The figures are shocking: Almost 40% of German respondents to a major survey by the Jewish Claims Conference, in the age group 18 to 29, say they do not know that around six million Jews were murdered during World War II as a result of the Nazis. methodology of the Holocaust.

15%, as summarized by the tagesschau.de website, believe that the victims of the Holocaust were less than two million. 2% of all citizens in Germany also say that the Holocaust never happened.

These figures cause serious concern, against the background of the rise of the extreme right in Germany, but also the recent statements of the head of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) Alice Weidel about a “communist Hitler” and about a “socialist” Nazi party.

The term “Holocaust” is not widely “known”

However, the data revealed by this research regarding the familiarity of young adults with the terms Holocaust and Shoa are also problematic.

In France 46% of young people between the ages of 18 and 29 say they have never heard the term Shoa, which is mainly used in France instead of the Holocaust. In Austria, 14% and in Romania 15% of respondents state that they have no idea about the term Holocaust.

In Germany, the term Holocaust is unknown to a percentage of around 12%, while young people in the UK, USA, Poland and Hungary are more familiar.

And although it is often difficult to follow the statistical numbers, in this case the numbers speak for themselves: one in four adults in Germany does not know the name of any concentration or extermination camp.

“The Holocaust can happen again”

Regarding the spread of anti-Semitic Holocaust-denying content, 42% of young people surveyed overall said they had seen such content on social media on Instagram and 41% on Tik Tok. Next YouTube, Facebook and X.

Finally, another shocking finding is that in all of the eight countries that participated in the survey, the majority believe that the Holocaust can happen again. In the USA by 76%, in France by 63% and in Germany by 61%.