Education about the Holocaust and antisemitism is essential to combating antisemitic attitudes.
Despite the demonstrated benefits of school programs, only 25 states have Holocaust education mandates. Therefore, it is critical to assess the public’s views on the importance of Holocaust and antisemitism education. To evaluate the public’s views on Holocaust and antisemitism education and mandates, ADL (Anti-Defamation League) recruited a nationally representative sample of 1,000 Americans online via Qualtrics from March 3 to March 15, 2023. Participants used a 6-point scale ranging from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree” on a series of questions related to teaching the Holocaust and antisemitism to students.
Overall, participants overwhelmingly agreed that students should learn about the Holocaust and about antisemitism, regardless of political affiliation or ideology: 91% of participants agreed (“somewhat agree” or stronger) that “high school students should learn about the Holocaust.” 87.4% agreed (“somewhat agree” or stronger) that “high school students should learn about antisemitism throughout history and today.”
Participants also overwhelmingly supported mandates and government reporting: 88.2% of participants agreed (“somewhat agree” or stronger) that “high schools should be required to teach about the Holocaust,” and 79.3% agreed (“somewhat agree” or stronger) that “high schools should have to report that they have taught students about the Holocaust.” Figure 1 summarizes these results.
Support for Holocaust and antisemitism education was high across different demographic groups. For example, over 80% of white Americans, Black/African Americans, and Spanish/Latin Americans/Hispanic Americans supported high schoolers learning about the Holocaust and about antisemitism. Support was similarly high across religious groups, with over 85% of Protestants, Catholics, and not particularly religious Americans supporting high schoolers learning about the Holocaust and antisemitism. Finally, support was also high across the political spectrum: 91% of liberal and conservative respondents supported Holocaust education, with political conservatives 9% less likely to support educational mandates.
