Holocaust Memorial Day: 'Shocking' levels of denial remain

Five per cent of UK adults do not believe the Holocaust took place and one in 12 believes its scale has been exaggerated, a survey has found.

The poll of more than 2,000 people was carried out by Opinion Matters for the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT).

Almost two-thirds of respondents could not say how many Jews were murdered or "grossly" under-estimated the number

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47015184

I suppose the problem is that since it is no longer in living memory* for the vast majority of the U.K. population, I (kind of) understand why people wouldn’t know the numbers murdered, but I find the figure of 1 in 20 not believing that the Holocaust happened quite shocking.

*93% of the current U.K. population were born after 1945

[nomadking]

One of my big gripes is that they keep denying the 5 million Slavs killed. That is the bigger denial.


Link.

Approximately 11 million people were killed because of Nazi genocidal policy.
5 million of those murdered were non-Jewish
...
Christian Poles and other Slavs, notably Ukrainians and Byelorussians, were also primary targets of Nazi Germany hatred during World War II.To the Nazis, the Slavs were considered Untermenschen,or subhumans, and nothing more than obstacles to gaining territory necessary for the superior German race.

Where in that link (or elsewhere) is it denied, and who are ‘they’ that are denying it?

At the bottom of the page linked to in the OP, there was this link - https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16690175

The Nazis also killed other groups of people, including Roma ('gypsies') and disabled people. They also arrested and took away the rights of other groups, like gay people and political opponents. Many of them died as a result of their treatment.

Who was killed or persecuted in the Holocaust?
We know that the victims included:

Jewish people
Roma and Sinti people ('Gypsies')
Slavic people, especially in the Soviet Union, Poland and Yugoslavia.
Disabled people
Gay people
Black people
Jehovah's Witnesses
Political opponents

Holocaust Memorial Day is not only to remember the millions of victims of the Holocaust, but also those who have been killed in other genocides around the world

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Where in that link (or elsewhere) is it denied, and who set ‘they’ that are denying it?

So when are the 5 million Slavs ever included? They are rarely mentioned and usually just in a larger list of categories.



Eg OP's article

Survivors, politicians and members of the public will remember the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, while also marking the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide and 40 years since the end of the genocide in Cambodia.

5 million is not an unsubstantial number, especially when progress on the Eastern front reduced the potential final number.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Hugh

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47015184

I suppose the problem is that since it is no longer in living memory* for the vast majority of the U.K. population, I (kind of) understand why people wouldn’t know the numbers murdered, but I find the figure of 1 in 20 not believing that the Holocaust happened quite shocking.

*93% of the current U.K. population were born after 1945

Sadly l cannot say l am surprised given some of the appalling ignorance there is out there.

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Where in that link (or elsewhere) is it denied, and who are ‘they’ that are denying it?

At the bottom of the page linked to in the OP, there was this link - https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16690175

3rd in the list and no mention of numbers.

Denial isn't just about directly disputing something, but also omitting something because it doesn't suit an agenda.

If you went out on the streets and ask how many were killed, the biggest "vote" will be for 6 million. Little publicity is given to the 5 million.

With the internet it is easy to search for RARE mentions. If the biggest number of people refer to 6 million, then the biggest number of people are technically "deniers" because of the missing 5 million. Not their fault as the 5 million are so rarely mentioned and where they are the number is not mentioned.

Although Jews were the Nazis' main target, a wide range of other groups were persecuted during the Holocaust, including gay people, minority races, political opponents like communists and trade unionists, and Jehovah's Witnesses. A quarter of a million mentally ill and disabled people and half a million Roma (also known as gypsies) were killed.

Slavs missing from that list.

The plan was partially realized during the war, resulting directly and indirectly in the death of 9.4 to 11.4 million ethnic Slavs by starvation, disease, execution or extermination through labor,

[Carth]

To be honest, I'm 64 and couldn't really guess the numbers killed, or all the nationalities of them.

I do know that it happened though, and it was a terrible thing.

