AS WORLD LEADERS GATHERED ON HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY, a new survey of seven countries shows that a majority of people believe a mass genocide against Jewish people could happen today.
80 years since Auschwitz was liberated, a survey shows…
- 69 per cent in UK think another Holocaust could happen
- 48 per cent of Americans couldn’t name a single Nazi death camp
- Nearly half of young French adults have not even heard of the Holocaust
- Holocaust denial is highest in the US and Hungary
The survey was published just before world leaders gathered to mark 80 years since the unspeakable discovery of Auschwitz, one of the Nazis’ 42,500* camps. It exposes a global trend of ignorance among people in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Germany, Poland, Hungary and Romania. Half the young adults in France do not even know what the Holocaust is.
The survey was published by The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany and its findings appeared in The Times of Israel on 23 January. Data was collected from a representative sample of 1,000 adults in each country in November 2023. Some 76 per cent of people in the US said they thought another Holocaust could happen, followed by the UK at 69 per cent, France at 63 per cent, Austria at 62 per cent, Germany at 61 per cent, Poland at 54 per cent and Hungary at 52 per cent. In Romania, 44 per cent thought another genocide was possible.
The ignorance of history is particularly stark among 18-29 year olds. A sizable share of the seven nations, mainly 18-29 year olds, thinks the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust has been exaggerated. Moreover, a staggering 46 per cent of young French adults said they had not even heard of the Holocaust. This contrasted with 15 per cent in Romania, 14 per cent in Austria, and 12 per cent in Germany.
When asked to name Nazi concentration camps, 48 per cent of Americans could not name a single one of the more than 40,000 camps established during World War II. Overall, a quarter of all respondents across countries could not name a single camp or ghetto. Holocaust denial and distortion is also common, with Americans and Hungarians most likely to report that Holocaust denial is common in their countries.
“The alarming gaps in knowledge, particularly among younger generations, highlight an urgent need for more effective Holocaust education… The fact that a significant number of adults cannot identify basic facts — such as the six million Jews who perished — is deeply concerning.” (Gideon Taylor, president of the Claims Conference)
However, there is overwhelming support for Holocaust education. Across all countries surveyed, 90% or more adults believe it is important to continue teaching about the Holocaust, in part so it does not happen again.
“It is powerful to see that a majority of all people polled across all countries not only agree that Holocaust education is important, but want to continue teaching the Holocaust in schools… Now our task is clear; we must take this mandate and make it happen.” (Matthew Bronfman, head of the team that commissioned the above report)
Rise in antisemitism
One of the reasons that the Nazi Holocaust is commemorated is because of the staggering number of human lives extinguished. German efficiency ensured that the Jews were all tracked and hunted down; camp inmates’ infamous tattoos were part of their numbering system.
Antisemitism at state level did not end with the Third Reich, however. The South African government brought a charge of genocide against Israel over the conduct of its defensive war in Gaza, despite the Gaza casualty rates of civilians to combatants being lower then any recent war. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) heard the case and its Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, put out arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Galant, meaning that the Israeli Prime Minister might not have been able to visit the site of Auschwitz for fear of being arrested. US President Trump has censured the ICJ, but the Court’s judgement did immense damage to Israel in the media. (Photo – An emotive photo of a ghetto inmate 1940s and baby Bibas 2024, illustrating fears the holocaust could happen again.)
Happily the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, gave Netanyahu assurances that he was safe to visit his country’s shameful site of genuine genocide. Another Israeli Government minister had to cancel their visit to represent their country at a Holocaust memorial event in the European Parliament in Brussels due to warnings of violent protests being planned. There is, however, a supportive group of Christian politicians in the European Parliament. The European Coalition for Israel has energetically advocated for Holocaust remembrance and a fair representation of the state of Israel within the European Union.
Its leader, Tomas Sandell, now calls for a “renewal of Holocaust remembrance” that makes the connection between the Holocaust and the modern State of Israel.
“Failing to connect the loss of six million Jewish lives during the Holocaust with the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 misses the biggest redemptive story of the 20th century, the miraculous rebirth of the Jewish state out of the ashes of the Holocaust.” (Tomas Sandell, founder and leader of the European Coalition for Israel)
Holocaust memorials in general do not mention the failure of the international community to establish a national home for the Jewish people before the Holocaust and are equally hesitant in mentioning the role of the modern State of Israel as a safe haven for Jews today.
Sandell says, “This may explain why we have seen a rise in antisemitism after the Hamas terror attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. Many young people no longer see any connection between today’s attempts to exterminate the Jews with its ultimate expression in the Holocaust between 1939 and 1945. Consequently, after 7 October, many elite universities around the world have become some of the worst super spreaders of this new form of antisemitism”.
(Photo – Tomas Sandell, founder and leader of the European Coalition for Israel. Credit: epicenterconference.com)
A new and extensive survey by the Anti-Defamation League reveals that antisemitism is most widespread among those under the age of 35. In this age category more than 40 per cent agree with the statement that Jews are responsible for all wars in the world. ”Every new generation has to be vaccinated against this deadly disease of Jew hatred,” Sandell points out. “The ECI has doubled down on its efforts to reach emerging young leaders by initiating a special ECI Youth Academy where young leaders get basic training in combating antisemitism”.
