Poll: More than half of Austrians believe Holocaust could occur again

More than half of Austrians believe that something like the Holocaust could happen again in Europe, according to a survey released Thursday. 

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany survey found that 58 percent of Austrians polled said they believe something like the Holocaust could happen again in other European countries.

Thirty-one percent said something like the Holocaust could happen in Austria and 47 percent believed similar events could transpire in the U.S. 

{mosads} In addition, the survey found significant gaps in Holocaust knowledge in the country, as 56 percent of respondents did not know that more than 6 million Jewish people were killed in the Holocaust. This figure includes the 36 percent of respondents who believed the figure was less than two million. 

Half of Austrians surveyed believe that the United States has “a great deal” or “many” neo-Nazis, compared to 36 percent who said the same thing about Austria. 

“We are seeing disturbing trends pointing to the lack of Holocaust knowledge,” said Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany President Julius Berman in a statement about the group’s survey, the third it has conducted in the past year. 

“Without education, we risk the history of the Holocaust being distorted and otherwise denied and those who were murdered being forgotten,” he said. “Effective education is paramount towards ensuring that what happened in the past does not repeat itself.”

Researchers surveyed 1,000 Austrians over the age of 18 between Feb. 22 and March 1. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.