A new survey by the Claims Conference published this week revealed critical gaps in Holocaust knowledge among French millennials.
The Claims Conference represents the world's Jews in negotiating for compensation and restitution for victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs. the "Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Survey." Released ahead of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, represents the fourth in a series of global surveys seeking to determine the current status of Holocaust knowledge around the world.
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Similar to previous surveys conducted in the United States, Canada and Austria, outcomes from the France study indicate alarming gaps in knowledge of historical facts about the Holocaust, the Claims Conference said.
"Once again, we are seeing a significant lapse in understanding about the Holocaust, a history that is critically important," Claims Conference President Julius Berman said of the France survey. "Our current education is not ample; it is failing us and the disturbing trend of Holocaust ignorance we are seeing globally demands increased education."
The findings show that a majority of French adults (57%) do not know that six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. That number jumps to a startling 69% among millennial and Gen Z respondents. Some 30% of respondents overall and 44% of millennials and Gen Z participants said they believe two million or Jews fewer were murdered in the Holocaust.
Fifty-two percent of those polled believe that something like the Holocaust could happen again in Europe, and 36% of French respondents feel that something like the Holocaust could happen in the United States.
While 66% said they were familiar with Auschwitz-Birkenau, only 19% of respondents said they were familiar with the infamous Dachau concentration camp, while awareness of Buchenwald (10%), Treblinka (6%), Sobibor (5%), and Bergen-Belsen (4%) was incredibly low.
Additionally, 58% said they believe France was both a victim and a perpetrator of the Holocaust, despite 74% saying that the Vichy Regime actively collaborated with the Nazis during the Holocaust. Some 45% of millennials are unaware of the French government's collaboration with the Nazi regime during the Holocaust, the data showed.
According to the data, 30% said there are "a great deal or many" neo-Nazis in France today, but 44% said the opposite. By comparison, 43% believe that there are a great deal or many neo-Nazis in the United States.
About 59% of French respondents agreed that fewer people seem to care about the Holocaust than they used to. Only 18% said that people "still talk too much" about what happened during the Holocaust. Some 69% said they believe anti-Semitism is either more widespread (35%) in France or just as widespread (34%) as it was 10 years ago, while 18% said anti-Semitism is less widespread than it was in the previous decade.
About 25% of millennials are unsure if they have ever heard of – or have not heard of – the Holocaust, compared to 16% of all French respondents, the findings show, adding that twice as many Millennials (20%) than all French respondents (10%) feel it is acceptable for an individual to hold antisemitic views.
Some 79% of French respondents say that all students should learn about the Holocaust in school, and 75% believe Holocaust education should be compulsory in school. Additionally, 82% said it is important to continue to teach about the Holocaust, in part, so it does not happen again.
Approximately 4-in-10 respondents (41%) say that the current lessons about the Holocaust could be improved.
Nearly two-thirds of Millennials and Gen Z (64%) first learned about the Holocaust in school, compared to 46% of all French adults surveyed.
"It is devastating to learn that younger generations do not understand the impact of the Holocaust. It was an attempted extermination of an entire people. Without knowledge, how can we ensure that prejudice and unchecked hatred are confronted?," Matthew Bronfman, Claims Conference Task Force Chair for the Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Survey, noted.
Executive Director of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions Robert Ejnes said, "This study shows remarkable information that needs to be taken with attention. Much has been done in France for the education of the Shoah, but we all know that education has to be repeated again and again and adapted to speak to each generation. We therefore stress the importance of an always- adjusted education and the necessity of the dedication of every actor to work together to obtain sustainable results in our society."
Claims Conference Executive Vice President Greg Schneider noted that "As we mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, it is distressing to see a waning level of knowledge about the Holocaust. It is rare to find anything that we can all agree on globally, but this agreement on the need for Holocaust education must be our call to action.
