One in five young Germans have never heard of Auschwitz

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

A survey conducted two days ahead of International Holocaust Memorial Day revealed today that 21% of Germans between the ages of 18-29 do no know that Auschwitz was a Nazi death camp, French news agency AFP reported.

Nearly a third of the 1,000 people questioned were unaware that Auschwitz, possibly the most notorious of the Nazi concentration camps was even located in today's Poland.

The poll comes just ahead of the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops on January 27 1945. Traditionally, Germany marks this anniversary with official memorial ceremonies for the victims of the Holocaust.

The survey also showed that of people aged 30 and older, 95% had heard of Auschwitz and the atrocities committed there, but fewer than 70% were able to name the country it lies in.

The British Daily Mail also reported that almost half of the Germans polled stated that they had never visited the site of a concentration camp, despite the fact that Germany has turned all the camps on its soil into memorials for the victims.