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appalachiablue

(41,146 posts)
Thu Jan 23, 2020, 01:31 AM Jan 2020

Half Of Americans Don't Know 6m Jews Were Killed In Holocaust, Survey Says

Source: The Guardian

Fewer than half of American adults know how many Jews were killed in the Holocaust, according to a survey published ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27.

Forty-five per cent of those asked by the Pew Research Center about the number of Jews killed by the Nazis gave the correct answer of approximately 6 million. From multiple choice answers, 12% selected about 3 million, and 2% selected less than 1 million. Another 12% said more than 12 million Jews died in the Holocaust. One in three people (29%) said they were not sure or did not answer.

According to the survey of almost 11,000 Americans, 69% said the Holocaust happened between 1930 and 1950. One in 10 people thought it took place between 1910 and 1930, and 2% answered between 1890 and 1910. One in 100 people thought it was later than second world war, answering 1950-1970; and 18% did not know or gave no answer.

Some people believe ignorance about the Holocaust is linked to a rise in antisemitism. There are also concerns that, as living witnesses to Nazi atrocities and the death camps dwindle in number, the Holocaust is receding in the collective memory. The Anti-Defamation League annual audit of antisemitic incidents in the US for 2018 recorded the third-highest total since the civil rights group began publishing data 40 years ago...

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/22/holocaust-survey-americans-pew-research-center



A soon to be report published in the New York Times by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University says antisemitic hate crimes in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago – the three largest cities in the US – are poised to hit an 18-year peak.

A man armed with a knife forced his way into the home of a New York rabbi during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, wounding five people last month. In October 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pa. 11 people were killed and six injured in a shooting attack at a synagogue there.

The Pew survey also found that only 43% of respondents knew that Hitler became German chancellor through a democratic political process, with one in four people believing he and his supporters violently overthrew the government.

The Pew report, What Americans Know About the Holocaust, said the findings raised an important question: “Are those who underestimate the death toll simply uninformed, or are they Holocaust deniers – people with antisemitic views who ‘claim that the Holocaust was invented or exaggerated by Jews as part of a plot to advance Jewish interests’?”
____________

- Auschwitz: How death camp became centre of Nazi Holocaust, BBC News
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50743973



- Soviet Troops began liberating Auschwitz on January 27, 1945--75 years ago.
28 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Half Of Americans Don't Know 6m Jews Were Killed In Holocaust, Survey Says (Original Post) appalachiablue Jan 2020 OP
I would think far less would even know about the Porajmos of Roma Gypsies OnlinePoker Jan 2020 #1
Romas, gay people, the mentally handicapped, political dissenters. appalachiablue Jan 2020 #2
Agreed OnlinePoker Jan 2020 #3
Socialists. Nt Ghost Dog Jan 2020 #5
Yes and communists, political opponents. appalachiablue Jan 2020 #11
Thanks for posting here. Behind the Aegis Jan 2020 #4
There is a state requirement in Illinois murielm99 Jan 2020 #6
Teaching about the holocaust in schools should be mandatory Thekaspervote Jan 2020 #7
Some posts here about study in schools are encouraging. appalachiablue Jan 2020 #12
The lessons of the Holocaust have not been learned. JudyM Jan 2020 #14
direct result of home and religious schooling in America, that should have been asked too beachbumbob Jan 2020 #8
Some deny the holocaust... Some openly brag about it. keithbvadu2 Jan 2020 #9
About half of Americans seem to know Harker Jan 2020 #10
Truth! 😞 Duppers Jan 2020 #24
As a 60-year-old with no college and Harker Jan 2020 #27
What's the overlap with Trump supporters? IronLionZion Jan 2020 #13
At a guess Kaiserguy Jan 2020 #20
Here's how you draw the Venn diagram.... Brother Buzz Jan 2020 #23
Teaching WWII history should be mandatory. Initech Jan 2020 #15
I wonder what the reasoning behind this Sapient Donkey Jan 2020 #16
Let's look at this a different way. cannabis_flower Jan 2020 #17
Good analysis. So, 70% or so know there was a holocaust JustABozoOnThisBus Jan 2020 #21
Over 1 million Buzz cook Jan 2020 #22
I met a denier in the 1980s Harker Jan 2020 #28
Guess which half. lagomorph777 Jan 2020 #18
It's no surprise given the number of Americans who voted for Pussy-Grabber. BigDemVoter Jan 2020 #19
Unbelievable....and sad. Duppers Jan 2020 #25
guilt and sadness Demonaut Jan 2020 #26

