Third of young adults in UK ‘unable to name Auschwitz or any Nazi death camps’
Third of young adults in UK ‘unable to name Auschwitz or any Nazi death camps’
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Lack of knowledge about Holocaust identified as well as level of denial and disinformation seen on social media. A third of young adults in the UK are unable to name Auschwitz or any of the other concentration camps and ghettoes where the crimes of the Holocaust were committed, according to a study.
![[A death wall at Auschwitz-Birkenau with three bouquets of flowers laid in front]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/fb52da2eb9895d8140167c98eecdb650be75c3fa/0_168_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Other growing gaps in knowledge – especially among those aged 18-29 – were also identified, as part of a major international survey in countries including the US and UK. The findings have been released before the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust and the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation on Monday. It comes amid fears of a resurgent far right and alarm over rising antisemitism.
![[Overhead drone view of the blocks of buildings at Auschwitz-Birkenau]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/28809929d59adfba8b1ee42e2eb5a9b98c7f7b18/0_69_3947_2369/master/3947.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
More than a quarter of people surveyed in the UK were unable to name a single camp or ghetto established by the Nazis during the second world war. King Charles will travel to Auschwitz on Monday to mark the liberation, joining survivors and other dignitaries as well as meeting Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda.
It comes as the prime minister pledged to make Holocaust education in the UK “a truly national endeavour”, saying his government would “ensure all schools teach it”. Keir Starmer said: “We must start by remembering the 6 million Jewish victims and by defending the truth against anyone who would deny it.
