80 Years Later, We Forget the Lessons of Auschwitz at Our Peril | Opinion

January 27 marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, where more than a million Jewish men, women and children were murdered by German Nazis solely because they were Jewish. The Auschwitz killing center was one part of the Nazis’ massive effort to eliminate European Jews. An advanced, educated country that had a democratic constitution – with the help of collaborators across Europe – succeeded in killing two out of every three European Jews, a genocide so unprecedented in its ambition and scale that it is now called the Holocaust. It shattered assumptions about progress, human nature, and modern societies and led to multiple celebration efforts such as United Nations“Establishing January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Today’s anniversary is a time to reflect on how effective Holocaust memory and understanding are, or are not, in educating new generations. The picture is mixed.

Auschwitz had more than 1.6 million visitors in 2023. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum had more than 1.1 million in 2024. More teachers around the world attended the museum’s annual teachers’ conference in 2024 than ever before. Holocaust education is now part of the learning requirements in almost every American state. There are 38 international Remembrance Alliances and 130 members of the Association of Holocaust Organizations. Popular books and films on the Holocaust remain.

However, long before October 7 agitation Attack on Israel, there has been a rise in Holocaust denial and distortion globally. Since then, it has exploded along with various other forms of anti-Semitism online, on campuses, and in cities around the world. Widespread anti-Semitism is not new. What’s new is accelerating – social media and larger societal issues, such as polarization, the assault on truth, rampant conspiracy theories, a decline in history and civic education, a loss of trust in institutions, and the rise of the far right and the far right, all create an environment where the far right thrives. Easy anti-Semitism.

Today, the organization responsible for Holocaust reparationsConference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany (Claims Conference) Eight countries launched (Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, United Kingdom, United States) Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Index, conducted in November/December 2023, with 76 percent of respondents believing that something like the Holocaust could happen again today . When the same question was asked in another Claims Conference survey It was conducted nearly seven years agoThe answer was 58 percent.

Nearly a third of respondents in each country saw Holocaust denial Facebook. Across countries, when asked whether they had encountered Holocaust denial or distortion while on social media, nearly half (47 percent) of Polish adults said, “yes.” In Austria-Hungary, this number was 38 percent, in Germany it was 37 percent, in the United States 33 percent, in Romania 25 percent, in the United Kingdom 23 percent, and in France 20 percent.

The number of respondents who believe that 2 million or fewer Jews were murdered is also troubling. This includes 28 percent in Romania, 27 percent in Hungary, 24 percent in Poland, 21 percent in France, the United States and Austria, 20 percent in the United Kingdom and especially 18 percent in Germany. Polish statistics are particularly noteworthy because 3 million of those killed in the Holocaust were Polish Jews.

In light of this information and the rise of anti-Semitism, it is reasonable to ask whether Holocaust education has or could make a difference. After decades of Holocaust education, we face serious challenges—the decline of the Holocaust in time, the loss of eyewitness generation, changes in the overall educational landscape, and the influence of social media. But we also have new scholarship, new approaches to teaching, and new commitments to research that can improve the impact of educational strategies.

Furthermore, the survey also shows that a strong commitment to Holocaust education remains among adults from every country surveyed. Nine adults in all eight countries think it is important to continue teaching about the Holocaust, in part, so it doesn’t happen again.

The museum’s informal research shows that most people want to know why the Holocaust happened. What made it possible? What did ordinary people do? These are vital questions that not only progress. Teaching how and why the Holocaust happened can make the Holocaust relevant to critical thinking, which is sorely needed in a world mired in online denial, distortion, and anti-Semitism.

This troubling moment is a time to reassess—and to rededicate ourselves to relevant Holocaust education, rooted in a rigorous history that includes the long history of anti-Semitism long before Nazism and the role of millions across Europe who were silent, complicit, or resistant. This approach to education can help young people ask big questions about the Holocaust — and themselves. It’s more important than ever.

Greg Schneider is executive vice president of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. Ambassador Stuart E. Eisenstat is president of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writers.