Young Canadians most likely to be Holocaust skeptics, poll finds

The youngest Canadians are the most likely to believe Jews exaggerate the devastation of the Holocaust, according to a new national poll.

The survey, conducted by Leger for the Association for Canadian Studies, found that Canadians between the ages of 18 and 24 were considerably more likely to agree with the statement that “Jews exaggerate the Holocaust,” at 16 per cent, compared with 25 to 34-year-olds at seven per cent and those between 55 and 64 at five per cent.

When evaluated alongside a respondent’s view of Jews, more broadly, the study found that those with the strongest belief that Jews exaggerated the Shoah held the worst views of the community. More than 52 per cent of those agreeing that the Holocaust was exaggerated by Jews held a negative opinion of the community. Conversely, 81 per cent of respondents who “strongly disagreed” with that idea held positive feelings toward the Jewish community.

The Holocaust led to the deaths of some six-million Jews across Europe between 1941 and 1945.

The poll also found a strong correlation between the belief Jews exaggerate the Holocaust and positive feelings about Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that launched the October 7 attacks, which triggered the ongoing war.

Thirty-two per cent of those who say Jews exaggerate the Holocaust have a positive view of Hamas, the poll said, although 56 per cent of those who say Jews exaggerate the Holocaust hold negative views about Hamas. Just eight per cent of those who strongly disagree that the Holocaust is exaggerated hold positive views of Hamas.

Just seven per cent of those who side with Israel in the war believe the Holocaust is exaggerated, while 88 per cent of those who side with Israel say the Holocaust is not exaggerated. Around one-quarter of those who side with Hamas agree the Holocaust is exaggerated.

Jack Jedwab, president of the Association for Canadian Studies, said the findings are disconcerting, and come at a time when hate crimes targeting the Jewish community are at an all-time high. Jedwab viewed the results as confirming “the connection between antisemitism and Holocaust skepticism.”

Notably, those with the highest levels of Holocaust skepticism are the least likely, at nine per cent, to acknowledge they have a “very good understanding” of the meaning of genocide, compared to the 82 per cent who say they have a good understanding of the meaning of genocide and say the Holocaust is not exaggerated.

“Outright Holocaust deniers are a marginal group and while not diminishing the danger they represent, the rising number of skeptics needs a great deal of attention educators and policy-makers,” Jedwab wrote in a statement to National Post. “The challenge requiring urgent attention is the significant increase in learning about the Holocaust via social media that carries a considerable risk of modifying or eroding the knowledge acquired in museums and classrooms.”

Jedwab applauded the Ontario government’s announcement on Monday against the backdrop of Holocaust Education Week that the province would be investing over $500,000 in various Canadian Jewish groups to develop workshops and content aimed at addressing this knowledge shortcoming.

“There needs to greater attention and resources directed at combating the rise in skepticism about the Holocaust that is attributable to information that is being disseminated outside the classroom,” Jedwab said.

Such an initiative “requires a different strategy that takes into accounts where most people acquire information about the Holocaust and how it is being applied.”

“I believe it is less about formal education and more a function of messaging from certain badly motivated influencers that seek to reeducate youth with disinformation about the Holocaust,” Jedwab said. “On the issue of self-assessed understanding of the meaning of genocide, as revealed in the survey, those reporting a very good understanding of its meaning are far more likely to support Israel over Hamas.”

The poll was conducted between Sept. 20 and Sept. 24, 2024, with a sample of 1,612 Canadians. A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey for comparison purposes. A probability sample of 1612 respondents would have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 per cent, or 19 times out of 20.

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