A group of Holocaust survivors
Only about 400,000 Holocaust survivors are still alive today to tell their stories - and many are now in their 80s and 90s.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana


For seven decades, "never forget" has been the rallying cry of the Holocaust remembrance movement. The brutal and systematic murder of six million Jews at the hands of Nazi Germany is amongst the darkest episodes in modern human history. But with only some 400,000 survivors left worldwide, most in their 80s and 90s, our collective memories appear to be fading.

A shocking new survey (released, ironically, on Holocaust Remembrance Day) reveals that many Americans particularly millennials lack a most basic understanding of the Holocaust and its horrors.

How Bad Is It?

Among the survey's most alarming findings was that 41 percent of Americans don't know what Auschwitz is. Among millennials (people aged 18-34), that number was even worse: 66 percent.

Nearly one in three Americans and 41 percent of millennials think that less than two million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. The actual number is roughly six million (and some experts estimate even more).

Perhaps the survey's only silver lining is the fact that only four percent of respondents fell into the category of "Holocaust deniers," and an overwhelming majority think the Holocaust should continue to be taught in school.

"Not Enough"

However, acknowledging that something happened is fairly useless if you remain ignorant about the important details, underlying causes, and lasting repercussions. "The issue is not that people deny the Holocaust; the issue is just that it's receding from memory," explains Greg Schneider, executive vice president of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany a group dedicated to spreading Holocaust awareness.

So that begs the question: how have Americans become so clueless about this appalling chapter of human history?

A popular scapegoat might be our education system although the Holocaust is prominently featured in any respectable high school history textbook. Perhaps those lessons are getting glossed over? Or maybe they're simply not being taken to heart by a new generation of students more concerned with social media and Netflix than history's great tragedies.

There are worse crimes than being ignorant of the past, of course. In a perfect world, basic human decency would be enough to ensure the Holocaust is truly a "never again" type of event.

Mireille Knoll
85-year-old Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll was recently murdered in her Paris apartment.

Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world.

Anti-Semitism On the Rise

Last year, Jewish Community Centers across the U.S. were hit with a rash of coordinated bomb threats, forcing numerous evacuations and generating widespread anxiety. If that weren't enough, a pair of Jewish cemeteries in Philadelphia and St. Louis were vandalized and gravestones toppled.

While heightened anti-Muslim sentiments have been covered extensively in the media, FBI statistics indicate that Jews are the most targeted religious group. The most recent numbers show that Jews are the victims in over half of all religious hate crimes in the U.S.

Europe is witnessing a similarly disturbing trend. After years of calm, anti-Semitic incidents are on the rise. Just last month, an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor was stabbed to death in her Paris apartment in what is being investigated as an anti-Semitic hate crime.

Moving Forward

If the Holocaust teaches us anything, it's that hate directed at any group, if unchecked and left to fester, can result in atrocities beyond even our darkest imaginations. To truly prevent another Holocaust-type event, it's our responsibility to ensure younger generations never forget its terrible lessons.

70 comments

  1. Secretary3rd's Avatar Secretary3rd

    6 Million recorded to die in camps where they kept records on each and every dead person. What was not recorded were the 750,000 Jews that were killed outside of those camps across Europe. The 100's of thousands that were killed in Syria with little to numbers that just vanish.

  1. Christian's Avatar Christian

    What's the Stalin Purges ? What was Pol Pot ? What is D-Day? How many people, TOTAL, died in WW1 and in WW2 ? Which banker investor families profited the most from the following wars : Independence Civil War French-Indian War WW1 WW2 Korea Veitnam Iraq Afghanistan ?

    Where will the next HUGE WAR BE ? When and Why ?

    Why do the smartest creatures on Earth behave so stupidly ?

  1. caz's Avatar caz

    Ironically, the holocaust is being repeated, or at least it is in its initial stages, in Israel, against the Palestinians. I even saw a sign on a bus to 'Make Israel great', a line adapted from one used by Adolf Hitler to ' Make Germany great again', sound familiar? In the 30s it was Jews who were persecuted and nobody cared, in the current era it is Palestinians. The political climate and resulting platitudes are almost identical with leaders looking for scapegoats. Albert Camus wrote of separation and exile from one's home, with little hope of repatriation. He believed that this situation removed meaning from a person's life, a situation he described as absurd( he had a slightly different, and highly specific definition of the word) Really, there can only be one result of the current conflict, according to Camus, genocide or war

    1. John Owens's Avatar John Owens

      BS

      1. caz's Avatar caz

        Can you be more specific, or are you one of those republicans who simply follow the party line without thought?

