Survey in Germany: Twelve percent of young people have never heard of the Holocaust

(Patria) - One in eight young Germans claims to have never heard of the Holocaust or Shoah, the term for the systematic killing of Jews during the Nazi era, a survey published yesterday shows.

In a survey of young people aged between 18 and 29, 12 percent of respondents stated they had never heard of either term for the systematic killing of Jews under the German Nazis and their allies during World War II.

This proportion is even higher in Austria (14 percent), Romania (15 percent) and France - with a staggering 46 percent.

The survey was commissioned by the Jewish Claims Conference at a time of far-right advances in Europe.

Around 1,000 young people were surveyed in Germany, France, Austria, Great Britain, Poland, Hungary, Romania and the USA.

In all these countries, a significant proportion of respondents did not know that around six million Jews were killed during the Nazi era. In Germany, this was two-fifths.

Around 15 percent of respondents said that a maximum of two million Jews were killed. In Romania, this was stated by 32 percent, more than anywhere else.

In Germany, two percent of respondents agreed with the claim that the Holocaust did not happen at all.

A large majority in almost all countries surveyed assessed that something like the Holocaust could happen again today: in the USA 76 percent, in Great Britain 69, in France 63, in Germany and Austria 62 and 61 percent.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany reacted with concern to the results of this survey.

- The worrying rise in antisemitic verbal and physical violence that we see in Germany is largely rooted in misinformation and a lack of knowledge about the Holocaust - said the President of the Council, Josef Schuster.