Claims Conference head backs national Holocaust education study amid ‘tremendous lack of knowledge’

A proposed national study of Holocaust education in U.S. public schools is gaining support from Jewish organizations and lawmakers amid concerns about declining knowledge of Americans about the Shoah and the spread of Holocaust denial and Jew-hatred.

The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan federal agency, estimated on Tuesday that conducting the study required under the Holocaust Education and Antisemitism Lessons Act, S. 332, would cost less than $500,000 for fiscal years 2026-31.

Spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds, and the legislation would not affect direct spending or revenues.

The study would examine whether Holocaust education is required or offered, what standards and curricula schools use, how much classroom time is devoted to the Holocaust, what instructional materials teachers use and how schools assess students’ knowledge.

It would also examine whether students are being taught to identify and analyze antisemitism, bigotry, hate and genocide in historical and contemporary contexts.

Gideon Taylor, president of the Claims Conference, told JNS that the organization’s surveys suggest a “tremendous lack of knowledge on the part of younger people about the Holocaust.”

A 2020 Claims Conference survey of U.S. Millennials and Gen Z found that 48% could not name a single concentration camp or ghetto among more than 40,000 established during the Holocaust.

The survey also found that 41% of Millennials believed 2 million or fewer Jews were killed during the Holocaust, while 63% of young American adults in a separate 2018 Claims Conference survey did not know that about 6 million Jews were murdered.

“Our studies show the results,” Taylor said. “What this study will do is show what actually happens on the ground.”

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum said that such research is increasingly urgent as the number of Holocaust survivors declines.

“Undertaking ongoing, rigorous research to identify the most effective practices in Holocaust education is essential,” a museum spokesman told JNS. “Quality Holocaust education depends on this, and it has never been more urgent.”

The spokesman also cited the rise of Holocaust denial and antisemitic conspiracy theories worldwide.

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), a co-sponsor of S. 332 and a member of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, said the legislation is part of the effort to ensure future generations understand the Holocaust.

“We owe it to our future generations to preserve and teach the truth of our past—no matter how ugly that truth is,” Alsobrooks told JNS.

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), another co-sponsor, stated that Jewish communities are facing “real threats.” He added that antisemitic incidents in the United States have increased and become deadlier.

With Gallego and Alsobrooks, current Senate cosponsors include Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).

Taylor of the Claims Conference told JNS that just requiring schools to teach about the Holocaust is not enough.

“There has to be training of the teachers. There have to be materials available,” he said. “There has to be a system, a plan. There has to be evaluation, an assessment. All of those things are critical.”

Taylor said that the study could identify successful educational models, expose gaps and provide guidance to policymakers at the federal, state and local levels.

“It’s not enough to have a mandate requiring states to teach their schools to teach Holocaust education,” Taylor told JNS. “You have to go beyond that.”