        1. John Owens's Avatar John Owens

          Specifically, your assertion that the Israelis are repeating the holocaust against the Palestinians is pure BS. If they were, there would not have been 50 Hamas members and a few others killed on the 14th, because all of those protesters would have been dead or in concentration camps instead of trying to storm the border fence.

          And just BTW, YOUR assertions are following someone's party line without thought. You should think about that.

          1. caz's Avatar caz

            How do you know that 50 of the people killed were Hamas? The people protest were effectively in prison camps, they were put there and , in many cases not allowed to return home by the Israeli government. They have had supplies of food and other necessities restricted by the Israelis . They were unarmed and unable to threaten the border troops who fired on them using live ammunition. Israeli troops have killed women and children, in one example that I know of, a pregnant woman, then had T shirts printed proudly proclaiming '2 with 1 shot'. Israeli troops used illegal weapons against Palestinians, probably obtained from the US, without UN sanctions, probably as a result of the US. All this has similarities to Nazi Germany, along with invading neighbouring countries, although this time using proxy forces. Israel actively encouraged the US to invade Iraq, and is now try to have them invade Iran without reason. They have actively been provoking neighbouring countries into war, knowing that they will be supported by the US. And you accept all this simply because your press is following the government propaganda. You should think about that.

          2. John Owens's Avatar John Owens

            HAMAS CLAIMED 50 OF THEM WERE HAMAS!!! Geez. Pull your head out of your butt and READ the news.

        2. Alan's Avatar Alan

          Your basic error is, conservatives do not have a 'party line'. They follow basic human principles that exist outside of politics. It is only that the republican party (the party of individual freedom) most closely align with those principles. On the other hand, the democrat party, which has devolved into Marxist, atheistic principles (as Christianity does not allow for deception, theft of labor through income taxation to pay unearned income to non-producers, etc) which requires propaganda to get votes (no one would vote for an ideology now designed to steal Americans rights and put all those rights into the hands of a government) to survive. Just like Lenin in 1917 and Hitler (democratic socialist), Castro (communist), Chavez (Marxist), et al, had to use propaganda and demonization of those who believed in individual rights being supreme to government control, they had to use the media to spread hatred, distrust, and stimulate personal greed (free government handouts) to gain power. The DNC now has (yes, really) control and influence in todays media to try to achieve the same end. Wake up or understand your offspring will come to hate you for having been one of todays American Marxists 'USEFUL IDIOTS' as coined by Lenin,

          1. caz's Avatar caz

            You believe that republican do not practice deception and lies???Just look at the current leader. You do not realise that you are a recipient of the same lies and deception.

            The major irony in your really is that you believe that republican do not have a party line, do they have no policies? Interestingly Christ was the opposite of a republican, he believed in and demonstrated 'Marxist practices'.

            Fortunately, my children have been brought up to think for themselves, and are critical of the far right policies.

            Your post is naive in the extreme and shows immaturity of thought, demonstrated by your use of emotive terms that are largely incorrect

          2. John Owens's Avatar John Owens

            Keith is being somebody's hand-puppet.

  1. Secretary3rd's Avatar Secretary3rd

    6,738,000 plus were slaughter. Those 6 million were those in camps, those that were recorded with numbers. The others just foot notes. Killing of large groups of people have happen over centuries. Anyone want to hear about all those that Stalin starve off when their food was taken just before winter set in. About the tens of millions in China that starve in 1970's because of bad food management by the party. Or just the slaughter between on tribe and another. Currently wars are killing off thousands more most have to do with religion. One side of the same religion who bows killing off another of that religion that bows slightly different. It was not woo long ago that Christians in Europe who believe in the same religion were slaughtering each other by the thousands. It is good to have Mother.

