Bottoms up! (Some) British students think Auschwitz is a type of beer

This is not quite a hoax, unlike the rumor that UK schools do not teach about the Holocaust (see Holocaust Education in UK: Clarifying rumors and hoaxes). British kids thing Auschwitz is a kind of beer - a lethal kick to this lager. This news should be put in perspective. Ignorance of history in general is rife. It is probable that most of those kids think Winston Churchill is a cigarette brand. Too bad there were no control questions in this study. Actually, only 2% of British kids thought Auschwitz is a kind of beer and 10% could not identify it. Remember that in USA, 2% of adult voters didn't know who George Bush was.

 

British schoolkids believe Auschwitz is a type of beer

A new study shows that around 10 percent British schoolchildren could not identify Auschwitz as a Nazi death camp, and 2 percent believe it is a kind of beer.

 

The poll of 1,000 pupils between the ages of 11 to 16 was conducted by the London Jewish Cultural Center and Miramax film company, to mark the launch of the DVD edition of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

According to the survey, 60 percent of pupils did not know what the Final Solution was, and 20 percent defined the phrase as the talks that brought an end to World War II.

 

Just 37 percent of the children polled knew that six million Jews perished in the Holocaust.

 

"We are not surprised by the results, although we are disappointed," said Stephanie Rose of the London Jewish Cultural Center.