Survey Suggests Holocaust Ignorance in the Netherlands Widespread

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany released today the result of its “Netherlands Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Survey.” The poll surveyed 2,000 Dutch adults, 18 and older. Some of its findings are startling:

• 23 percent of millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) and Generation Zers (born 1997–2012) believe the Holocaust was either a myth or greatly exaggerated; 12 percent are unsure.
• 54 percent of respondents said they were unaware that 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust; 37 percent of millennials and Gen Zers believed 2 million or fewer Jews died.
• 50 percent of respondents oppose Dutch officials apologizing for the Netherlands’ failure to protect Jews during the Holocaust.
• 89 percent of respondents were familiar with the story of Dutch Holocaust victim Anne Frank, but 27 percent did not know she died in a concentration camp.

An oft-repeated slogan in Holocaust studies is “never again.” Yet if people forget what happened in the first place, “never again” becomes less and less likely. Rising levels of Holocaust ignorance are a harbinger of hard times. To learn more, read “The One Minority Society Loves to Hate.”