A third of students feel Holocaust was "fabricated or exaggerated": study
Editor’s note: This post contains descriptions that may be triggering for some readers.
One-third of students in North America question whether the Holocaust is real or exaggerated, according to a survey.
The study, commissioned by Canadian charity Liberation75, surveyed almost 3,600 students in grades six to 12 to assess their knowledge and thoughts about the Holocaust and antisemitism. The report concluded that Holocaust education is severely lacking in schools and that students are getting most of their information from social media.
“These recent findings, combined with the growing influence of ‘fake news,’ underscore the importance of requiring fact-based instruction about the Holocaust in schools,” said Liberation75 in a news release.
NEWS RELEASE: One third of students believe that the Holocaust was fabricated or exaggerated – https://t.co/o9aJB6xFRc
— liberation_75 (@Liberation_75) January 26, 2022
According to the organization, no Canadian province or territory mandates Holocaust education as a part of their secondary school curriculum. Liberation75 is now calling on governments to do just that.
“We are calling on provincial and territorial governments across Canada to mandate [the] teaching of the Holocaust and antisemitism within curricula to ensure our youth know about the dangers of what happens when hate goes unchecked, and we don’t stand up for each other,” said Marilyn Sinclair, founder of Liberation75, in a statement.
Students were surveyed twice — once before a virtual conference focused on Holocaust education and once after.
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The results of the study are troubling: 32.9% of students reported feeling that the Holocaust was an exaggerated or even fabricated event. After the conference, this number went down to 23%.
Over half of students understand what antisemitism is, and 69% of students understand that Jewish people are defined as belonging to an ethnoreligious group. A little over two-fifths (42%) of students said they “unequivocally witnessed an antisemitic event” even though a majority of participants self-identified as non-Jewish.
According to the report, anecdotes shared by students were disturbing and sometimes violent. Examples included hearing antisemitic jokes about Jewish people, celebrating the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, and making hateful comments on social media and gaming platforms.
Prior to the education conference, 80% of participants reported that they had heard of the Holocaust. Of those students, 40% heard about it on social media.
“It’s terribly concerning to see so many young people questioning the very existence of the Holocaust and getting their information about the Holocaust from social media,” added Sinclair.
A positive outcome from this report is that 92.6% of Ontario students want to learn more about the Holocaust.
Students from Canadian classrooms made up 78.6% of the survey’s respondents.
If you would like to learn more about the Holocaust and antisemitism, here are a few resources:
Canadian Museum for Human Rights – The stain of antisemitism in Canada
La’ad Canada – CARE Project
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