Claims Conference poll reveals worrying data • Nearly half of young people do not know about the Vichy-Nazi government's cooperation • 35% believe there is more anti-Semitism today

• Students in France visit Holocaust memorial project // Photo: AFP

Concurrent with the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron for a first visit to Israel in the Holocaust Forum, the Jewish Claims Conference publishes a very worrying survey of Holocaust awareness in France. According to the results of the survey, 25% of millennials in France have not heard of the Holocaust, and 45% do not know that the Vichy government - which ruled half of France during WWII, cooperated with the Nazis in their persecution and destruction.

30% of all French participants in the survey estimated that the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust was two million or less. About half of the respondents did not know that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust by the Germans and their collaborators. This is the highest figure among four countries where a similar survey has been conducted in recent years - the US, Canada, Austria and now France.

58% of all French respondents estimated that France was both a victim of the Nazis and also a participant in the Nazi crimes - a similar figure recorded in Austria.

However, 35% of French respondents estimate that there is more anti-Semitism in their country today than ten years ago, while 34% estimate that the level of anti-Semitism in France has not changed in the last decade. 20% of young respondents think that expressing anti-Semitic attitudes is acceptable, compared to 10% who think so among all respondents.

Robert Ains, CEO of CRIF, the Council of Jewish Institutions in France, commented on the results of the survey by saying they should be studied with care. "France has done a lot in the field of Holocaust education, but we all know that education needs to be re-tested every time and adapted to each generation," Ains emphasized.