OnlinePoker

(5,722 posts)
1. I would think far less would even know about the Porajmos of Roma Gypsies
Thu Jan 23, 2020, 01:40 AM
Jan 2020

1.5 million of them were slaughtered and the (at the time) West German government didn't even acknowledge it as a racial extermination campaign until the 70s.

appalachiablue

(41,146 posts)
2. Romas, gay people, the mentally handicapped, political dissenters.
Thu Jan 23, 2020, 01:45 AM
Jan 2020

Actually I'm surprised some of the results of this study weren't worse.

Behind the Aegis

(53,961 posts)
4. Thanks for posting here.
Thu Jan 23, 2020, 03:39 AM
Jan 2020

I posted this in GD. This is somewhat discouraging, almost as much so as the "whataboutism" that inevitably appears when The Holocaust and Jews are mentioned in the same story.

Soon, all the survivors will be gone and we are already seeing a concerted effort to rewrite and diminish the reality of The Holocaust and its aftermath. Rising anti-Semitism, here and throughout the world, just serves as a cold reminder certain events may not be far off in the future depending on how society swerves.

murielm99

(30,745 posts)
6. There is a state requirement in Illinois
Thu Jan 23, 2020, 04:48 AM
Jan 2020

that all students are taught about the Holocaust. I subbed for about ten years and taught some of the classes to middle school students. All school districts should have this requirement.

Some of the materials were quite good, and students were affected by them. My children were taught about the Holocaust in school.

Thekaspervote

(32,778 posts)
7. Teaching about the holocaust in schools should be mandatory
Thu Jan 23, 2020, 06:21 AM
Jan 2020

White supremacy and anti Semitic beliefs could be reduced

appalachiablue

(41,146 posts)
12. Some posts here about study in schools are encouraging.
Thu Jan 23, 2020, 10:31 AM
Jan 2020

But the numbers are way too low, especially for an event of this horror, scale and only 75 years out time wise. Not to mention the participation of the U.S. in the Second World War. A lot more needs to be done, clearly.

keithbvadu2

(36,829 posts)
9. Some deny the holocaust... Some openly brag about it.
Thu Jan 23, 2020, 08:46 AM
Jan 2020

Some deny the holocaust... Some openly brag about it.

America fought a war against the Nazis and supposedly won.

Yet here they are in Charlottesville marching to "take back America".

When did the Nazis have America?

KKK Conservative boasting:

“We killed six million Jews the last time,” he answered. “Eleven million is nothing.”

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article167939222.html

Duppers

(28,125 posts)
24. Truth! 😞
Thu Jan 23, 2020, 11:35 PM
Jan 2020

Do schools not teach any history now? No Civics, no geography, no economics? I know that teachers have some leeway in teaching facts. Do they no longer care?? I do feel sorry for them - the frustrations they must feel.

Have parents stopped caring?

My son graduated from h.s. 14yrs ago and he was lucky in that he was taught all these things.

What has happened to our education system?

Harker

(14,024 posts)
27. As a 60-year-old with no college and
Fri Jan 24, 2020, 12:41 AM
Jan 2020

with negligible direct contact with the education system since 1977, I can only make anecdotal observations.

Republicants have been actively seeking to crush public education and stigmatize intelligent discourse as 'elitism' at least since Reagan.

