A survey conducted by Schoen Consulting in Canada for the Azrieli Foundation and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also known as the Claims Conference revealed some disturbing data about Holocaust awareness.
- 75 years after the end of World War II, 54 percent of those surveyed did not know that six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust.
- 62% of millennials, people born in the 1980s and ’90s, did not know that six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.
- 22% of millennials haven’t heard or are not sure if they have heard of the Holocaust.
- An alarming 52% of millennials cannot name even one of the over 40,000 concentration camps and ghettos in Europe during the Holocaust.
- Nearly one-quarter of all Canadians (23 percent) believe that substantially less than six million Jews were killed (two million or fewer) during the Holocaust, while another near-quarter (24 percent) were unsure of how many were killed.
- Nearly half (48 percent) say something like the Holocaust could happen in other Western democracies today.
- 32 percent of respondents believed that Canada had an open immigration policy for any Jewish refugees fleeing Europe. In reality, Canada had one of the worst records of any democracy, allowing only 5,000 Jewish refugees into the country while allowing nearly 2,000 Nazi war criminals to immigrate to Canada after World War II.
- The study reveals 68% believe there is anti-Semitism in the US and 37% say neo-Nazi’s exist in large numbers.
- Nearly half (48 percent) say something like the Holocaust could happen in other Western democracies today.
