Holocaust study: Two-thirds of millennials don’t know what Auschwitz is

[EvoUK]

When we visited DC several years ago with my almost-adult granddaughter, one of the things she said she really wanted to see was the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

When we entered, she was her usual light-hearted fun-loving self, but it was interesting to see her whole countenance change as she looked at - and actually read - the exhibits. I was proud that she didn't just "scan through", but we probably spent more time in that one stop than we did anything else we did in DC - because of her.

Later, when I asked why that impressed her so much, she said, "because we talked about it at school, but they kinda just brushed over it, and it sounded like it was way more horrible than they were saying".

Every year we host an event honouring/remembering holocaust memorial day, and invite a guest speaker. They are held at our local schools and aimed at pupils in their teens at secondary school (High school) as the stories of the guest speakers are considered too much for those younger.

The guest speakers are either survivors of the holocaust, or those who were evacuated in the kindertransport. As you'd imagine, it is becoming harder each year to find a guest speaker who had lived through these times personally. Also as you'd imagine, their stories are more personal and therefore more horrific to hear than what you'd find in your average history text book.

The problem here isn't so much that they aren't taught it, but that it tends to be taught in an almost sterile manner. The numbers of people murdered by the nazis defies belief, and though concentration camps weren't new ideas historically, it was the first time they were used for industrial scale murder, towards the end even negatively effecting the German war effort.

The sheer numbers, and how it escalated from when they fist came to power until the final solution is a huge piece in itself.

I wonder if it just gets lost in the story of the second world war. Its covered, usually alongside Ann Frank's diary, but tbh it's a whole subject in itself- particularly because we've had several other genocides since.


I'm aware that having spent years now listening first hand to the stories of people who have lived through it I'm more aware of what happened than most, I am touched by the reaction of your granddaughter. Thank you for sharing.

[Cow Poke]

I remember in High School, I did a report on the Holocaust, as my Dad had been in the European Theater of Operations at that time. He wasn't one of the "liberators", but his outfit was support for them.

Anyway, I remember (and it's cloudy now) that the US was slow to get involved because our Secretary of War (or maybe Secretary of Transportation or Commerce?) (Hopkins?) insisted that "there are not enough rail cars (rolling stock) in all the world to transport the numbers of people that were being claimed to have been transported". He believed the reports were grossly exaggerated, if not totally made up.

A few years ago, there was an exhibit at the Holocaust Museum in Houston where there was an actual rail car from Germany that had been used to transport Jews. Yeah, it was quite sobering.

[mossrose]

Planned Murderhood's comments on Holocaust Memorial Day:

planned murderhood.jpg

[oxmixmudd]

I remember in High School, I did a report on the Holocaust, as my Dad had been in the European Theater of Operations at that time. He wasn't one of the "liberators", but his outfit was support for them.

Anyway, I remember (and it's cloudy now) that the US was slow to get involved because our Secretary of War (or maybe Secretary of Transportation or Commerce?) (Hopkins?) insisted that "there are not enough rail cars (rolling stock) in all the world to transport the numbers of people that were being claimed to have been transported". He believed the reports were grossly exaggerated, if not totally made up.

A few years ago, there was an exhibit at the Holocaust Museum in Houston where there was an actual rail car from Germany that had been used to transport Jews. Yeah, it was quite sobering.

Most schools my kids have attended make a trip to DC (usually 8th grade) and the Holocaust museum is always on the agenda. In my opinion, a visit to it should be a required part of an education. It's a tough pill to swallow, but it would go a long way to changing certain attitudes I would think - or rather - I would hope.

Jim

[Cow Poke]

Most schools my kids have attended make a trip to DC (usually 8th grade) and the Holocaust museum is always on the agenda. In my opinion, a visit to it should be a required part of an education. It's a tough pill to swallow, but it would go a long way to changing certain attitudes I would think - or rather - I would hope.

Jim

You just reminded me that, at one point in the Memorial Museum, there is an opportunity to "write a letter" (or prayer?) (I don't remember exactly how it's set up) and put it in the mailbox. I watched from across the room as my Granddaughter took the piece of paper, and began writing, then put it in the box.

I was mildly concerned about what she wrote, cause she's a big kidder like me, and I was hoping she wasn't being silly.

As she turned, I saw her wipe tears from her eyes. So, yeah.... it was obviously a very powerful moment.

[Starlight]

Given there's pretty much an infinity of things that can be learned but not an infinity of time to learn it in, one can always find fault with any possible school curriculum for teaching one thing rather than another. I've had 23 years of formal education and there's still plenty I don't know about plenty of topics.

