Most Britons No Longer Know How Many Jews Died in the Holocaust
Holocaust Knowledge Fades in U.K. as Britons Misremember History
(Bloomberg) -- More than half of people in the U.K. do not know that 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, with almost one quarter believing the figure was as low as 2 million, according to a nationwide survey of Holocaust awareness.
The findings — showing that 52% did not know the total death toll, and 22% put it at 2 million — were published by Claims Conference, a nonprofit organization that negotiates with Germany to secure reparati ons for Holocaust survivors around the world. Previous surveys carried out by the group in France, Austria, Canada, and the U.S. revealed similar confusion in other countries over the scale of the Nazi atrocities.
The figures were released on the 83rd anniversary of Kristallnacht, the “night of broken glass” that saw Jewish people, homes, businesses and places of worship attacked by Nazis and sympathizers across Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland in former Czechoslovakia. Despite high levels of basic awareness of the Holocaust — running at 89% in the U.K. — Claims Conference officials said there were concerning gaps in public knowledge and a focus on education is vital.
“This is where we need to focus our energy. Education will not only fill the gaps in Holocaust knowledge, but it will also make for better, more empathetic citizens,” said Gideon Taylor, Claims Conference president.
After Kristallnacht many Jews living in Europe attempted to seek safety away from the reach of Nazi Germany, with many trying to emigrate to countries including the U.K. and U.S. One rescue effort, known as the Kindertransport, saw Jewish children given safe passage to the U.K. in the months after Nov. 10, 1938. When asked about the program, just 24% of respondents gave the correct answer. Separately, 67% said the U.K. allowed Jewish refugees into the country once war broke out in 1939, when in fact borders were closed.
Under the cover of war Nazi Germany systematically killed 6 million Jews, as well as targeting Roma, Polish and Russian people and persecuting individuals for their political ideology or sexuality. Despite the scale of those atrocities, some 56% of Britons surveyed felt an event like that could happen again, and just 21% were confident enough to say it could not, the survey found.
A total of 65% of respondents felt there is antisemitism present in the U.K. today, a finding borne out by the responses of 9% who said the Holocaust is a myth, or that the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust has been greatly exaggerated.
The Community Security Trust, a charity that aims to protect Jews from antisemitism, recorded 1,308 antisemitic incidents across the U.K. from Jan. to June 2021, a record figure that spiked during a period of escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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