“You ask yourself if you’re ever safe. You have a suitcase packed, if not in your hall, in your mind”. (London rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, speaking in January 2025)
Echoes of the Holocaust
Burning Jewish babies in ovens did not end in 1945. It was repeated on 7 October 2023 when Palestinian terrorists attacked Jewish civilians in their kibbutzes.
Moreover, they documented their sadism on Go-pro cameras. Savagery such as putting a baby in an oven and cutting off a toddler’s fingers had not been seen since the Holocaust and was a sickening reminder to Jews worldwide that the age-old hatred has not gone away.
The early tranche of hostages released in November 2023 after 55 days reported inhuman and degrading treatment which cannot be reported here. When a genuine resistance heroine, the Dutch Christian Corrie Ten Boom, was released (by clerical error) from Ravensbruck, the women’s concentration camp, she had to sign a document saying she had not been mistreated. In fact she had been starved like the rest of the inmates (her clothes hung off her), and her sister had died from a guard’s beatings.
Similarly, when the girl soldiers were released from Hamas captivity this January, they were forced to be filmed smiling and thanking Hamas for treating them well. The fact that they did not appear skeletal is, according to previous hostages, because they were ‘plumped up and pumped up’ beforehand. Having been starved for a year, they were given carbohydrates to eat and drugs that would lift their mood.
An Israeli doctor reported on 27 January that the seven young women released under the recent ceasefire deal were in poor physical condition, with starvation, vitamin deficiencies, and injuries from their abduction on 7 October. “Deprived of sunlight for months, their mental states are also affected. Recovery will be gradual, focusing on regaining control over basic decisions”.
There were “many things” that the abductees had been through at the hands of the “resistance” in the Gaza settlements, but details would not be published until appropriate.
The Nazi spirit didn’t go away
Released hostage Liri Albag told her father that she had met four and eight year old boys who cursed the Jews. “There are two million terrorists [in Gaza]. They all want to kill us.”
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called on the international community to confront antisemitism: “I call on all civilised nations to confront antisemitism wherever it appears—on college campuses, city streets or international forums. “Hamas are the new Nazis, and we are committed to defeating them once and for all. The Jewish state will always stand as a safe haven for Jews worldwide.”
Antisemitism in the UK
Despite the horrific atrocities committed by Palestinian terrorists on 7 October 2023, antisemitic incidents in Britain actually increased afterwards.
The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust has said that antisemitism in the UK and globally has increased significantly since the Hamas invasion and vicious murders of 1200 people.
After calling up army reservists, Israel retaliated with a military offensive, which has lasted for more than 15 months. Hamas had prepared well, with its fighters hiding in its gigantic tunnel network, funded by Western taxpayers, which civilians were not permitted to use. The war could have ended at once if Hamas had given up the 250 hostages it dragged away from their homes on 7 October, but it chose to let the war drag on, regardless of the damage done to civilians’ homes, in order to bargain for the release of convicted murderers held in Israeli jails.
Media – another arm of jihad
Although the IDF (Israel Defence Force) has the lowest combatant to civilian ratio of any army in this conflict, as spelled out by Col Richard Kemp, the terrorists have successfully used the media – which they call an arm of jihad (‘holy war’) – to broadcast a distorted view of the war and turn the world against Israel. With historical ignorance thrown in as to the original population of ‘Palestine’, this has become a global turning against Jewish people. The BBC has appeared particularly biased, repeatedly equating Israel, the Middle East’s only democracy, to Hamas, a terrorist organisation proscribed in many countries.
Rise of hate incidents in the UK
The Community Security Trust – a Jewish security charity – said reports of antisemitic incidents in the UK in the first half of 2024 had reached another record high, calling them a continuation of the impact of antisemitic reactions to the 7 October attack and ongoing war in Gaza. The EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency says 96% of Jews interviewed across 13 European countries had experienced antisemitism in everyday life.
Weekly anti-Israel demonstrations in London and other cities have drawn thousands, leaving the Jewish community afraid to venture in central London. They are organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which is supported by the National Education Union and other trades unions. The Trades Union Congress voted on a motion to see a ‘state of Palestine’(Photo – A woman holding a “Free Palestine” plaquard at a London anti-Israel demonstration, 2024. Credit: Hala Photography via Pexels.com)
Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, whose synagogue is in London, related how anti-Israel feeling has shown no boundaries, with the British Jewish community experiencing prejudice at university and in the workplace. He told the BBC’s Sunday programme on 26 January, “There’s hardly a Jewish family in the UK who did not lose relatives or friends in the Nazi death camps. Don’t wait to speak out until your life is in danger if you do so.” (London rabbi Jonathan Wittenburg)
Eighty years later, Rabbi Wittenberg admitted, “You ask yourself if you’re ever safe. You have a suitcase packed, if not in your hall, in your mind”. In fact, as Katya Adler of the BBC pointed out on Holocaust Memorial Day (a rare oasis of pro-Jewish reporting), blaming the Jews for what Israel has done is racism.
*While Wikipedia states that there were 1,000 camps, the Jewish Virtual Library lists all the camps and ghettoes: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/how-many-concentration-camps
Researchers found that the Nazis actually established about 42,500 camps and ghettoes between 1933 and 1945. This figure includes 30,000 slave labour camps; 1,150 Jewish ghettoes, 980 concentration camps; 1,000 POW camps; 500 brothels filled with sex slaves; and thousands of other camps used for euthanising the elderly and infirm; Germanising prisoners or transporting victims to killing centers. Berlin alone had nearly 3,000 camps.