Young Britons and Auschwitz-45% unaware

Nearly Half of Britons Unaware of Auschwitz -Poll

Thu Dec 02,11:22 AM ET


Nearly half of Britons in a poll said they had never heard of Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp in southern Poland that became a symbol of the Holocaust and the attempted genocide of the Jews.

The results of the survey conducted by the BBC were released on Thursday as Britain's public broadcaster announced it will show a new series next January to mark the 60th anniversary of the concentration camp's liberation.

"We were amazed by the results of our audience research," said Laurence Rees, a producer on the series, "Auschwitz: The Nazis & the 'Final Solution."'

Among women and people younger than 35, 60 percent had never heard of Auschwitz, despite the recent popularity of films such as "Schindler's List," "Life is Beautiful" and "The Pianist," which depict the atrocities of the Holocaust.

The BBC said the research was based on a nationally representative postal survey of 4,000 adults 16 and older.

The broadcaster is marking Holocaust Memorial Day, January 27, with a variety of television and radio programs.

The Auschwitz series for BBC2 is based on nearly 100 interviews with survivors and perpetrators and is the result of three years of research with the assistance of professors Ian Kershaw and David Cesarani.

http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/entnews/va/20041202/110201536500.html

 

It's shameful. Being in both those catergories, ie a woman and under 35, I can contest that the majority of my generation isn't even aware of the basic facts relating to the holocaust, or much of WWII as a whole. Even amongst those who do have a fair grasp of our history, there are few who have any interest in discussing the subject. In fact, if it wasn't for forums like this I would be hard pressed to find anyone to share my interest of WWII history with.
I strongly believe that the very next generation is going to forget.

 

Welcome, Ezri!

Unfortunately this kinda thing happens all over the world, as a while ago we had a poll on when the Winter War started and the youngsters mostly believed it took place in the early 1960´s....

 

Unfortunate for sure. I know that I (in my time) was very well taught about the holocaust. Not only in textbooks. We also had a former resistance fighter coming to our school and you couldn't escape the attention it got in books and on TV. Living in the Netherlands we saw the results all around us and also somehow had to deal with the fact that of the 140.000 Jews in our country, only 36.000 survived.

I don't know how things are in our schools today, but I doubt it will be like it was. On the other hand, you see tendencies; no interest and knowledge, then a surge in interest and attention for the holocaust, then it slips into oblivion again....Except for those who lived through it and their children...

Schindler's list really awakened the interest again when teh movie came out. I am sure the BBC series will do the same.

 

Being only 32 I wasn't at school all that long ago and I do remember my history lessons as they were interesting for the most part.
I loved the history of medicine and was enthralled by the history of the wild west, northern ireland lost my interest somewhat and they spent far too long on medievel history.
Oh WWI and II? A few battles were mentioned and they banged on about the politics after WWII, and that was IT!
Needless to say, when my son starts school Ill be checking out the history department and it's take on the curriculam carefully.
As you said Stevin, big films and interesting TV is the way to get through to people these days.

 

and veterans of the war coming to school; hopefully invited to give the true impressions of battle and the horrors within........

not sure what your fascination is with the evil done during the holocuast by those slimes of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, but welcome aboard the forums

E ♪♪

 

It's a real shame that there are people everywhere who don't know what Auschwitz was, or if they know, they don't understand what it means.

I think one survivour put it straight when she said: "It was like a miniature destruction of the Universe".

Schindler's List and The Pianist certainly helped by raising some interest; however, they both portray a very slight part of the whole thing and they both portray an image which might be misunderstood: "there were: 1) the victims; 2) blood-thirsty SS and nazis; and 3) opressed anti-nazi Germans, who, from once in a while, helped #1s".

I think what is really necessary is to have a saddist like Mel Gibson directing a 3-hour super production about the Holocaust which includes the Krystalnacht, the Ghettoes, the mass shootings in the SS and a very-detailed inside view of Auschwitz. The film would be a stronger hardcore than a XXX film, but that's the way it was and that's the way people must see it: thousands of people being shot naked inside a whole, hundreds of thousands crowded in the ghettoes, dozens of people arrested and beaten in the Krystalnacht and how people were gassed by the thousands in Auschwitz.

 

Yes I totally agree with you Erich. Our veterans are probably the most important link to this history. Unfortunately it will soon be left for the generations who come after them to teach our history.
Which brings me nicely on to your next comment. Firstly my mum got me started by simply not shileding me from our history when I was a child. She was proud of her dad, who was a WWII Para, and didn't shy away from making her feelings about the Nazis quite clear. As an adult I began to read more on the subject which then, if you like, picked me. Sure Id love to have nicer hobbies, but I'm not a flower arranging kind of girl and I wan't to learn as much as I can so I can pass it all on to my son's generation. It just seems important.
And thanks for the welcome.

 

This is a picture I took on a nice summer day of Brzezinka(Auschwitz II)


That place really leaves you saddened for the day.

 

That is a very nice (if 'nice' is the right word) picture of the infamous railroad leading into that dreadful place.

Thanks for posting the picture, Polak z Polski!

 

No problem

 

I think there is such a movie:
"Grey Zone" with Harvey Kaitel mostly reccomend

 

Thinking about it I reckon it is a problem with teaching methods more than anything. What I mean is that if you speak to my father or grandmother they can both recall facts about history, science, geography etc that were drilled into them at school. On the other hand these days no one seems to remember the stuff they supposedly learned when they were younger.

I have to say, it always seems odd to me that even university students seem to have forgotten everything they learned before they arrived.