  1. Enemy of your Mental State's Avatar Enemy of your Mental State

    That picture at the top of the article is of starving inmates from somewhere. Could be Germany OR RUSSIA. Prisoners in the camps started starving at the end of the war because the Allies bombed all supply routes so the Germans and their prisoners could not get supplies into the camps. Including antibiotics which was crucial as there was a typhus epidemic sweeping Europe at that time hence the shaved head and burning of clothes to get rid of the lice that were carrying the disease. Eventually the Germans abandoned the camps until the Russians liberated them. The Russians who were actually asked with Hitler at the beginning of the War also got to make up key points of the narrative. During this time Hitler actually helped resettle Jews in Israel through the Havara Agreement. After the war was over and Israel was established(which was planned in the late 1800s) some SS commanders trained the Israeli Mossad. Google Otto Skorzeny.

  1. Enemy of your Mental State's Avatar Enemy of your Mental State

    How about the holocaust of 35 million Christians starved to death in Gulags by the Bolsheviks? Communism killed 100,000,000 people.

    1. John Owens's Avatar John Owens

      and yet many US Democrats think Communism would be beneficial here.

  1. Alan's Avatar Alan

    Europe, having become mostly socialist (Marxism light), has no money to defend itself due to its giveaway programs, high taxes and pushing of a 'PC' culture. They find it easier to simply go along with what they perceive 'is the nice thing to do', rather than use solid judgement & the lessons of history. Keep in mind that Hitler started the Democratic Socialist party, which is what many American democrats refer to themselves as (likely not realizing the result of such a government structure, leading to a one party system, and Europeans are headed that way too. Their naivety is going to be their downfall, as well as the USA's if people do not start teaching history, and doing so at an advanced level and do so quickly, so that the so called 'millennials', who have been subjected to leftist propaganda at all levels of schooling can realize what has been and is happening. The Major world banking institutions, mainly European have been trying for many decades to bring the world under a single currency system, and, strangely, the Paris Climate accord and the European Union have been tools in trying to accomplish this. They look to have an agency such as the UN be granted worldwide authority to be able to regulate issues within sovereign nations as a first step toward silently creating a 'one world government, which they, having control of the financial systems, will clearly have control over. Once this happens, we will be back in the age of kingdoms, with the very rich and the very poor. People need to wise up and start to understand why all of this 'high strangeness' is happening now. It is not an accident, it has been a well conceived plan for many decades.

  1. Professor's Avatar Professor

    The Serpent People are the most racists people on the planet. Not only do they call themselves "Gods Chosen", they lie about everything including being a "Semite". The real Semites are the Palestinians which makes the Serpent People anti-Semite. It is funny to see such great arrogance coming from blithering idiots.

    1. Enemy of your Mental State's Avatar Enemy of your Mental State

      Agreed. People should read some of the really f*cked up, sociopathic, anti-Gentilism in the Babylonian Talmud. Way more murderous ideologue than anything in the Biblee and Koran.

  1. Aaliyah Saloman's Avatar Aaliyah Saloman

    "To truly prevent another Holocaust-type event, it’s our responsibility to ensure younger generations never forget its terrible lessons."

    Intriguing. A little perspective... Hitler was a bad guy. He invaded 11 countries and killed about 11 million people. From the point he was removed from power, the war ended, and just after we turned away Jewish refugees; the U.S. entered a time of peace and unprecedented prosperity. During that time, the time since the end of WWII, the United States has bombed over 30 countries that never attacked it and killed between 20-30 million people. We are who we fear.

    ...And we give the state of Israel 10 million dollars a day to "defend themselves.", that's 40 billion per year to interact with humanity as they have been. This is an utter offense! To question the state of Israel is to be called an anti-semite. I am not an anti-semite, I am pro-human! The way the US defends the indefensible actions of Israel and vetoes every vote against Israel in the UN is without reason, morality, empathy, or respect for international law.

    WE ARE WHO WE FEAR.