So I don't find complaints of the form "The school curriculum doesn't teach my favorite topic enough for my tastes / in precisely the way I'd like it to" to be interesting.

This comic applies:


Perhaps they should learn the 10 biggest genocides in history in order of size? Perhaps they should learn not only the name of Auschwitz, but of at least a dozen other of the major German death camps? Perhaps they should be able to name some of Stalin's Gulags? (How many of those answers do the whiners in this thread know, I wonder? ...I suspect zero)

Personally, the time in my life I was most surprised by people's lack of basic education was my first visit to the US, where I was in Alaska and was mainly talking to a bunch of middle-aged and elderly Texans (who were holidaying north for the summer), and we were talking about Canada. I was curious about a basic question: Why wasn't Canada part of the US? Not a single one of them could tell me. None of them had the slightest clue. Nor did any of them even know the basics about Canada's political system. When I explained my own country's political system worked "like Canada's with a parliament and Prime Minister" those words were meaningless to the lot of them. I was kind of horrified: How could such a large bunch of people have literally zero clue about the history or politics of the country that shares the biggest border with them, speaks the same language as them, has an intertwined and common history, and is one of their biggest trading partners and allies?

[Starlight]

The students over the last decade or so are completely ignorant of basic knowledge. I blame the colleges who seem more interested in brain washing them with liberalism rather than actually educating our kids.

You could try attending a college to learn how wrong you are about this. Plus, y'know, you'd learn stuff.

Apparently millennials are so clueless they have to take special courses in how to be an adult.

Millennials Are Signing Up For 'Adulting' Classes To Learn Skills Like Cooking And Budgeting

Probably a factor in why millennials today are so good at these things compared to previous generations. In my family my grandparents are atrocious at cooking, my parents are an order of magnitude better, and my own generation are an order of magnitude better and are excellent cooks. Many millennials today are foodies who are geniuses in the kitchen and love posting food pics on facebook and instagram that you oldies whinge about.

[Cow Poke]

Given there's pretty much an infinity of things that can be learned but not an infinity of time to learn it in, one can always find fault with any possible school curriculum for teaching one thing rather than another. I've had 23 years of formal education and there's still plenty I don't know about plenty of topics.

Had you stopped with that much, I would have enthusiastically amen'd your post!

[Terraceth]

Perhaps they should learn the 10 biggest genocides in history in order of size? Perhaps they should learn not only the name of Auschwitz, but of at least a dozen other of the major German death camps? Perhaps they should be able to name some of Stalin's Gulags? (How many of those answers do the whiners in this thread know, I wonder? ...I suspect zero)

Well as noted, I have no issue with people not knowing that Auschwitz was the name of the main concentration camp; the more important thing is to know that concentration camps existed and what they were used for. My problem was the high number that had never heard of the Holocaust, though admittedly, perhaps it just meant they hadn't heard of it with that name, but they knew of the event itself.

Personally, the time in my life I was most surprised by people's lack of basic education was my first visit to the US, where I was in Alaska and was mainly talking to a bunch of middle-aged and elderly Texans (who were holidaying north for the summer), and we were talking about Canada. I was curious about a basic question: Why wasn't Canada part of the US? Not a single one of them could tell me. None of them had the slightest clue.

Is this really a basic question? To answer it requires knowledge of the different sociopolitical situations of the multiple areas that are now Canada back in the 18th century to explain why they didn't join the American revolution. That seems rather esoteric and specific knowledge to consider basic.

Nor did any of them even know the basics about Canada's political system. When I explained my own country's political system worked "like Canada's with a parliament and Prime Minister" those words were meaningless to the lot of them. I was kind of horrified: How could such a large bunch of people have literally zero clue about the history or politics of the country that shares the biggest border with them, speaks the same language as them, has an intertwined and common history, and is one of their biggest trading partners and allies?

But how relevant is that information to most people in the US? Knowledge of it has been of little practical use to me. Sure, Canada's system of government may have effects on me, as the government regulates trade and travel with the US, but my knowledge of its government system is irrelevant to that.

[Starlight]

Is this really a basic question?

The first Canadian I posed the question to had no problem answering in 1 sentence or so. Their answer was along the lines of "the people in what is now Canada generally didn't want to separate from England, and the new USA invaded them to try and force them to join it, and the Canadians fought back and won."

One might consider that one reason Americans don't know that answer is that they, as a country, have preferred to try and forget wars they lost. IMO it is pathetic that so many middle-aged and elderly Americans were incapable of giving me this basic answer to the simple question when I asked.

To answer it requires knowledge of the different sociopolitical situations of the multiple areas that are now Canada back in the 18th century to explain why they didn't join the American revolution.

