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January 24, 2005
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The Holocaust on the Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz: Few Lessons May Have Been Learned
A COMPAS Poll for the National Post
On the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, the National Post commissioned COMPAS to delve into how Canadians perceive the Holocaust and what lessons they draw from it.

The portrait of Canadians to emerge is one of empathetic people who largely do not blame the victims of Hitler’s killing machine but know little history and do not volunteer a commitment to action to prevent genocides in the future.

The most sanguine finding is that only 9% blame the Jews of mid-20th century Europe for their own fate - marginally down from 15% in 2002 and 16% in 1986.

Many Canadians nonetheless know little about this period in history and many have a passive attitude about preventing genocides in the future:
  • Asked if Jews during the Holocaust were partly, mostly, or not at all to blame for their “persecution,” 23% say that they do not know;
  • Asked how many European Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, 34% volunteer that they do not know or are unfamiliar with that period of human history and 12% volunteer numbers in the thousands rather than millions;
  • Asked what lessons should be drawn from the Holocaust, more than a fifth say that they either do not know or are too unfamiliar with World War II to have an opinion–only 3% volunteer a clear and explicit view that Canada should take an active role in preventing future genocides;
  • Asked how democratic countries should respond in situations like the recent Iranian threats to nuclearize Israel, 24% volunteered that they did not know while 6% say that democratic countries should not get involved.

A minority of respondents perceive their country as passive in the face of evil and worry about it. As one respondent put it, “Genocide is still happening today in Africa and [we] are unaffected about this because of ignorance and indifference.” “Millions of people died in Africa in 1994,” observed another, “and Canada didn't do anything to help.”
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