    Matthew 7:3-5 (for Christians reading this)

    1. Catherine Ohrin-Greipp, MSW, ADS, OM's Avatar Catherine Ohrin-Greipp, MSW, ADS, OM

      Like your comments! I cannot believe how much of our hard earned tax money goes to Israel to kill indigenous Palestinians. An Israeli women at work come to me, thanked me for our country giving hers so much money because Israel could not afford to pay for their own security apparatus. I let her know very clearly that I do not support it and that we Americans need the money, especially reservation Native Americans, who have the highest rate of unemployment. She was surprised but after she processed what I said to her, she agreed and had never thought of the parallels between Palestinians and Native People. It was about words of truth. In Arizona, there are a number of reservations, with few having casinos.So I am not a fan of Israel's policies which are supported by members of Congress and stealing from us all.

      1. Enemy of your Mental State's Avatar Enemy of your Mental State

        I like what you said about Native Americans. Maybe we can donate a certain amount of our yearly taxes to offset what is sent to the Israeli Ethnostate.

  1. Donna Rae Gahrman's Avatar Donna Rae Gahrman

    The Bible indeed tells us that the Jews are His, God's chosen people. But Jesus' crucifixion reconciled ALL men with God. Because of free will we have a choice, but God chooses us first. I am appalled at the way history is being treated in this "politically correct" generation. Public schools are leaving kids behind as far as basic education goes. Glass screens have everything you want to know so why learn it for yourself. That said, everything is moving along just as God has written.

  1. Father Fred's Avatar Father Fred

    I'm confident within a decade or two, most of 20th century history will be forgotten. And as they say, if you don't learn from history, you're bound to repeat it. In fact, with the present tone of American politics you can say we're looking at late 1920s, and early 1930s Germany being replayed on U.S. soil.

  1. Professor's Avatar Professor

    The photo is very dramatic but for the thinking person, it is not proof. The evidence is clear, Hitler and Germany were the opposite of how they are being portrayed. The Holocaust Lie has become an industry. The Federal Reserve Banks are the real war mongers. But go ahead and believe this Holocaust lie if it makes you feel better. It is now illegal to deny the Holocaust in 15 countries including Canada and I do mean serving jail time. Is the truth so profound that you can't even utter it? The Serpent People lie like their father. The Devil will fool the very elect. The Holy Spirit will not reveal the truth to you until your heart is in the right place.

    1. Catherine Ohrin-Greipp, MSW, ADS, OM's Avatar Catherine Ohrin-Greipp, MSW, ADS, OM

      Wow, you are serious? When was the last time you sat down and spoke with survivor family members? I would wager, not one. I have. When you say there is no proof, what in the world do you mean? I have seen the number tattoos on the arms of survivors when I was a child. What kind of proof do you need? The "devil and holy Spirit" have nothing to do with genocide.Genocide is committed by hate and fear- filled low life humans. Perhaps you are a fan of Alex Jones and believe his lies about the Germany Holocaust. Shame, shame, shame to denigrate survivors and their family members.

      1. Professor's Avatar Professor

        I am not astonished by your ignorance because most people are ignorant and would not know the truth if it bit them in the face. If you actually studied, you would know what the evidence is but I must assume that like most people, living for mammon is more important than living for God. The plank in your eye is huge.

        1. Catherine Ohrin-Greipp, MSW, ADS, OM's Avatar Catherine Ohrin-Greipp, MSW, ADS, OM

          Pathetic and truly ignorant response.

          1. Enemy of your Mental State's Avatar Enemy of your Mental State

            Why don't you actually supply facts to debate with instead of manufactured feelings?

    2. Rev. John D. Partin's Avatar Rev. John D. Partin

      Professor, your comment here is like something that a member of the Flat Earth Society would say when shown pictures of the round Earth, taken from all around it by astronauts out in space: "That doesn't prove anything!!! You probably just phonied those pictures up and photo shopped them, just to prove your point". Flat Earth Society members and Holocaust deniers, as well as all other people for whom no proof would ever be enough to disprove your narrow-minded view that you are "right", are all in the same category of unreasoning and self-convinced people!!! There are none so blind as those who will not see!!! Even if someone took you on a tour of Auschwitz and other concentration camps and had you talk to survivors yourself, you would only say something such as "Oh, you probably just created these places yourself and paid these people to say all of that and branded them with those numbers just to prove your point!!!". The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of an eye: the more light that you shine upon it, the smaller that it gets. Nothing would ever prove anything---to you. Why shouldn't Holocaust denial (that is, slander and defaming of those victims' memory) be against the law, the same as you wouldn't want anyone to slander and defame your deceased loved ones, if there are any people who fit into that category for you. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