I don't accept that. While you could write all sorts of essays on why it was that people in Canada at the time didn't so much want to be part of the US, the basic situation is that they wanted to stay linked to the UK and there was a war and the US lost.

But how relevant is that information to most people in the US? Knowledge of it has been of little practical use to me. Sure, Canada's system of government may have effects on me, as the government regulates trade and travel with the US, but my knowledge of its government system is irrelevant to that.

A lot of Americans pride themselves in knowing a lot about their own system of government, its constitution, its founding, and the views of its founding fathers. And by a lot, I mean orders or magnitude more knowledge than is of practical use to them. Given this general atmosphere of interest in systems of self-government, the widespread lack of even the most basic interest in the system of government of their closest democratic neighbor strikes me as a pretty basic deficiency.

[Bill the Cat]

You could try attending a college to learn how wrong you are about this. Plus, y'know, you'd learn stuff.

I just got my BS in 2009. I've audited several of my 2 daughters' college classes (one public and one private) and I can say that there is a ton of worthless crap being taught alongside the important core curriculum.

Probably a factor in why millennials today are so good at these things compared to previous generations.

In my family my grandparents are atrocious at cooking, my parents are an order of magnitude better, and my own generation are an order of magnitude better and are excellent cooks. Many millennials today are foodies who are geniuses in the kitchen and love posting food pics on facebook and instagram that you oldies whinge about.

https://www.thrillist.com/news/natio...-cooking-study

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.9cc2ebc10053

[mossrose]

Probably a factor in why millennials today are so good at these things compared to previous generations. In my family my grandparents are atrocious at cooking, my parents are an order of magnitude better, and my own generation are an order of magnitude better and are excellent cooks. Many millennials today are foodies who are geniuses in the kitchen and love posting food pics on facebook and instagram that you oldies whinge about.

Which, you know, is WAY more important stuff to learn about than the actual history of the world and how not to repeat the horrors of some of it.

[Bill the Cat]

Perhaps they should learn the 10 biggest genocides in history in order of size? Perhaps they should learn not only the name of Auschwitz, but of at least a dozen other of the major German death camps? Perhaps they should be able to name some of Stalin's Gulags? (How many of those answers do the whiners in this thread know, I wonder? ...I suspect zero)

You'd thought wrong. My daughter is a history major specializing in WW2 and the concentration camps. Just last year, she and 4 other of her fellow history majors toured 6 concentration camps in Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland, and Auschwitz wasn't one of them. And we talked and went over her presentation for the uni credits, so I got to see her pictures and watch the videos she took from Buchenwald, Flossenburg, and Belzec and what's left of the transit station of Westerbork in the Netherlands. But Auschwitz is the largest, and should be taught due to the nature of WW2 and the sheer volume of lives lost.

I wouldn't be surprised if most people didn't know Auschwitz was in Poland and not in Germany, but that's excusable. Not even knowing the name isn't.

Personally, the time in my life I was most surprised by people's lack of basic education was my first visit to the US, where I was in Alaska and was mainly talking to a bunch of middle-aged and elderly Texans (who were holidaying north for the summer), and we were talking about Canada. I was curious about a basic question: Why wasn't Canada part of the US? Not a single one of them could tell me. None of them had the slightest clue. Nor did any of them even know the basics about Canada's political system. When I explained my own country's political system worked "like Canada's with a parliament and Prime Minister" those words were meaningless to the lot of them. I was kind of horrified: How could such a large bunch of people have literally zero clue about the history or politics of the country that shares the biggest border with them, speaks the same language as them, has an intertwined and common history, and is one of their biggest trading partners and allies?

Because, and sorry Mossy, Canada isn't relevant to us outside of trade issues, which most people don't understand or care about anyway.

[mossrose]

Because, and sorry Mossy, Canada isn't relevant to us outside of trade issues, which most people don't understand or care about anyway.

That's ok. I don't have a clue how American politics work, even though I have a friend who's tried to explain it to me.

I sure wish Star would be more geocentric, instead of claiming to know so much about other people's daily lives. It would be nice if he stuck to his own country's wonderfulness and left the rest of us alone, the big braggart.

[Cow Poke]

I just got my BS in 2009. I've audited several of my 2 daughters' college classes (one public and one private) and I can say that there is a ton of worthless crap being taught alongside the important core curriculum.

It's like when they started adding all the social engineering crap in grade school a couple decades ago -- I was like "How bout we focus on math and science and English, and leave the rest of that crap alone until our kids can actually read, 'rite and do 'rithmatec?)