Five per cent of Britons don’t believe the Holocaust actually happened while one in 12 say its scale has been exaggerated, according to a new poll.
The poll, the findings of which were released to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on Sunday, also found that 64 per cent of people in the UK didn’t know how many Jews were murdered in the Holocaust or grossly underestimate the scale.
Despite the findings, the survey – which involved 2,000 people and was commissioned by the government-established Holocaust Memorial Day Trust – did find that 83 per cent of respondants believe it is important to know about the Holocaust and that more than 75 per cent believe more needs to be done to educate people about what happened.
Olivia Marks-Woldman, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, said such “widespread ignorance and even denial” was “shocking”.
“Without a basic understanding of this recent history, we are in danger of failing to learn where a lack of respect for difference and hostility to others can ultimately lead,” she said. “With a rise in reported hate crime in the UK and ongoing international conflicts with a risk of genocide, our world can feel fragile and vulnerable. We cannot be complacent.”
Marks-Woldman said that while 25 per cent of those surveyed said events like those in the Holocaust could never happen again, “genocides have been carried out across the world in the last 70 years”.
“Each of us has a responsibility to know what happened, and the need for Holocaust Memorial Day has never been so pressing. Thankfully, more people than ever before are taking part in our annual commemorations to learn lessons from genocide and help create a better future.”
Holocaust survivor Steven Frank said he found the figures “troubling”.
“In my experience, people don’t have a solid understanding of what happened during the Holocaust and that’s one of the reasons I am so committed to sharing what happened to me,” said the 84-year-old who, along with his two brothers, was among just 93 children who survived the Theresienstadt camp.
“At one of my talks, I met someone who said the Holocaust didn’t happen. The only way to fight this kind of denial and antisemitism is with the truth – I tell people what happened, what I saw and what I experienced. Education is so important. If we ignore the past, I fear history will repeat itself.”
Some six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis and collaborators during the Holocaust which took place in World War II.