  1. robert john costa's Avatar robert john costa

    I had the honor of being raised by many people who fought to free the world of the Nazi demons. I was told how they got so many to follow their path of evil. Fear of being subjected to their wrath lead these people to follow satins path. They rewarded those who killed, and torched gods children and upheld the Nazi laws. Those who resisted or spoke up were detained, killed and torchered for their actions. Fear then entered their lives that their families would be torched for their actions. Tempation of lives of privilage for those who conformed fueled the devils fire. Look around us and we see nothing different in satins plan here. In modern day laws all who take arms to protect satins laws are rewarded while others are subjected to lives of poverty. "a rich man has as much of a chance to enter the gates of heaven as he has to pull a camel through a needle". Fear not my friends God will provide love one another and stand with all who resist satins ways work together god will help those who stand strong overcome. Gods power is in numbers fight for the freedom to allow the people to vote out satins laws. It matter less how much we pray or what say it matters more what we do. Follow Gods path!!

  1. The Doctor's Avatar The Doctor

    This is not some grand conspiracy.folks. Time moves on and the young not stressing out over past tragedies and having horrors thrown at them is not some cover up.

    I recall back in high school watching schindler's list. It was in sociology not history and the teacher felt it was a window into social changes and upheaval.

    My history class around that time went with all quiet on the western front.

    The difference was that List was giving some of my classmates nightmares.

    Yes alot of people died during both the World Wars. But the important thing to recall is that be it in battle or as a bystander all those lives lost were tragic to someone.

    Some feel the need to keep waiving the nazi party as the icon of evil. Myself I tend to see Stalin as a bigger monster.

    There is a lack of evidence for example to directly tie Hitler to the death camps. While ample evidence to prove it was largely a camp by camp basis with more influence coming from the base commander and officers exploiting the situation.

    There is a lack of hard evidence about the number of deaths, and even several major cases of jews claiming to have lost loved ones in camps that never went to camps and died before the war began. In an effort to claim holocaust survivor status for various reasons.

    Stories like the diary of Anne Frank can be so charged with emotion that some like myself feel they are too much for kids and best left to adults wanting to educate themselves about history.

    there are plenty of recent tragedies that are occurring in this era that too few really know about or understand. It often seems to me the Israeli government especially likes to bring up the holocaust and label people as jew haters to misdirect any decrying their actions. Such as holding children without trial for months and months as a way to use them as hostages to force parents into compliance.

    1. Norman Gold's Avatar Norman Gold

      Only an ignoramus and antiSemite would say such abhorrent stuff! No connection between Hitler and the destruction and concentration camps? Are you kidding me? Are you that ignorant? NOTHING was done by anyone among the Nazis without Hitler’s consent. And it was Hitler’s speeches and propaganda that DIRECTLY led to the Holocaust. To think and state otherwise can only be abject ignorance of history and pure antisemitism. My God - and you find yourself on a religious site? You, and people like you, make me nauseous!

      1. The Doctor's Avatar The Doctor

        I frequently encounter this attack approach. That one is anti semetic merely for not putting jews up on a pedestal nor see them as any thing but ordinary people. They are the ones taht choose to isolate and promote themselves as the chosen people of their one true god.

        As for the statement about Hitler. He was a single man, and for the last half of his reign little more then a puppet to his doctors that had him on all sorts of drugs.

        He was himself not nearly the hater of jews so many assume he was. He was merely using it as a way to manipulate and gain power. There is even an account by a jewish friend and school mate of hitler's that Adolf was his only friend in school because he was jewish and hitler personally oversaw he nd his family being escorted out of germany after the rise of the Reich.

        We see the same kind of the head doesnt know what the hands are doing situation in our country with prisons and other Law Enforcement departments. It is not really that hard to imagine that Hitler was quite out of the loop when it came to situations in the camps. Not every camp had mass graves, furnaces and gas chambers.

        We even saw a similar issue in the U.S. in WWII with the camps japanese citizens had been put in, with physical and sexual abuse, food and medicine being stolen by the soldiers and sold on the black market, murders being covered up etc.

