Study shows Holocaust being forgotten

[Ten oz]

Quote

 

Schoen Consulting, commissioned by The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, conducted more than 1,350 interviews and found that 11 percent of U.S. adults and more than one-fifth of millennials either haven't heard of, or are not sure if they have heard of, the Holocaust.

Of those who have heard of the Holocaust, many are fuzzy about the facts of a systematic campaign of murder that killed 12 million people, 6 million of them Jews. One-third — the number rises to 41 percent for millennials — think that two million or fewer people died.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/study-shows-americans-are-forgetting-about-holocaust-n865396

 

I learned about the Holocaust in school. To my knowledge popular media at large has covered the Holocaust with documentaries, movies, books, and etc extensively. Are the numbers in the study accurate and if so why aren't people more aware? 

[CharonY]

Well, it is a fairly simple survey so there is no discussion in itself whether the numbers are accurate. The question is more whether they are reflecting the US population accurately. The only thing I found is that 1350 interviews where conducted, so there could be selection bias, for example. From personal experience it seems to me that even if folks have heard about it, it more and more becomes a thing of folklore (i.e. it happened long ago and is of little consequence nowadays). As such it is actually somewhat of a relief that 58% of the correspondents mentioned that it is a thing that could happen again and that almost all support it being taught in school.

[tuco]

I guess there could be also regional differences, in awareness/perception of the Holocaust. Americas vs Europe for example.

There is also room for NGOs. Over here just today one NGO was publicly reading names of the victims in 16 cities and got a lot of media coverage. Other than that as CharonY said, its a matter of time. 

Edited April 12, 2018 by tuco

[Ten oz]

11 minutes ago, CharonY said:

Well, it is a fairly simple survey so there is no discussion in itself whether the numbers are accurate. The question is more whether they are reflecting the US population accurately. The only thing I found is that 1350 interviews where conducted, so there could be selection bias, for example. From personal experience it seems to me that even if folks have heard about it, it more and more becomes a thing of folklore (i.e. it happened long ago and is of little consequence nowadays). As such it is actually somewhat of a relief that 58% of the correspondents mentioned that it is a thing that could happen again and that almost all support it being taught in school.

I can't speech to any potential bias within the study. The follow link is the results :http://cc-69bd.kxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Holocaust-Knowledge-Awareness-Study_Executive-Summary-2018.pdf 

I can speak to my own bias (confirmation bias) and the results seem like they could be true. After all Nazis marched in VA, killed someone, and numerous people accepted the "both sides" narrative. A Nazis protest resulting in a death on U.S. splitting political views rather than unifying them is something I would have believed impossible just a few years ago. 

[CharonY]

I am worried about the fact that Holocaust survivors are dying, though. Walking through Auschwitz and talking to a survivor had a profound impact on my view on these events. The fact that there is a push to diminish or deny the holocaust is problematic, to say the least.

[Scott of the Antares]

Denying the Holocaust is plain idiocy, but then some people think the world is flat. The vast majority of people rightly acknowledge it as a fact. A sad and shameful fact at that.

However whilst size of the holocaust has not been matched in history, there have been other mass genocides with casualties entering the hundreds of thousands, and some happened since the Holocaust and yet the world watched on and did nothing. Remembering is not enough, and to be honest, I don’t think a mass genocide has to have a precedent for humans to understand that that are unjust; we should stop it where ever it occurs.

Action by world leaders is the only real way to stop these acts, and unfortunately thst usually means entering conflict ourselves. Unless you prefer to sit back and watch a very real episode of ‘survival of the fittest’.

But to get back on topic, I think CharonY is right when he mentions time passing and the memory attenuating. It is hard to imagine the real horrors that many people must have endured yet are forgotten or a mere footnote in history. Thankfully memorial and service means the ones we remember will never be forgotten, at least by those that care, for as long as our civilisation last.

[dimreepr]

18 minutes ago, Scott of the Antares said:

Denying the Holocaust is plain idiocy

 

At what point in the future does plain idiocy become an academic question?

18 minutes ago, Scott of the Antares said:

for as long as our civilisation last. Thankfully memorial and service means the ones we remember will never be forgotten, at least by those that care,.

I would argue that such a sentiment becomes progressively detrimental to the health of that society.

No-one can progress if they are looking backward.

Edited April 21, 2018 by dimreepr

[StringJunky]

History will be the judge of what is remembered and how it is remembered. If an event is forgotten, then it never struck a chord with ensuing generations. Mass atrocities having likely been occurring throughout all of our history.

Edited April 21, 2018 by StringJunky

[John Cuthber]

Without looking it up, how many of you can tell me roughly what fraction of the population of Cambodia died as a result of the policies of Pol Pot?

