TO: Members of the Senate and Assembly Education Committees RE: S.121 Kaplan/ A. 472 Rozic
DATE: April 6, 2021
Agudath Israel of America supports the passage of S.121 Kaplan / A.472 Rozic a bill that would authorize the commissioner of education to conduct a study regarding courses of study on the Holocaust within the state.
Young adults in the US do not know enough about the Holocaust. About 12% of young Americans (18-39) have not heard of the Holocaust, while almost half cannot name a single concentration camp or ghetto (of which there were over 40,000), and 36% think that less than two million Jews perished in the Holocaust. Perhaps even more disturbing, is that the state of New York, which is home to the highest percentage of Jews in the US, ranks first in those who believe that the Jews are to blame for the Holocaust at 19%, with 28% also believing that
the Holocaust is a myth or has been exaggerated, again the highest in the nation. Young New Yorkers rank 41st out of the 50 states in overall knowledge of the Holocaust.
At the same time that Holocaust knowledge is extremely low, anti-Semitism is high and rising, especially in New York. For example, in 2020, 87% of religiously motivated hate crimes in New York City were anti-Jewish according to NYPD hate crime statistics. Holocaust denial and distortion are high, with about half of young adults reporting to have seen Holocaust denial or distortion on social media or online.
It is clear to us that knowledge of the Holocaust for young New Yorkers is lacking and anti- Semitism is disturbingly prevalent. It is the belief of Agudath Israel of America that this bill is imperative in the fight against hate and anti-Semitism.
For all of the above we support this bill and urge its passage.
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