        The fact is that people like to point a finger at the nazi and say they are the epitome of evil they really where not. They are just another example of nationalism and xenophobia leading a people into war and tragedy for all involved.

        I myself vehemently condemn any country or culture that promote themselves as the best, the chosen race etc and the fact that Israel practices the same kind of behavior that the Germans of WWII are held up in eternal contempt for and that germans to this day have to kind of hold themselves back on the international stage as leaders because people go oh know the germans are trying to conquer the world again!

        1. Bigler's Avatar Bigler

          Not sure where you received your "education". But I find many holes in your theory. And you do sound suspiciously like an anti-Semitic person. Maybe you should talk to someone whose family members was actually alive during Hitler's rule. Hitler should be vilified. He was a bully on the grand scale of life and death. Look at the sick experiments he allowed Mengele to conduct on Jews. You are very under educated on what happened. Quit relying on Netflix and Movies genre's. Instead, read books and reports from that time period. And speak with real live survivors. But you better hurry, because there aren't so many of them left. Visit the Holocaust Museum. Get a perspective.

          1. The Doctor's Avatar The Doctor

            typical rant full of personal attacks and assumptions. The history of both world wars has been a major interest to me for decades.

            I am not saying the death camps didnt happen. But it is a fact not one bit of documentation with hitlers signature has ever been produced showing he ordered the atrocities.

            He was however well known to be a pawn of his doctors especially during the last half of his reign, being given drug cocktails that would of surely kept him in a confused and paranoid state.

            And as for Mengele the so called doctor of death. Considering some of the stories survivors told about him such as jumping on the bellies of pregnant women is so over the top and far removed from what any of his well documented and scientifically motivated experiments show of his rationale, I tend to treat many of the claims with a strong dose of skepticism.

            He himself on several occasions while in hiding told his story and admitted many of the things that where well documented but pleaded to be believed that those things with no scientific aspect where just lies said to make him a monster and the survivors even bigger victims then they were.

            This is something seen about the hebrew people since the time of the so called exile from their homeland. They to this day decry Babylon, the place they were brought, even though it is the place and culture that gave them the written word, where they found acceptance and integrated peacefully. Not a place or persecution and degradation as its taught to this day by them in their so called holy text, that guess what many stories such as the great flood predate the earliest versions of their holy text and have been found on clay tablets from babylon. Showing they just like later christianity did with many so called pagan aspects, borrowed from other cultures and wove into their myths.

            As far as the jewish religion go yeah I am more likely to challenge its more zealot followers and call BS of it and any faith that teaches its followers they are the chosen people above all others.

          2. Enemy of your Mental State's Avatar Enemy of your Mental State

            Some of those "survivors" are liars. It's human nature and there are multiple cases of false survivor monetary claims. T'karen Velmez is using her brains. People who don't use their brains resort to ad hominem canards and hate screeds and the ever popular anti-Semitism which is Anti-Gentilism at it's finest seeing that the Talmud says that all non-Jews are no better than animals. Jews today white not semites. The Palestinians are the true Semites. Netanyahu is polish! Lol

          3. John Owens's Avatar John Owens

            Bigler's "rant" was not really a rant, and didn't call names. The extermination camps did exist, but T'keren could be right-- Hitler may have been like Obama, just a puppet of behind the scenes elites. Enemy, it is reported that many if not most Palestinians have Jewish DNA and their families were jewish in the past but they converted to Islam to keep from having their heads lopped off.

          4. John Owens's Avatar John Owens

            Bigler wasn't ranting OR attacking. You are just being obtuse.

