Auschwitz a type of beer

Thursday, 12 March 2009

Auschwitz a type of beer

New poll shows 8% of 1,000 British secondary school pupils believe concentration camp is a country bordering Germany, 2% think it is a drink, and 1% say it is a type of bread.

Jewish Cultural Center: If we are not careful, Holocaust will disappear into realms of history

Some British schoolchildren believe Auschwitz is the name of a type of beer or a religious festival, rather than the notorious concentration camp, a new poll shows.

The poll was commissioned by Miramax and the London Jewish Cultural Centre to mark the DVD release of "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas".

According to The Telegraph, the survey of more than 1,000 secondary school pupils aged 11-16 revealed that a quarter did not know Auschwitz's purpose.

Of those, about 10% were not sure what it was, eight percent thought it was a country bordering Germany, 2% thought it was a beer, the same proportion said it was a religious festival and a further 1% said it was a type of bread, the British daily reported.

The London Jewish Cultural Center said that, as there are around 4.5 million 11 to 16-year-olds in Britain, this is the equivalent of 90,000 youngsters wrongly identifying Auschwitz as a drink and 45,000 mistaking it for bread.

The poll further revealed that six in 10 youngsters did not know what the Final Solution was, with a fifth claiming it was the name of peace talks held to end the war, The Telegraph said.

"We are not surprised by the results, although we are disappointed," Stephanie Rose of the London Jewish Cultural Center was quoted by Sky News as saying. "If we are not careful, the Holocaust will disappear into the realms of history like the battle of Trafalgar. It is vital that children are made aware of the effects of ignorance."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3683755,00.html

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צילום: AP