UK, Canada polls show widespread skepticism about official Holocaust history

The results of a recent UK opinion poll on the Holocaust show that significant minorities reject or question official Holocaust history and that a majority are opposed to criminalizing Holocaust denial. An article on the poll said,

Asked whether the Holocaust was a “myth”, “had happened but its scale had been exaggerated”, or that “six million Jews had been killed”, 28 per cent of 18- to 29-year-olds responded that they did not know. And the overall percentage of people who answered that they did not know was 17 percent.

1,132 people from around Britain were surveyed for the poll which was published in last weekend’s Jewish Chronicle newspaper.

. . . . Just one per cent of the overall survey of 1,132 people thought the Holocaust was a myth, and only four per cent believed that the extent of the atrocities had been deliberately exaggerated by Jewish or pro-Israel groups.

While Germany last week said it was aiming to make Holocaust denial a Europe-wide offence, only 16 per cent of respondents agreed, with 63 per cent specifically coming out against it.

Though a majority of respondents were against criminalizing Holocaust denial, I find it disturbing that only 63 percent were against it and that 16 percent were in favor of it. Also, I am disappointed that only 4 percent believe that the Holocaust was exaggerated, but find it encouraging that 28 percent of 18-to-28-year-olds are skeptical of official Holocaust history.

Other commentary on the above poll is here.

An earlier UK poll (January 2004) showed the following results in response to the statement, "The scale of the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews during the Second World War has been exaggerated":

Agree strongly -- 10%
Tend to agree -- 4%
Neither agree nor disagree -- 9%
Tend to disagree -- 8%
Disagree strongly -- 62%
Don't know -- 6%

The above results show significant minorities rejecting or questioning official Holocaust history.

An article on a poll of British Muslims said,

NOP also found a tendency for British Muslims to believe some, well, strange things. 45% thought that 9/11 was a conspiracy between the USA and Israel. 36% thought that Princess Diana was murdered to stop her marrying a Muslim. . More seriously, only 29% thought that the holocaust occured, 2% denied it happened entirely, 17% think it was exaggerated (which is the stance proposed by most of today’s holocaust deniers), 24% said they had “no opinion” and 23% didn’t know what the holocaust was. (emphasis added)

Canada is a country that persecutes and prosecutes holocaust deniers -- Canada jailed Ernst Zundel and deported him to his native Germany, knowing that the Germans would arrest him. A 2005 Canadian opinion poll asked the unprompted question, "Approximately how many Jews were murdered by the Nazis during World War II?", and got the following responses, with only 23 percent giving the most commonly accepted official figure of 6 million and 34 percent answering "don't know" or refusing to answer (page 4):

Under 100,000 -- 4%
100,000-500,000 -- 5%
500,000-999,000 -- 3%
1-5 million -- 18%
6 million -- 23%
More than 6 million -- 10%
Otner non-numeral answer -- 3%
{UNPROMPTED] Don't know/Refused -- 34%

The above poll is also discussed here. The above poll used a relatively small sample size, 454 respondents. I think that a sample size of about 1000 is considered to be about the best compromise between (1) limiting sample size to keep costs down and (2) limiting the margins of mathematical sampling error.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find a reliable poll of Americans' opinions on the Holocaust -- see Confusing and inconsistent polls about the holocaust. I wonder why.