--- title: Holocaust Remembrance Day: Study Reveals Gaps in Knowledge description: Though 45% cannot name a single concentration camp, a vast majority say the history of Holocaust is essential for students to learn. canonical: https://time.com/5235725/holocaust-history-survey/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-04-12T08:00:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:29.418Z article:section: History og:title: Survey Reveals Most Americans Believe Holocaust Could Happen Again og:description: And how much young people know—and don't—about Holocaust history og:url: https://time.com/5235725/holocaust-history-survey/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd2e1257077eccfcd/69892d4686f68e02c26e8d74/warsaw.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: Warsaw Ghetto og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Survey Reveals Most Americans Believe Holocaust Could Happen Again twitter:description: And how much young people know—and don't—about Holocaust history twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd2e1257077eccfcd/69892d4686f68e02c26e8d74/warsaw.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Survey Reveals Gaps in Knowledge of Holocaust History—And That Most Americans Believe It Could Happen Again > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=283995b3-f4a0-4050-b89d-e43d2eb3b475&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=283995b3-f4a0-4050-b89d-e43d2eb3b475&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Last Nazi Trials [Watch (HLS stream): The Last Nazi Trials](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/iBig1Tcg.m3u8) (7:02)  _Published 2016-05-03. The trial of a former Nazi guard brings forth questions about justice and forgiveness for Holocaust survivors and German citizens._  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 12, 2018 8:00 AM UTC  Jewish civilians are forced to march by SS soldiers in this 1943 photo during the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland. Jewish civilians are forced to march by SS soldiers in this 1943 photo during the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland. National Archives/Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 12, 2018 8:00 AM UTC On a day dedicated to remembering the Holocaust, some experts are worried that their decades of efforts to do so may not be making enough of a mark on Americans. “We say ‘Never Forget,’ but the people who were murdered are literally being forgotten as we speak,” says Greg Schneider, Executive Vice President of the Claims Conference, the organization behind a new study showing just how that forgetting is happening. The [study results](http://www.claimscon.org/study/) were released Thursday as the world marks [Yom HaShoah](http://time.com/3813714/holocaust-remembrance-day-warsaw/), Holocaust Remembrance Day, and thus the anniversary of the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943\. A phone and web survey of a representative sample of 1,350 American adults, the study was commissioned by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (the [Claims Conference](http://www.claimscon.org)), which represents [a number of Jewish interests,](http://time.com/4854006/holocaust-survivor-negotiation-claims-conference-germany/) and was conducted by Schoen Consulting. Schneider tells TIME that the results show a few themes. One is that major knowledge gaps exist — for example, 45% of all adults cannot name a concentration camp or ghetto — but the other is a broad consensus that learning the history of the Holocaust is important. Among the study’s findings on the latter point is that 93% of respondents believed that all students should learn Holocaust material in school, with 80% saying that a major reason to do so is to prevent such a thing from happening again. Pointing to the fact that most states [do not require](https://www.jta.org/2017/04/24/news-opinion/united-states/lawmakers-from-20-states-pledge-to-mandate-holocaust-education) students to learn about the Holocaust, Schneider says there’s a gap between what people say is important and what public schools actually teach. But clearly the reasoning is real: 58% believe that something like the Holocaust _could_ happen again, with nearly as many (52%) saying it could happen in the United States today. “It’s not as if we’re living in a country that’s totally in denial. The survey buttresses that,” Schneider says. (Only 1% of respondents said they did not believe the Holocaust had really happened.) “But there are things that really surprised us. Like, 80% of Americans have never been to a Holocaust museum, and that’s pretty surprising given the number of them. There are places where you can learn about the Holocaust all over the country.” The study also revealed a generational difference in knowledge. For example, though 11% of all respondents either hadn’t heard of the Holocaust or weren’t sure if they had, that number was 22% among Millennials. And, while 41% of respondents overall did not know what Auschwitz was, that figure was 66% among Millennials. The lack of detailed Holocaust knowledge among young people is of particular concern to the survey’s organizers, who say that now is a crucial moment. As the [number of Holocaust survivors](http://time.com/4392413/elie-wiesel-holocaust-survivors-remaining/) dwindles and the years pass, some of the most effective teaching tools will no longer be available, as hearing directly from those who experienced genocide firsthand has been shown to make a particular impact. That means Holocaust educators have to continue to figure out [new ways](http://time.com/4499959/defying-the-nazis-vr-reaction/) to pass the story to future generations. “One of the things we’re most concerned about is, if there’s this lack of knowledge while there are still survivors alive to tell their stories, what will it be like in 20 or 50 years?” Schneider says. “There’s no time to waste.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Our family had tried so hard to stay together. My sister Edith was about 12 years old was sent in the direction that my mother went. The SS guard he motioned me to in the direction other young adults went. I didn't move. I leaned over peering into the crowd and trying to see if Edith had caught up. I was horrified that she would not find our mother. She would be lost to our family, alone amongst strangers. The trauma of this separation Lingers with me to this day. [ MUSIC ] [ SOUND ] [ CROSSTALK ] It's not a matter of Sending him to jail for the rest of his life. I don't feel that, that will help, but what's happening now will help. And today, I must do what I'm asked to do and not stop and cry because that is not what's required at the moment [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Okay look at me. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ LAUGH ] It's a teaching moment for the entire country of Europe to rethink and learn from it. [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] The lawyers were searching for people Survivors. They asked, would I come, and do I know anything about this Nazi guard, and of course no. I was much too distracted to look into his face, but I was not required to have remembered the face, so I said yes. If I can help. I would come. So far over the last seven decades, prosecutors just focused on the murder of the people who arrived in Auschwitz on the lam and then were gassed right No prosecutor ever brought forward a charge, saying that a guard is also responsible for making it possible that the people who were prisoners in the camp were murdered systematically. And the indictment against Hanning is the first indictment that actually says Auschwitz was altogether A organized factory of mass murder. Not only the selection on the [ INAUDIBLE ] This is, I am here. Right here standing here. As I said in the testimony, I had just been separated from my younger sister, and as I was saying I didn't leave. I actually defied orders, I just stood there. How am I to leave her like this? People tell me, you know she died, you know everybody died, and it's been a long time. And it doesn't help. [ MUSIC ] This is Council Aide and Justice Says it's too little, and is a enormous failure, it's a system in the end does the right thing, it's better than not going. I think the main purpose of this trials is to give justice to our clients, it's for them. I just want him to Hear from me and others who testified, what the consequences were of what he did at a young age. But he keeps his eyes down, head down. I don't know whether he doesn't want to face the survivors. What his motivation is. I really don't know. [ FOREIGN ] And the further you go down in the chain of command, the more the question arises of how far legal responsibility goes. And if none of the witnesses know the defendant, this, in the view of the defense, is a testament to how unremarkable the defendant possibly was. [ MUSIC ] I'm not interested in the personality of the defendant. For me he's a broken, failed person. What is he supposed to do? He's defending himself? That's ridiculous. What is he supposed to do? He's defending himself? That's ridiculous. If he was a warden in Auschwitz, I already judge him. I can't judge that. Forgiveness? Maybe he just... How many people followed? How many people killed? Maybe they didn't have a choice but to act in that way? [ MUSIC ] There's a lot of talk of forgiveness, I'm very surprised about it. Everybody had to do their part or it wouldn't have worked efficiently. How does mass murder get forgiven? [ MUSIC ] The crime is so enormous, it's not a forgivable crime, it's a crime to be analyzed and learned from. 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