One in eight young Germans today say they have never heard of the Holocaust or Shoah, the term for the systematic killing of Jews during the Nazi era, according to a survey published on Thursday.
In a survey of young people between the ages of 18 and 29, 12 percent of respondents said they had never heard of either of the two terms for the systematic killing of Jews under the German Nazis and their allies during World War II.
That share is even higher in Austria, 14 percent, Romania, 15, and France, with a whopping 46 percent.
The research was commissioned by the Jewish Compensation Claims Conference, at a time of the rise of the far right in Europe.
Around 1.000 young people were surveyed in Germany, France, Austria, the UK, Poland, Hungary, Romania and the USA.
In all of these countries, a significant proportion of respondents were unaware that some six million Jews were killed during the Nazi era. In Germany, it was two-fifths.
About 15 percent of respondents said that no more than two million Jews were killed. In Romania, 32 percent said that, more than anywhere else.
In Germany, two percent of respondents agreed with the statement that the Holocaust did not happen at all.
A large majority in almost all countries surveyed assessed that something like the Holocaust could happen today: In the US 76 percent, in Britain 69 percent, in France 63 percent, Germany and Austria 62 and 61 percent.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany reacted with alarm to the results of the research.
"The worrying rise in anti-Semitic verbal and physical violence we are seeing in Germany is largely rooted in disinformation and a lack of data about the Holocaust," said Council President Josef Schuster.
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