Survey says more young Canadians believe the history of the Holocaust is exaggerated
On Monday the world will mark eight decades since the liberation of Auschwitz, the notorious Nazi extermination camp where more than a million people, most of them Jews, were murdered during the Second World War. But as world leaders and Auschwitz survivors prepare to gather at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in southern Poland, a new survey suggests a growing number of Canadians believe the history of the Holocaust has been exaggerated.
A panel survey commissioned by the Association of Canadian Studies and conducted by the polling firm Leger last spring found 18 per cent of Canadians between 18 and 24 years old agreed with the statement “I think the Holocaust was exaggerated.”
Among Canadians between 25 and 34 years old, 15 per cent agreed with that statement.
The survey queried 1,519 Canadians between May 17 and May 20, 2024. A margin of error cannot be assigned to panel surveys.
A Leger poll conducted in February 2024, that asked the same question, found 16 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds agreed with the statement as did eight per cent of 25 to 34 year olds.
The number of Canadians between 35 to 44 years old agreeing with that statement increased from five to eight per cent between the February and May surveys, while the number in the 45 to 54 age cohort increased from four to 11 per cent.
Deborah Lyons, Canada’s special envoy on antisemitism and Holocaust remembrance, said in an interview Friday that the world faces a challenge as the number of living Holocaust survivors continues to dwindle.
“A story like the Holocaust is first and foremost an emotional story. It is not just about the facts, and so losing those survivors now as they pass on is particularly challenging for us to work through new ways of
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