to be horrified that people are forgetting the Holocaust?

[FleurDelacoeur]

www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/study-shows-americans-are-forgetting-about-holocaust-n865396

OK, so it's an American study but 11% of all adults and 20% of millenials in the US haven't heard of the holocaust, or aren't sure whether they've heard of it or not.

Given that this is one of the most important events of the 20th century isn't this simply appalling? How can people NOT know??

I'm not aware of the curriculum in the rest of the UK but I know my secondary age kids in Scotland have learned about the Holocaust as part of a WW2 topic, and it was touched on in RE too when they learned about Judaism.

And quite frankly if it wasn't in the curriculum I'd be making sure they knew about it as it's such an important event which should never be forgotten.

To add we studied it for O level in 1980 and all my 6 children now aged from 28 to 19 learned about it twice in middle schools and high schools in the U.K.

If you forget you can’t move on or you don’t learn the lessons of history

Mydoghatesthebath What about kids whose parents didn't teach them about the Holocaust, perhaps because they themselves knew little about it and didn't feel confident in teaching it, then?

It's easy to be mock horrified at other people's parenting fails. Did your parents teach you about other genocides too?

Maybe I am more sensitive as I am ex military but I cannot believe how little is ever mentioned about Bosnia in the U.K.

we have new issues to worry about.

Like the antisemitism that has been in the news lately?

I’m also horrified by some of the posts here.

When you talk about genocide it starts with the holocaust. Never has there been systemised, industrial scale and process for the eradication of a people.
There is no equivalent. There is no ‘but what about...’ it is not just ‘a piece of European history...’ it was a Systematic, industrialised extermination of the Jewish people. And it is still within living memory for some. My friend’s Polish granny had her concentration camp number still on her wrist.

I’m not Jewish but I have been to the holocaust museum in Jerusalem. There a rooms upon rooms bearing the names of Jewish families that were eradicated during the holocaust.

Sorry if this is a bit of a rant but I find it troubling that people can so easily dismiss what happened.

We should move on? Ffs.

If you watch the BBC news tonight I guarantee you'll cry. It features Hetty who was liberated from Belsen when she was 13. Amazing, inspirational woman.

As usual, MNers refusing to take account of how the real world works.

Quite a lot of people out there, you know, (Brit, American, whatever) who wouldn’t give a rats arse even if you sat them down and explained about the Holocaust.

It was always thus.

Although, don’t let me stand in the way of a great excuse to virtue-signal.

at Least the holocaust of the Second World War is taught!!! What about the first genocide of the 20th century in Namibia ?! What about the Armenian genocide?! What about Rwanda?!

OK, well I'm horrified that no one has bothered to mention that the US has its own genocidal past to grapple with in the shape of the indigenous population.

Have you forgotten about this, OP?

Should we move on from the Holocaust? Really? I was always under the impression one of the reasons we should never be allowed to forget it was so society doesn’t do that to each other again. Given how truly shit the world is right now I think it’s more important than ever.

There were other awful genocides too, that are being forgotten about. History is doomed to repeat itself, until we learn from it (and actually remember the lessons).

Limon

What!!! Parenting included talking to your kids and tesching them history and introducing them to literature. Music and chatting about geography climate change etc.

If they ask you questions you can’t answer you research. Jesus it’s a lot easier now with google thennit was when my older ones wrrr young before the Internet.

Surely family discussions about tolerance and world affairs are happening in houses?? My parents always encouraged us to watch thr news and current affairs programmes.

Kids need to know about the world and it’s not all about school teaching them.,

we should be primarily sympathetic to the family of the Nazi guards

Itsu if it makes you feel better that was absolutely not what my children took away from that book.

I did mention that there were several books on the subject being read. A child’s biography of Anne Frank is also included as well as Prisoner B-3087 which was written by Holocaust survivors.

It’s not virtual signalling.

Six million people died.

They didn't just die.

6 million people were tortured and killed.

I learned about the Holocaust in high school in the States. I remember because parents had to sign special permission slips allowing us to watch a particular documentary in class as part of the curriculum and we were anticipating “gore” and “shock tactics” like the kind they used in driver ed movies when they badly recreated accidents. It was very somber and matter of fact in delivery, which I recall surprised me.

When you talk about genocide it starts with the holocaust. Never has there been systemised, industrial scale and process for the eradication of a people.

African slave trade?

In my experience The Holocaust is taught in school in history and bring it up often in Citizenship and RE.
However - it may not be everybody’s experience (though it should be).

Slavery was not genocide.

It’s not virtual signalling.

Six million people died.

^
This.

There are many genocides of equal and greater magnitude around the world that have occurred in the last century. I imagine the average British student knows very little about most of them. Is it a particularly British attitude that the whole world should learn about the ones we have close contact with but with not the other way around?

Children can spend 12 years in school and still be illiterate and innumerate so its no surprise that even if you learn about the holocaust some will never know what it was.

slavery was not genocide

In many ways it actually was (talking about American slavery here). And what happened to the native Americans certainly was.

Just asked asked DS who is in yr 10 doing history GCSE if they taught the holocaust at school and he said no.

Crime & Punishment and American West is what they've been covering.

I think he's gathered most of his information from movies. I think mine was too.

I think most of my history knowledge comes from movies and the Horrible History books.

Kids need to go to the holocaust exhibition at the imperial war museum. I guess that isn’t feasible though for the whole country.
I thought ww2 was taught in schools routinely.