About a quarter of the Dutch born after 1980 believe that the Holocaust is a myth or that the number of victims is significantly inflated, according to a survey published today (Wednesday).
The Netherlands is one of six countries surveyed regarding the question of Holocaust awareness by the Claims Conference organization, which takes care of material compensation for Holocaust survivors.
The other countries in the survey are Austria, Canada, France, Great Britain and the United States.
The survey included 2,000 respondents over the age of 18.
12% of those surveyed in the Netherlands said that the Holocaust was invented or inflated - the highest percentage of all the other countries that participated in the survey.
When examining the answers of Dutch people born after 1980, the figure rises to 23%, compared to 15% in the United States and Great Britain.
In addition, only half of those surveyed supported the attempts of public leaders to admit and apologize for the failure of the Netherlands to protect the Jews in the Holocaust.
Memorial wall to Anne Frank in Georgia (Photo: Yoav Itiel)
In the video: a member of the team of experts who investigated the Anne Frank affair talks about the conclusions of the study (Reuters photo)
"It's not very shocking, it's also very serious...as a society, we still have a lot of work to do. We must do it quickly," Dutch Justice Minister Dylan Ysilgoz-Zagrios tweeted in response to the survey's findings.
Claims Conference president Gideon Taylor said in a statement that the findings are part of a growing trend.
"Survey after survey, we continue to see a decrease in information and awareness about the Holocaust. Also disturbing is the growing trend of Holocaust denial and distortion," said Taylor.
Before World War II, about 150,000 Jews lived in the Netherlands.
About 75% of them were murdered.
The Anne Frank Foundation in Amsterdam called for expanding Holocaust studies in schools.
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