        2. Rev. John D. Partin's Avatar Rev. John D. Partin

          T'Keren Valmaz, is that really your "proof" that Hitler didn't order the Holocaust: the fact that there are no longer any written orders with his name on them authorizing that genocide? By that standard, no Mafia capo di tutti capos (kingpin) could ever be accused of ordering a hit on anyone or be proven to have done so because he also isn't going to put his name on any paper that could be produced at a trial and used to convict him later on, but is just going to verbally order the hit (even in code on a phone call). Hitler was also just covering his ass by not signing his name to an order for the Jews' destruction, in case the war went against him later and he were brought to trial---which he, in fact, evaded by killing himself. Also, these orders with Hitler's name on them probably were destroyed by the Nazis themselves before they could be discovered by the Allies. As for his not being the "Jew hater that many thought that he was and using anti-Semitism to manipulate and gain power", there is no necessary contradiction between his being a Jew hater and also using anti-Semitism to manipulate people and gain power, since he believed in what he was saying and doing, but also knew that it could be very useful to him, too, just as many modern neo-Nazis and Klansmen do believe in what they are saying, but see the money-making and self-promotional aspects of all that as well, and follow up on those. Hitler was as much of an anti-Semite as he needed to be to suit himself and for his purposes, but, no doubt, others were more so and could have done a "better" job against the Jews than he did, if they had been in his position: by concentrating only on Jew killing and forgetting about taking on the whole world in a war, which diverted resources away from the genocide. The Nazis were the epitome of evil, so far in history, and, hopefully, nothing worse will ever come along.

          1. John Owens's Avatar John Owens

            Partin, This comment of yours is fairly good, actually, and I agree with it.

  1. John Owens's Avatar John Owens

    Thank you, National Education Association for the curriculum which creates such a knowledge deficit in our population.

    1. biblical scholar's Avatar biblical scholar

      It's true, our education system really doesn't teach people critical thinking skills, or logic. Did you know there are idiots out there who actually believe Obama was born in Kenya and not the US?!

      Thanks, education system!

      1. The Doctor's Avatar The Doctor

        Lol very nice Ramona. So true. Crazy ass birthers and flat earthers.

      2. John Owens's Avatar John Owens

        Yes, well, he DID once say he was from Kenya, on video, in front of a lot of teenagers. There are people who refuse to believe their own eyes and ears. Talk about lack of critical thinking skills!

      3. John Owens's Avatar John Owens

        Then there are those who purport believe in a "vast right-wing conspiracy" and yet belittle any speech about any OTHER conspiracy. These are the same who try to think up stupid labels for people, pretending to just be snobby, but actually trying to curtail free thought. This is very primitive and sinister behavior.

        1. John Owens's Avatar John Owens

          For example: if you have ANY doubts whatsoever that Obama was really born in Hawaii, then you are equal to a flat-earther. Perfect example of asininity, pretending to be intellectual.

  1. Tom B's Avatar Tom B

    Sadly, one more generation of technological advances and social media, and there will effectively be no past...George Orwell was simply ahead of his time.............

    1. John A Anderson, CD, CIF Mons ON's Avatar John A Anderson, CD, CIF Mons ON

      Unfortunately, he meant it as a warning, not an instruction manual

      1. Tom B's Avatar Tom B

        John...well said...Peace...Tom

        1. Carl Elfstrom's Avatar Carl Elfstrom

          I believe the first time I saw movies about Auschwitz and the other concentration camps was in school. Of course, I finished high school thirty seven years ago and memory fades, but I remember seeing those films and studying about the subject when I was quite young, and seeing documentaries on TV about the holocaust since. We also must not forget that the Jewish people were not the only ones tortured and murdered in the Nazi concentration camps. There were the ones who were required to wear pink triangles in the concentration camps; gay people, and also Gypsies. Remembering the past and dwelling on it are two different things. Living in the present moment also has nothing to do with it. All we ever have is the present moment, but without remembering and knowing what happened in the past we don't and won't have a point of reference to learn from our mistakes. I don't know what if anything theyre teaching in public schools anymore. However, I know that they weren't doing a good job of it when I was a kid. I'm grateful that my first six years of schooling was in private schools. Even though I was a rebellious, juvenile delinquent, two months into attending public school, I skipped a grade. Before the end of that school year though, I got expelled.

      2. John Owens's Avatar John Owens

        Exactly-- a warning. Aldous Huxley was doing the same. There is a strange kind of honor among the globalist hierarchy-- they feel they have to tell us what they are going to do, without making us believe it can be their real plan.

