More than 80% of Jews in Israel believe that in a few years from now, the Nazi genocide of Jews during World War II will become a vague historical event, survey finds ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day.
More than 80% of Israelis believe that in a few years from now, the memory of the Holocaust will become a vague historical event, one of a series of difficult incidents in this history of the Jewish people.
In a survey conducted by the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel and the Geocartography Institute, 36.6% of respondents said that such a situation was “definitely possible” and 45% said it was “possible.” The survey was conducted among more than 500 Israelis, who constitute a representative sample of the adult Jewish population in Israel. According to Colette Avital, chairwoman of the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors, these figures should concern the State of Israel’s leaders and everyone who cares about the memory of the Holocaust and the continued existence of the Jewish people.
March of the Living. Tackling the tendency to forget the Holocaust now and in the future (Archive photo: AFP) “These alarming figures require the education system and the institutions involved in commemorating the victims of the Holocaust to reassess the issue of Holocaust education for the future generations,” Avital said. Avner Shalev, chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial for the victims of the Holocaust, said in response that the institution’s International School for Holocaust Studies has already come up with new ways to preserve the memory of the Holocaust, which is vital not only for the Jewish people but for the entire world. He noted that the efforts would be increased in light of the survey’s findings. Dr. Shmuel Rosenman, chairman and CEO of the March of the Living, which will be held at the Auschwitz death camp this Thursday, and his deputy, Aharon Tamir, addressed the survey’s findings from Poland. They stressed that the major educational-traditional enterprise they have been heading for many years now is one of the most important and efficient ways of tackling the tendency to forget the Holocaust now and in the future.
