A new national Holocaust museum in Canberra, not far from Parliament House, is expected to start construction this year with the federal government pledging an extra $1.3 million to complete it, just as a new survey finds a quarter of Australians know little to nothing about the horrors of the Holocaust.
It is International Holocaust Remembrance Day which marks the liberation 77 years ago of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, the largest of the World War II Nazi death camps, where more than a million people were killed.
Marking the day and amid reports of anti-Semitic incidents in Australia, a new survey of 3500 Australians has found the last century systematic, state-sponsored atrocity is fading from memories. The Gandel Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness survey, undertaken by Deakin University, found 24 per cent of those surveyed had little to no knowledge of the Holocaust, with that number rising to 30 per cent among younger adults.
“It is concerning right across the board if you think about the destruction of six million lives. Unprecedented in any modern history,” acting Education Minister Stuart Robert told The Canberra Times.
“In Melbourne, you have more Holocaust survivors, outside of Israel, than any other city on earth. So our connection is quite extraordinary in terms of what it is. And, of course, we have our connection militarily. So it is concerning.”
Read the article by Karen Barlowin The Canberra Times.