(That was between 1976 and 1979- so a lot more recent than WWII)

[Lasse]

On 2018. 04. 12. at 10:21 PM, Ten oz said:

aren't people more aware

Todays holocausts goes under the title: War of terror and genocides in the name of anything one points (drog, religion, politics, nationality, ...)

[Ten oz]

20 hours ago, StringJunky said:

History will be the judge of what is remembered and how it is remembered. If an event is forgotten, then it never struck a chord with ensuing generations. Mass atrocities having likely been occurring throughout all of our history.

History is not an autonomous entity .History is written and shaped by individuals who themselves have biases. Here in the U.S. when we have modern pro Nazi groups rallying around Confederate memorials chatting "Jews will not replace us" and our President refuses to denounce them it is important we reflect strongly on history and what's being remembered and what's being forgotten. 

3 hours ago, John Cuthber said:

Without looking it up, how many of you can tell me roughly what fraction of the population of Cambodia died as a result of the policies of Pol Pot?

(That was between 1976 and 1979- so a lot more recent than WWII)

Half a million people have died in the Syrian Civil War yet the Western World only seems to pay attention when Chemical Weapons are used. There is a lot of apathy towards war and death. In my opinion society should strive to educate people about past mistakes. The problem of course is the word "mistake". No one likes to admit they were wrong even if we are talking about previous generations. My Country fought a revolution against England. I was taught in school  it was because the English were evil. They were excessively taxing colonies, soldiers maintained a police state oppressing Americans, and etc. As an adult studying on my own and with an adult's perspective towards politics and war I realized what I had been taught was bias. In truth colonies were costing England more more than they raised in taxes and all the taxes they did levy were more or less put back in place soon as the Revolution was over. The war was about secession for the sake of regional power and not freeing peoples from abuses. That said here in the States we are taught the Revolution was about Freedom. We are taught about the evils of monarchies and taxation because to teach the truth would make our founders seem flawed and we simply can't have that. We all need to do a better job understanding and teaching history. It is a well worn saying but those who fail to understand history are doomed to repeat it. I believe that to be true.

Nationalism and scapegoating immigrants for economic woes are the initial baby steps that led to the Holocaust. I see those steps being taken today with Brexit and with Trump's border wall. If we look back through history turning away migrants, closing our doors, separating ourselves from alliances, and etc never ends well. 

21 hours ago, dimreepr said:

No-one can progress if they are looking backward.

Knowledge is accumulative. We need what came before us to have a solid base. Society doesn't just start from scratch every generation. What is behind us holds equal important to what's ahead of us.  

[dimreepr]

4 minutes ago, Ten oz said:

Knowledge is accumulative. We need what came before us to have a solid base. Society doesn't just start from scratch every generation. What is behind us holds equal important to what's ahead of us.  

Indeed, if we learn from what came before and apply that knowledge to enhance our future, but my point is more specific to the UK. Our history is starting to become more important than our future.

[John Cuthber]

31 minutes ago, Ten oz said:

Half a million people have died in the Syrian Civil War yet the Western World only seems to pay attention when Chemical Weapons are used.

I suspect the world pays attention to poison gas attacks when the world wants to distract attention from thing happening at home.

There have been dozens of attacks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_chemical_weapons_in_the_Syrian_Civil_War#Reported_chemical_weapons_attacks

The "West" only seems to react to some of them.

[Ten oz]

4 minutes ago, John Cuthber said:

I suspect the world pays attention to poison gas attacks when the world wants to distract attention from thing happening at home.

There have been dozens of attacks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_chemical_weapons_in_the_Syrian_Civil_War#Reported_chemical_weapons_attacks

The "West" only seems to react to some of them.

True, hardly a reason to ignore history the Holocaust though. Being educated and honest about our history will only help being honest and educated about our present.

[dimreepr]

But history is selective and that selection should be dependant on the needs of the present, not the whims of those present.

Edited April 22, 2018 by dimreepr

[John Cuthber]

1 hour ago, Ten oz said:

True, hardly a reason to ignore history the Holocaust though. Being educated and honest about our history will only help being honest and educated about our present.

I never said it was a reason to ignore history.

I made the point that it isn't just the Holocaust, people forget all sorts of things that we  "should" remember.

[Ten oz]

1 hour ago, John Cuthber said:

I never said it was a reason to ignore history.

I made the point that it isn't just the Holocaust, people forget all sorts of things that we  "should" remember.

I didn't mean to accuse of anything. Was just replying with my thoughts. 

1 hour ago, dimreepr said:

But history is selective and that selection should be dependant on the needs of the present, not the whims of those present.

History is written with copious amounts of bias and omission. As an adult I have had to basically go back and re-learn everything I had been taught growing up. I am to a point now where I view all history as suspect and only consider real time accounts as contextually useful. There is simply too much fiction out there being past around.