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TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Nearly two-thirds of United States residents under the age of 40 don’t know that 6 million Jewish people were killed in the Holocaust, a new survey found.
In one of the most comprehensive studies of American understanding of the Holocaust, some of the most important details of the genocide were lost among young adults in the United States.
After interviewing 11,000 people nationwide and 200 interviews in each state with adults ages 18 to 39 through phone and online interviews, historians and experts with the Claims Conference found that 63% of those interviewed did not know 6 million Jews were murdered.
Instead, 36% of the Millennial and Gen Z respondents thought that 2 million or fewer Jews were murdered. More than 1 in 10 respondents claim having never heard the word “Holocaust” before.
Florida was among the states with the lowest Holocaust knowledge
According to the survey, 11% of U.S. Millennial and Gen Z respondents across the country believe Jews caused the Holocaust, including 13% of respondents in Florida.
Overall, only 20% of the respondents in Florida knew or had heard about the Holocaust, could name one concentration camp, death camp or ghetto and knew that 6 million Jews were killed.
Only Mississippi and Arkansas scored lower, at 18% and 17% respectively.
In an interview with NBC News, analysts expressed the urgency of educating U.S. residents on the genocide that killed nearly two of every three European Jews by 1945.
“The most important lesson is that we can’t lose any more time,” said Greg Schneider, executive vice president of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which commissioned the study. “If we let these trends continue for another generation, the crucial lessons from this terrible part of history could be lost.”
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