63% of US millennials do not that 6 million jews died in the Holocaust, study finds

Nearly two-thirds of young Americans do not know the death figures of the Holocaust, according to a new survey.

The study of young adults from 18-39 also found that over 10% thought that Jews caused the Holocaust and 23% believed that the Holocaust was either a myth, exaggerated or they were not sure.

The U.S. Millennial Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Survey, that collected data from 1,000 nationwide interviews and 200 in-state interviews, discovered that nearly half of the millennials could not even name one concentration camp.

The data has been used to rank states based on their scores in three areas: whether young adults had definitely heard about the Holocaust; whether they could name a concentration camp or ghetto; and whether they knew that 6 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.

The top-scoring state was Wisconsin with 42% of young adults meeting the criteria and the lowest state was Arkansas with 17%.

Gideon Taylor, the commissioner of the survey and the president of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, said that the results were both "shocking and saddening".

Mr Taylor said: "We need to understand why we aren't doing better in educating a younger generation about the Holocaust and the lessons of the past. This needs to serve as a wake-up call to us all, and as a road map of where government officials need to act."

In support of this, the study found that 64% of millennial respondents wanted compulsory Holocaust education in school.