Greg Schneider, Claims Conference, New Yorkwww.claimscon.org
A poll commissioned by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany last year found that a substantial number of Americans were unaware of basic facts about the Holocaust. Forty-one percent did not know what Auschwitz was while nearly one-third of respondents ( 31%) believed that less than 2 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust with the actual number being closer to 6 million. Also, only 37% of people were able to identify Poland as a country where the Holocaust occurred, even though at least 3 million Jewish citizens of Poland were murdered during WWII. Those gaps in knowledge were pronounced among “millennials,” i.e. people between the ages of 18 and 34. However, despite their faulty grasp of Holocaust history, Americans believe that Holocaust education is important. Danuta Isler discussed the findings of the survey with the executive vice president of the Claims Conference in New York.