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Original poster

to be horrified that people are forgetting the Holocaust?

371 replies

FleurDelacoeur · 16/04/2018 18:35

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.

OP posts:
Walkingdeadfangirl · 16/04/2018 19:54

Skatingfastonthinice Yes all those, Whilst not a genocide (depending on how you define it) WW1 had as many killed but how many children know why?
Maybe not in the last century but The Crusades merit a mention. And I would also mention the forced extinction of species other than humans.

Mydoghatesthebath · 16/04/2018 19:54

coconut

Totally agree a survivor or witness telling their story is worth any amount of books.,

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 16/04/2018 19:55

Ds1 did the holocaust when he studied history at GCSE

Dd and ds2 did not take history but they did it in years 7,8 and 9

CocoPuffsInGodMode · 16/04/2018 19:59

And I would also mention the forced extinction of species other than humans.

Would you? On a thread about the Holocaust? Fucking hell Confused!

ItsuAddict · 16/04/2018 20:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Walkingdeadfangirl · 16/04/2018 20:02

Would you? On a thread about the Holocaust? Fucking hell confused!
I thought this was a thread about children being taught about important historical events. I am not denying how horrendous the holocaust was, that does not mean other events are not horrendous as well.

CocoPuffsInGodMode · 16/04/2018 20:04

Then maybe you missed the thread title walking.

Bluelady · 16/04/2018 20:05

No, it's a thread about the Holocaust.

RoadToRivendell · 16/04/2018 20:05

The African slave trade was an abomination. It was not driven by the desire to eradicate an entire group of people however, a key difference, although of course it doesn't excuse it.

Ah, good.

It was, however, driven by the desire to own them. Incidentally, a lot more Africans died in the slave trade than in the Holocaust.

I'd also like to know more about the many genocides of equal or greater magnitude as well...

I don't agree that we need to distinguish between the narrow UN definition of genocide and garden variety fascism a la Stalin or Mao. The Holocaust was one of the greatest disasters of the 20th century, but (like others on this thread) I'm continually baffled by its singularly amongst such human-engineered wipeouts as Mao!

For example, I don't understand why The Partition hasn't shaped the colloquial use of the term in the same way The Holocaust has.

Serialweightwatcher · 16/04/2018 20:05

Six million innocent people died because people ignored for too long - it should always be remembered, always

WyfOfBathe · 16/04/2018 20:06

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.

In 2006, 30% of American adults didn't know what year 9/11 happened, only 5 years after it took place. 20% of Americans think the sun revolves around the earth.

I don't think it's a holocaust-specific thing, rather a lack of general education. I'm not suggesting that British statistics would look any better!

Mydoghatesthebath · 16/04/2018 20:06

The dodo dying out is Not as horrendous as the holocaust though.

It truly isn’t.

ItsASairFecht · 16/04/2018 20:11

We should be horrified, because quite frankly if we forget it it will happen again. Anti Semitism is on the rise once more, we would be well advised to learn from history that we can't ignore that, we must deal with it while we can.

zwellers · 16/04/2018 20:16

18toys in all seriousness isn't that a bit ott. All your family holidays are spent learning about the Holocaust ?

Walkingdeadfangirl · 16/04/2018 20:18

Yes its about the holocaust and yet having read the thread we are discussing many historical events that had mass killings. I am not denying the holocaust shouldn't be taught in the UK and didn't equate it to the dodo ffs.

But as per the thread title why is it a surprise American children should know more about events that happened on a different continent than any other genocide on any other continent in history. Is the 45 million being killed in China any less important than those killed in Europe's Holocaust or Pol Pot wiping out a quarter of Cambodia’s population, or the 65 million killed as a result of WW1, or Stalins genocide in Ukraine...

Helmetbymidnight · 16/04/2018 20:19

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Helmetbymidnight · 16/04/2018 20:20

Yes, I see you don't understand what it means. O-kayyy

iamyourequal · 16/04/2018 20:21

And I would also mention the forced extinction of species other than humans.

My goodness. I think that’s an unbelievably crass and insensitive thing to say in a thread such as this. Shame on you.

BoomBoomsCousin · 16/04/2018 20:23

This same survey that found 11% of Americans said they didn't know or weren't sure if they knew about the Holocaust also found that 93% of Americans thought it should be taught in schools.

I have to wonder what results were like in previous years and what the standard rate of ignorance is on surveys that ask people if they have heard of anything. (e.g. if you asked a random sample of Americans if they had heard of the sky, how many would say "no" or "not sure"?).

The gap between All Americans and Millenials was a bit of a surprise to me, though. And I would not want knowledge of the Holocaust to actually fall to the levels of the survey results. I do think it could be tied into a broader look at racism and attempts at ethnic cleansing so that, as time passes, it's power as lesson does not fade.

TheFaerieQueene · 16/04/2018 20:30

I’m shocked at some of the responses on this thread. We must never forget the horror of genocide. If we do, what will stop it from happening again?

Seryph · 16/04/2018 20:34

How many people know about the hundreds of thousands of Japanese and American-Japanese people who were rounded up and forced into interment camps in America during WW2? Both here and in the US? Not that many I reckon.
Or how about American GIs having to be warned before coming to the UK that we might treat black soldiers the same as white soldiers, but not to take it personally?
Or how about the generations of stolen indigenous children? Sure films like Australia and Rabbit Proof Fence have shown the rest of the world something about Australian practices, but did you know that it happened in Canada too, into the 1980s?

Humans are fucking awful. But people like to ignore the more recent terrible things we do, because it hurts a lot more than talking about what happened three hundred years ago.

Bluelady · 16/04/2018 20:38

You think the Holocaust happened 300 years ago? Seriously?

Fascism is on the rise again, we need to remember and learn the lessons of the past.

Seryph · 16/04/2018 20:40

@Bluelady, erm no. I don't.

jasjas1973 · 16/04/2018 20:40

Whats the point of learning about the Holocaust? we ve not stopped a prevented a single Genocide as far as i m aware of.
So right now Burma is committing one, a few years ago we had one in the ex Yugoslavia and it was the Americans who stopped that!!!! not the Europeans!
Then millions killed in a few weeks in Burundi/Rwanda and the UN even withdrew as it happened!!!

Sadly, No, teaching history is a waste of time because people do not learn nor care.

IIIustriouslyIllogical · 16/04/2018 20:44

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.

This, I find it unbelievable that kids I work with have never heard of Bosnia - the genocide, ethnic cleansing and outright murder.

I was there & saw the results, I've got mates who are mentally scarred for life. It's a place I'll never go to on Holiday because I look at males my age & know they were very likely involved in it.

WW2 doesn't have the monopoly of nasty fucking messes that we should learn from I'm afraid....