Perhaps the PC world we live in has a bearing on the younger generations knowledge of such matters, there are many subjects which get little mention due to the 'sensitive' nature of them.

[denphone]

Are events like the Holocaust taught in school?.

History is a subject that gets dropped by some students in year 10 because they choose to do the other humanities for GCSE. I know from my own experience that many found modern history somewhat boring and a bit of a turn off..

Plus some on the the internet know how to twist facts for the gullible among those who have been poorly educated.It's not just Muslim jihadists that target the vulnerable and lost.

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by nomadking

One of my big gripes is that they keep denying the 5 million Slavs killed. That is the bigger denial.


Link.

11 million Chinese civilians were murdered by the Japanese in horrifically similar ways to the Nazis and they never get a mention, the Japanese even tried to erase it from their children's school books recently. Up to 2 million German mainly women and children died when the east was ethnically cleansed at the end of the war to, it's okay though, those children were Nazis

Originally Posted by Carth

To be honest, I'm 64 and couldn't really guess the numbers killed, or all the nationalities of them.

I do know that it happened though, and it was a terrible thing.

Perhaps the PC world we live in has a bearing on the younger generations knowledge of such matters, there are many subjects which get little mention due to the 'sensitive' nature of them.

I've heard this said a few times now, that it never happened or the numbers were hugely exageratted and challenged the person saying it on every occasion and on every occasion it was a Muslim saying it. Sadly only on one occasion did I even remotely get through to them. I wondered how prevalent these opinions were in the Muslim community at the time and looking at these figures I'd say pretty widespread.

Originally Posted by Carth

To be honest, I'm 64 and couldn't really guess the numbers killed, or all the nationalities of them.

I do know that it happened though, and it was a terrible thing.

Perhaps the PC world we live in has a bearing on the younger generations knowledge of such matters, there are many subjects which get little mention due to the 'sensitive' nature of them.

I’m 62, and both my children* were taught it in Key Stage 3 (ages 11-14), and it is still the only compulsory part of the History curriculum.

https://www.het.org.uk/about/holocaust-education-uk

*who are now 31 and 27

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

11 million Chinese civilians were murdered by the Japanese in horrifically similar ways to the Nazis and they never get a mention, the Japanese even tried to erase it from their children's school books recently. Up to 2 million German mainly women and children died when the east was ethnically cleansed at the end of the war to, it's okay though, those children were Nazis



I've heard this said a few times now, that it never happened or the numbers were hugely exageratted and challenged the person saying it on every occasion and on every occasion it was a Muslim saying it. Sadly only on one occasion did I even remotely get through to them. I wondered how prevalent these opinions were in the Muslim community at the time and looking at these figures I'd say pretty widespread.

The context we're talking about is Germany and WW2. If you're talking in general, then you would have to include the actions of Stalin and Mao.

The context for Holocaust Memorial Day is genocide, not mass murder.

Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) encourages remembrance in a world scarred by genocide. We promote and support Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) – the international day on 27 January to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, the millions of people killed under Nazi Persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by nomadking

The context we're talking about is Germany and WW2. If you're talking in general, then you would have to include the actions of Stalin and Mao.

Why wouldn't you include them? As far as shits go they were two of the biggest and those Chinese were murdered in WW2 btw

Originally Posted by denphone

Are events like the Holocaust taught in school?.

It was for me. With some depth too.

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

11 million Chinese civilians were murdered by the Japanese in horrifically similar ways to the Nazis and they never get a mention, the Japanese even tried to erase it from their children's school books recently. Up to 2 million German mainly women and children died when the east was ethnically cleansed at the end of the war to, it's okay though, those children were Nazis

Japanese actions in China and elsewhere in Asia do get mentioned sometimes but a lot less. I think it's natural that people know a lot more about historical events in their own cultures than others though. We were involved a lot more in the European front and are more closely connected in terms of culture and history to Europe than Asia.

In the same way people in the street around the UK are much more likely to name a historic French monarch, or an infamous European battle, than they are to name a Japanese emperor.