Most U.S. adults know when the Holocaust happened and are familiar with Auschwitz, but fewer are cognizant about the number of Jews murdered and how Hitler came to power in Germany, according to a new American Jewish Committee (AJC) public opinion survey.
Only 53% of Americans over the age of 18 answered correctly that approximately six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, while 20% explicitly said they were not sure. 2% said less than one million, 13% chose approximately three million, and 11% said more than 12 million
The questions on Holocaust knowledge, released ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, are included in a larger national AJC survey of the general U.S. population on antisemitism. This survey, alongside an AJC poll of American Jews, will be available next month in AJC’s State of Antisemitism in America report 2022. Questions about Holocaust knowledge were asked only of the general population.