Nearly 20% of millennials and so-called Generation Z in New York believe Jews were responsible for the Holocaust, according to a new study published Wednesday.
These disappointing findings are the result of the first-ever Holocaust awareness survey across all 50 states in American Millennials and Gen Z, commissioned by Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
As the survey shows, although there were more than 40,000 concentration camps during World War II, 58% of respondents from New York cannot name any of them. Moreover, 60% of New Yorkers surveyed do not know that 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust.
“The results are both shocking and saddening, reminding us why we need to act now when Holocaust survivors are still with us and can tell their stories,” said Gideon Taylor, President of Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
In total, 34% of respondents in New York believe that the death toll of Jews in the Holocaust is greatly exaggerated, think that the Holocaust is a myth, or doubt that it really happened.
The good news is that at least 79% of New Yorkers believe that schools need to study the Holocaust in order to avoid a repeat of it in the future. 65% believe that studying the Holocaust in history lessons should be mandatory.
The data was collected from 1,000 interviews nationwide and 200 interviews in each state with young people between the ages of 18 and 39. All respondents were selected at random.