My much younger supervisors at work are largely ungrammatical and have poor reading and writing skills... with critical thinking and interpersonal skills to match.

Rs are creating the sort of public that will systematically elect their crooked politicians, who continue the degradation, thus making a particularly vicious circle.

I try to be hopeful, but it is difficult.

IronLionZion

(45,460 posts)
13. What's the overlap with Trump supporters?
Thu Jan 23, 2020, 11:10 AM
Jan 2020

and the types who need to keep confederate statues because "we can't erase history".

Erasing history is one of many steps the oppressors use on their path towards repeating history. Nazis are common again, holding rallies and marches, openly carrying assault rifles, hating minorities and any perceived enemies.

German propaganda claimed certain types of people were stealing jobs and wealth away from "real Germans". Nazis didn't really care that Jews were German citizens too. We're seeing more of that propaganda these days. 1930s Nazis have often boasted that they've always felt hate, but they were excited to make it official policy because it adds the perception of legitimacy.

Kaiserguy

(740 posts)
20. At a guess
Thu Jan 23, 2020, 06:18 PM
Jan 2020

I would say around 90%-95% Trump supporters are among the most uninformed citizens we have. Look at all the outright BS they believe.

Initech

(100,081 posts)
15. Teaching WWII history should be mandatory.
Thu Jan 23, 2020, 12:22 PM
Jan 2020

Auschwitz stands as a memorial so that the atrocities committed in WWII should never happen again. But with white supremacy and neo Nazism on the rise all over globe, it appears that people have learned absolutely nothing from the Holocaust. And some you could say are actually proud of this (fuck you Steve Bannon). And it is sickening and disgusting to no end.

Sapient Donkey

(1,568 posts)
16. I wonder what the reasoning behind this
Thu Jan 23, 2020, 01:24 PM
Jan 2020

I doubt all those folks are holocaust deniers who know the information, but reject them because they are morons. This is taught in school still, right? I wasn't the best student, but even I managed to pick up these facts. And even without school, I can't see how anyone didn't pick up these facts from news, movies, or whatever.

cannabis_flower

(3,764 posts)
17. Let's look at this a different way.
Thu Jan 23, 2020, 01:46 PM
Jan 2020

Most people know it was a lot - millions. Most people don't know exactly how many. Fifty-seven percent for sure (45% + 12%) knew it was more than 6 million. Another 12% said more than 3 million, which is still a lot.

Only 2% said less than a million.

And how many of those who didn't care to guess or did not respond still knew it was a lot?

It sounds like more than 69% and maybe more know it was a horrible atrocity even if they didn't know the exact number that died. In fact, the 6 million figure that is the answer not exact anyway. It's an estimate. I'm not sure if I would have guessed 6 or 12 million if I was asked.

JustABozoOnThisBus

(23,350 posts)
21. Good analysis. So, 70% or so know there was a holocaust
Thu Jan 23, 2020, 07:04 PM
Jan 2020

about 75 years ago. Most don't know the exact number, but is that so important?

Quick, how many Armenians did the Turks kill? That was a bit earlier in the 20th century.

Buzz cook

(2,472 posts)
22. Over 1 million
Thu Jan 23, 2020, 09:52 PM
Jan 2020

I've said similar things to what you said. At one time I told a friend that it was unreasonable to expect the average person to be familiar with the names of the death camps.

I have come to the conclusion that this attitude leads to fables creeping into common knowledge. If people don't have a basic grounding in the facts they are more easily led into falsehood.

We are seeing the results of that now.

Harker

(14,024 posts)
28. I met a denier in the 1980s
Fri Jan 24, 2020, 12:48 AM
Jan 2020

who said that it was absurd to believe that 6 million were murdered.

When I asked that if 'only' 200,000 were killed, would that be okay?, he stopped talking and walked away.

Holocaust deniers and minimizers are deranged.

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