More than half of Britons do not know six million Jews were murdered in Holocaust, survey reveals

Despite ‘concerning’ figure, majority of public knows about historical genocide and champions education on it

This file image shows the entrance gates to Auschwitz, a concentration camp from the Second World War (Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

There are “profound gaps” in the British public’s knowledge of the Holocaust, according to a new survey’s findings, with more than half not knowing six million Jewish people were murdered by the Nazis – and just under a quarter thinking two million or less were killed.

The study – commissioned by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, to gauge Holocaust awareness in Britain – also found that 67 per cent of respondents from all four nations wrongly believed the UK government allowed all or some Jewish immigration, when in fact the opposite was true at the outbreak of the Second World War

It did, however, confirm that an “overwhelming majority” (89 per cent) of Britons had “definitely heard” about the Holocaust, with around 75 per cent saying they knew it involved the mass murder of Jewish people.

Gideon Taylor, president of the Claims Conference, said the committee was “very concerned to see the profound gaps in knowledge of the Holocaust in this and in previous studies, including about events connected to the UK”.

“Yet, it is very powerful to see the overwhelming majority of UK respondents say the Holocaust should be taught in schools,” he added.

A significant 76 per cent of respondents did not know what the Kindertransport was – an initiative set up between 1938 and 1939 to rescue nearly 10,000 Jewish child refugees and bring them to Britain – despite it being official UK government policy.

When polled about education, 91 per cent of respondents in Northern Ireland said they believe it is important to continue to teach about the Holocaust. The numbers were similar elsewhere: 88 per cent in England and Wales, and 86 per cent in Scotland.

Responding to this section of the survey, Mr Taylor said: “Eighty-eight per cent believe that it is important to continue to teach the Holocaust, in part so it does not happen again.

“This is where we need to focus our energy. Education will not only fill the gaps in Holocaust knowledge, but it will also make for better, more empathetic citizens.”

Strikingly, most respondents in all four nations – Wales (66 per cent), Northern Ireland (61 per cent), England (55 per cent), and Scotland (54 per cent) – believe something like the Holocaust could happen again today.

Meanwhile, some 57 per cent of those surveyed believe that fewer people seem to care about the Holocaust today than they used to.

The Claims Conference conducted a similar study last year on young Americans, between the ages of 18 to 39, and found 48 per cent could not name a single concentration camp or ghetto established during the war.

That figure was slightly better for UK respondents, with 32 per cent unable to name a concentration camp or ghetto, including Auschwitz.

When asked about the current-day threat of neo-Nazism, UK respondents believed America to be more at risk from the issue than Britain. Some 15 per cent of respondents said they thought “there are a great deal of or many neo-Nazis in the UK today”.

When asked the same question about the US, 39 per cent said there “are a great deal of or many neo-Nazis in the US.”

It comes only a month after an online service at a synagogue in Manchester, in the north of England, was ambushed by a group showing swastikas. Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen, from Manchester Reform Synagogue, said at the time the offenders unmuted themselves halfway through the meeting to show “awful racist images”.

The Claims Conference study surveyed 2,000 UK adults, aged 18 and over, between 29 September and 17 October 2021.