Survey: New Mexico millennials, Gen Z affirm importance of Holocaust education

LAS CRUCES — During the week leading up to Rosh Hashanah, the two-day Jewish New Year observance that began on Friday, national news headlines lamented a "shocking" lack of knowledge about the Holocaust among Americans between the ages of 18 and 40.

Responding to results of a new survey commissioned by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany measuring Holocaust awareness in the United States, commentators said results pointed to fading knowledge among millennials and Generation Z about the 20th-century genocide that killed some six million Jewish people.

The survey found that nearly two-thirds of respondents were unaware of how many Jewish people perished in the Holocaust, and that 48 percent nationwide could not name one concentration camp or ghetto. 

Claims Conference President Gideon Taylor called the data "shocking and saddening" in a statement, and added: "We need to understand why we aren't doing better in educating a younger generation about the Holocaust and the lessons of the past. This needs to serve as a wake-up call to us all, and as a road map of where government officials need to act."

In New Mexico, more than 90 percent of respondents had heard about the Holocaust at least by name and 93 percent identified the Jewish people as its victims. Other ethnic and religious groups as well as homosexuals, who were also persecuted during the Holocaust period, were included among New Mexicans' responses.

Holocaust denial registered low in the state, with only one percent denying that the Holocaust happened and seven percent stating that the number of Jewish victims had been "greatly exaggerated."

For statewide and local reporting, subscribe to the Las Cruces Sun-News today.

School was where 76 percent of New Mexicans reported learning about the Holocaust, and for the majority that information came as early as middle school; and yet a significant percentage of respondents — 44 percent — could not name a concentration camp or ghetto when asked. 

Still, 64 percent of the state's respondents agreed that Holocaust education should be compulsory in school, and 89 percent agreed with the statement, "It is important to continue teaching people about the Holocaust, in part, so it doesn’t happen again."

NMSU professor: 'My courses are full'

For Andrea Orzoff, a New Mexico State University professor who teaches courses on the Holocaust and other instances of ethnic cleansing and genocide, the survey results suggested promising signs — even if respondents missed some factual details.

"For older Americans, when they see that there are large numbers of younger Americans who don't know what Auschwitz was, that panics people," she said in an interview.

However, she said similar surveys from other countries, including European nations directly involved in the events, also included respondents who had difficulty naming sites related to the Holocaust. 

"There is a level of knowledge here that is comparable to European mastery of these facts," Orzoff said. "It's not a great thing, but Americans aren't exceptionally awful either." 

MORE:  Almost two-thirds of millennials, Gen Z don't know that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, survey finds

She added: "You're asking people between 18 and 39 about information that they got anywhere between the ages of 8 and 18. ... How much historical specificity do you remember about the stuff you were taught in middle school?" 

Meanwhile, Orzoff reported high, sustained interest in learning about the history of race and ethnicity, including the Holocaust and other genocides. 

"My courses are full," Orzoff said. "Sometimes they are there because my class fulfills a general education requirement, but they can take other gen-ed requirements. They are there because something sparks their interest ... they want to learn more." 

'Standing up is important'

From New Mexico, 60 percent of respondents reported they had seen Nazi symbols promoted on social media and/or in their communities.

That trend concerned Leon Natker, Executive Director of the New Mexico Holocaust Museum and Gellert Center for Education in Albuquerque. He pointed to the rising prevalence nationwide of hate crimes, along with the mainstreaming of white supremacist groups.

In May, the Anti-Defamation League reported that 2019 saw the highest number of reported anti-Semitic incidents since the organization began tracking them in 1979.

MORE:Border Patrol agent and teenager in Juárez play catch across the border

The museum was vandalized this summer, its front window smashed during televised funeral services for congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis, whose photograph was displayed in the window at the time, the Albuquerque Journal reported. 

"The biggest problem with the Holocaust, why it happened and why these things have happened throughout human history, is that people go, 'Well, it's really not affecting me, I shouldn't say anything — I'm not going to stick my neck out,'" Natker said.

Yet Orzoff argued the reports of Nazi messaging indicate "these folks know that these are Nazi symbols or slogans, and they recognize it as being problematic or notable. ... This is not happening in an uncaring vacuum."

Natker said better education about the Holocaust was needed, beginning as early as elementary school, with an implicit call to action. 

"What we're trying to do is build communities of 'upstanders,'" he said. "We need to teach the kids: Stand up and be a strong person... Take a moral position." 

The museum sponsors education programs Natker said will reach 22 classrooms via remote learning this fall at schools around the state. The program includes arts integration to allow children to interpret the experience of survivors, apply moral lessons and promote taking a stand against bigotry and violence.

Additionally, a traveling exhibit planned for locations statewide this year is currently in storage, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, but ready to resume when public health orders allow, Natker said. 

Sustaining Holocaust knowledge in NM

In national reporting on the survey, the Claims Council and other experts expressed dismay that 11 percent of respondents nationwide (and 15 percent in New Mexico) appeared to state that Jews were at least partly responsible for the Holocaust.

Orzoff pointed out that the question posed by surveyors — "Who or what do you think caused the Holocaust?" — was open-ended and allowed for multiple answers, but not a written response or discussion.

"It could be the case that (the question) was asked quickly and respondents assumed these were the things or elements or figures that had something to do with the Holocaust," Orzoff said. "It's hard to know how much emphasis is being placed on that term, 'caused.'"

In those results, 80 percent of respondents identified Adolf Hitler as a primary cause, 64 percent identified the Nazi party, and 37 percent identified "Germany." "Jews" was the fourth most frequent response. 

Orzoff remarked, "A lot of these questions are phrased in such a way that slightly under-informed or unsophisticated answers come off as denial."

MORE:'Hundreds of thousands, if not millions': New Mexico sees massive migratory bird deaths

While the survey found some gaps in knowledge as well as indicators of persisting anti-Semitic ideology, Orzoff also recognized signs of commitment to sustaining and sharing knowledge of the Holocaust to succeeding generations.

At 89 percent, New Mexico respondents' support for preserving and sharing knowledge of the Holocaust was the highest of all the states.

"Given our distance from this event, Americans actually not only know something about it but are committed. They desire more information and are committed to teaching it," Orzoff said. "I think the commitment shows up in (the survey's) data, but that's not what gets reported."

Noting that 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi concentration and extermination camps, Natker suggested awareness of the Holocaust among New Mexico's younger adult generations was steeped in its diversity and the oppression suffered by many of its population groups. 

"We are a state made up of many minority populations and all of them have experienced some kind of discrimination or vandalism or hate acts in the recent past," Natker said.

New Mexico was the site of a Japanese internment camp during World War II, he noted along with the state's colonial history and oppression of indigenous peoples; discrimination and violence suffered by Asian communities in the state, including recent scapegoating and attacks over the COVID-19 pandemic; ethnic tensions between white and Hispanic groups; as well as assaults and vandalism aimed at Black people and Muslims.

While the Claims Council survey could inspire reflexive criticism of younger generations of adults, Orzoff and Natker both saw signs of leadership among those same generations — in the streets as well as in the classroom. 

Natker celebrated the ethnic diversity and solidarity witnessed in this summer's Black Lives Matter demonstrations against anti-Black violence and discrimination nationwide, including demonstrations in several New Mexico cities.

"There is where the hope is," Natker said: "In the 20-somethings and the teenagers, that's where the hope is; and that's where we have to concentrate our efforts." 

Read New Mexicans' responses to the survey here:

Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.