and packs movie theaters?

Have you taken notice of advertising and its overriding spirit? Anything older than the time it took me to type this is worse than passé, it's "old" (to be said with a touch of disgust).

Do you know any teachers, have you heard their stories about classrooms and students and administrations and budgets? Their laments should be a hub of concern.

Have you seen how few eligible voters turn out to the polls? Of those that do, how much research or energy do you believe they put into their choices?

Make no mistake, the ignorance is still tragic. Want to shock me? Tell me 80 percent of Americans are highly aware of the Holocaust and its particulars.

[JI7]

23. It's not just schools. When i watch the bbc and other foreign news

They regularly do shows on things that happened throughout history.

The US media doesn't do this.

[Elwood P Dowd]

25. AHC, PBS, and The History Channel have all ran shows about it

this year. The vast majority of Americans are too busy watching crap and never see them.

[JI7]

27. But those are not exactly news channels that people tune into regularly

Just to get the days news.

Remember how much impact blackfish had when cnn showed it.

Anthony bourdain doing a showin Iran alsoi seemed to result in a change of view of Iran for many.

[raven mad]

38. Agreed, Elwood. We've badly neglected both oversight

and education. It seems the only students interested in history only want to go back to the Gulf war. Not even Viet Nam registers.

Turn off the TV, parents, and invest in a library card.

[inanna]

26. My daughter learned a little bit about the Holocaust

and the wars in school.

Then I filled in the gaps. Just as my father did with me.

An adult now, my daughter has taken it upon herself to learn much, much more.

[liberal N proud]

29. That is part of the reason we have trump

Fascist only rise to power when citizens don't know history.

[smirkymonkey]

30. We are such an ignorant nation.

I learned about this in high school and even wrote a paper about it. I am in despair over the sad state of our educational system and the fact that the republicans are trying to dismantle it even further. I am always amazed at how well educated Europeans seem compared to us, even those who have not finished university. Their high school students seem to have a better grasp of things than many of our college grads.

[onecaliberal]

31. What in the actual fuck? How is that possible? How in the hell is that possible?

[BootinUp]

32. Shame on us for letting this happen. nt

[Behind the Aegis]

33. And today, is Yom Hashoah.

The original "Never Again", today is Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance.

Articles included:
Number of Jews in the world still lower than before Holocaust
Confronting Holocaust Denial
Traditional antisemitism is back, global study finds

[Delphinus]

34. That's

appalling.

[area51]

35. Damn. n/t

[neeksgeek]

36. This does not surprise me. Its sad.

A large number of Americans of all persuasions have their own private little echo chambers, and know nothing outside that. My college students stunned me yesterday when not one of a class of 19 students could tell me who Mark Zuckerberg is, when most if not all of them have used either Facebook and/or Instagram, and this on the very day Zuckerberg was testifying before Congress.

In high school we learned quite a lot about the Holocaust. But we also learned about the moon landings, and I have had students who don’t believe that happened either.

Time for a refresher course in modern history.

[HopeAgain]

37. Astounding and sad

[dalton99a]

39. Worldwide data:

Percent Who Have Heard of the Holocaust


Percent of Who Believe Facts About the Holocaust Have Been Distorted, by Age and Religious Group



Anti-Defamation League

[Behind the Aegis]

40. That is some kind of sad.

I wonder why the Hindu breakdowns are so bad.