        1. Tom B's Avatar Tom B

          John...respectfully, i do not understand the point you are trying to make...what about "The Illustrated Man", by Ray Bradbury; or "The Lottery", by Shirley Jackson?...are all the science fiction/fantasy writers part of your "globalist hierarchy"?...and what is its point?...please explain...thanks...Peace...Tom

          1. John Owens's Avatar John Owens

            If you don't understand, you are waaaaaay over-thinking it. It is very simple. "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. Someone made a really crappy movie of it. Skip the crappy movie and read the Cliff's Notes if you don't like to read. And don't put my stuff in quotation marks as if you are making fun of it or as if it doesn't exist. Globalists are very real and everybody knows it, and where there are people there are heirachies. Nothing to put in quotations.

        2. Tom B's Avatar Tom B

          John...i never make fun of anyone...and it is proper to put titles or words you are quoting, in quotes...try not to be paranoid/defensive; that is never my intent...as far as world control is concerned, the people who exercise control, like the Rothschilds, to not ever appear in the media...respectfully, I ask again that you explain your point of view in your words; not by reference to movies, books, etc...many of the people on our blog avoid speaking in their own words; they prefer to use examples; words by others; hyperbole, etc...i am interested in your thinking, not comparisons or examples...Peace...Tom

  1. Catherine Ohrin-Greipp, MSW, ADS, OM's Avatar Catherine Ohrin-Greipp, MSW, ADS, OM

    They are probably the same people who are unaware of the American Holocaust as well in which massive genocide was committed against First Americans.

    1. Enemy of your Mental State's Avatar Enemy of your Mental State

      And the genocide of 35million Christians in Gulags by Jewish Bolsheviks.

  1. Jim's Avatar Jim

    Those who do not head the past are doomed to relive it.

  1. James's Avatar James

    The education system is total crap. More like opinion repeating than actually teaching children to learn things. The old ways of reduction still work if they would simply apply it Math, reading and writing until you master that nothing else should matter. Once your can communicate clearly, then science, history and philosophy. Teach the truth no matter how bad it is or who don't like it. The truth.

  1. JOLENE MARCELLA TRAVIS's Avatar JOLENE MARCELLA TRAVIS

    I would ask how ignorant or down right stupid some people are but it would be a challenge to some. Keep eating Tide pods and taking selfies kiddos.

  1. Joe's Avatar Joe

    It's like watching a train wreck. Unfortunately we are on the train.

  1. Milton's Avatar Milton

    The German army remove all the guns from the general public.. right before they started the concentration camps.

    Hmm.. removing all the guns from the public.. sounds familiar.

    1. Nolan's Avatar Nolan

      This is a misreading of history on two levels. First, German citizens as a whole were not disarmed by the Nazis. Jews and other supposed enemies of the state were subject to having their weapons seized. But for most German citizens, the Nazi period was one in which gun regulations were loosened, not tightened.

      Second, a lack of guns was not the issue. If the majority of Germans had wanted to use these guns to fight the Nazis, they could have. But they didn’t. Carson ignores that the Nazis enjoyed significant popular support, or at least, broad acquiescence.

  1. James's Avatar James

    Most ppl have minimal to no interest in the past. They claim "dwelling on the past is unhealthy" or "Move fwd" or "get over it". As variation the past continues in one form or an other. When will humanity as a whole & individually learn?

    1. Helene's Avatar Helene

      Sadly I have to agree with you James. In fact I read on a regular basis, that living in the past is one of the causes of depression, so it is now widely advocated to live only in the here and now.

      1. Tom B's Avatar Tom B

        Helene...good point...in "reality", we can only live in the exact present, anyway...and it is a freeing feeling...Peace...Tom

  1. Dan Atatakai's Avatar Dan Atatakai

    This is much like those who believe "Columbus discovered Ohio in 1776."

  1. Joe's Avatar Joe

    Netflix has lots of Holocaust related content. It wasn't part of my schooling but we knew people that had it fresh in their minds. Revising and ignoring the facts of history is becoming all too common

    1. Dan Atatakai's Avatar Dan Atatakai

      Sadly, Joe, that is the case on many historical issues. There are many America adults who do not even know who the US fought during the Revolutionary War, let alone for what reason. The same applies to the War Between The States (I refuse to call it a "civil war" given that war is never civil.)

      1. Cliff Love's Avatar Cliff Love

        Yeah, “civil war” seems to be quite the oxymoron!

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