A new survey has found that nearly two-thirds of young people in the US are not aware of basic facts related to the annihilation of Jewish people during the Holocaust.
The study, commissioned by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, found a "worrying lack of basic Holocaust knowledge" among adults under 40, with 63 per cent of those surveyed not knowing that six million Jews were murdered at the hands of the Nazis during World War II.
Despite the factual evidence for the Holocaust, many respondents questioned the veracity of the details surrounding the genocide. Shockingly, some 23 per cent of young adults surveyed said they believed the Holocaust was either a myth, had been exaggerated or that they weren't sure about the facts.
Gideon Taylor, president of the Claims Conference, told the Guardian that the survey's findings were "shocking and saddening".
"They underscore why we must act now while Holocaust survivors are still with us to voice their stories," he explained. "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."
Greg Schneider, executive vice president of the Conference, added to NBC News: "The most important lesson is that we can't lose any more time...if we let these trends continue for another generation, the crucial lessons from this terrible part of history could be lost."