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Young people at the Sachsenhausen memorial (symbol image)
Photo:
Juergen Ritter / IMAGO
Almost 80 years after the end of the Second World War, how important is it for young people to come to terms with the Nazi era?
What are you particularly interested in and where are there gaps in knowledge?
Bielefeld University is investigating these questions in a large-scale youth study that was presented this Tuesday.
Deficits are shown, among other things, in relation to the existing historical factual knowledge:
Only just under half of the 16 to 25 year olds surveyed can fully and correctly name the period of National Socialist rule.
More than half of the respondents know at least three groups of victims of National Socialism.
One in five respondents can only name one victim group or none at all.
Individual groups of victims are particularly little known.
Less than half of those surveyed named sick people and people with disabilities as a group of victims, and less than a third named Sinti and Roma.
At the same time, young people have a strong interest in the Nazi era, in historical places and in possible points of contact between German history and the present.
According to the »MEMO« study, their interest is even greater on average than in older population groups.
63 percent of young adults, but only 53 percent on average across all age groups, state that they dealt intensively with National Socialism.
According to the study's authors, one's own educational background and that of one's parents are decisive for the discussion.
Other factors such as age, gender or family background are less important.
The vast majority, around three quarters of 16 to 25 year olds, do not question the point of dealing with the history of National Socialism.
»Young adults are often accused of being historically and politically disinterested.
However, our survey paints a picture of a largely committed and interested generation,” said one of the authors of the study, Jonas Rees, from the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at Bielefeld University.
At the same time, according to Rees, "systematic gaps with regard to very basic knowledge of historical facts" became apparent.
According to the study, it is important for most adolescents and young adults to close precisely these gaps: 75 percent of those surveyed would like them to learn new factual knowledge.
Around half would like to be able to visit historical sites and hope that links between the past and the present will be made in educational offerings.
The desire for "entertainment" only plays a subordinate role, according to a statement.
In terms of content, the greatest interest is in the social circumstances of the Nazi crimes and the role and responsibility of the supposedly uninvolved German population.
60 percent of those questioned say that dealing with the Nazi history made them aware of issues such as exclusion and discrimination.
One in three reports feeling at least partially discriminated against in everyday life.
This applies in particular to young people from migrant and low-income families and to young people whose parents have a low level of education.
Almost half of the young people, 44 percent, also do not feel politically represented.
As a society, Germany would be well advised to take the group of young adults seriously as future bearers of a culture of remembrance, says study author Rees.
The importance that the memory of the Nazi crimes have today shows "not only what we collectively remember, but also what we collectively forget."
For the "MEMO" study, 3,485 representative young people between the ages of 16 and 25 were surveyed online in September/October 2021 and 838 participants again in September 2022.
It is funded by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ).
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