Blinkie
01-25-2007, 02:46 PM
Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070122/wl_uk_afp/britainhistory_070122125729)
LONDON (AFP) - Forty-one percent of Britons believe that an event like the Holocaust could happen in the country today, given the depth of intolerance and prejudice, according to a new survey.
Furthermore, 36 percent thought that most people would do nothing about it if it did happen, in a poll released ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day on Saturday.
The YouGov poll of 2,400 Britons found that 50 percent did not know that as well as Jews, homosexuals, disabled people and the Roma community were also targeted by Nazi Germany.
A further 79 percent were unaware that black people were persecuted and killed under the Nazi regime in Germany, which ruled from 1933 to 1945.
The "alarming" results beg the question "have we really learnt anything from the genocides of our recent past?", said Stephen Smith, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust chairman.
"With increasing levels of hate-crime, prejudice and ignorance towards those that are in some way different to ourselves, we really need to be vigilant in tackling prejudice and intolerance," he said.
"As genocides in Europe, Rwanda and Bosnia have shown, it doesn't take much to turn these negative conditions into something far more calamitous.
"We need to be constantly on our guard against this, which is why we are asking the public to show their support by lighting a candle to commemorate those killed in past genocides."
Holocaust Memorial Day, a day of remembrance across the world, marks the liberation of the Nazis' Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland.
It will be marked in Britain at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle, northeast England. The national commemoration was to remember victims of the Holocaust and genocides since such as Rwanda, Bosnia and the ongoing situation in the Darfur region of Sudan.
Auschwitz survivor Alex Ward said of the survey: "These statistics emphasise it is not just about remembering -- it is also about learning the lessons to ensure the horrific experiences my friends, family and I endured are not repeated."
I am with the majority on this. I think that not only is it entirely possible, it's probable. I also agree that most people will do nothing. I see most of the world sitting back and doing nothing.
It's scary. And terribly sad.
What do you think?
LONDON (AFP) - Forty-one percent of Britons believe that an event like the Holocaust could happen in the country today, given the depth of intolerance and prejudice, according to a new survey.
Furthermore, 36 percent thought that most people would do nothing about it if it did happen, in a poll released ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day on Saturday.
The YouGov poll of 2,400 Britons found that 50 percent did not know that as well as Jews, homosexuals, disabled people and the Roma community were also targeted by Nazi Germany.
A further 79 percent were unaware that black people were persecuted and killed under the Nazi regime in Germany, which ruled from 1933 to 1945.
The "alarming" results beg the question "have we really learnt anything from the genocides of our recent past?", said Stephen Smith, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust chairman.
"With increasing levels of hate-crime, prejudice and ignorance towards those that are in some way different to ourselves, we really need to be vigilant in tackling prejudice and intolerance," he said.
"As genocides in Europe, Rwanda and Bosnia have shown, it doesn't take much to turn these negative conditions into something far more calamitous.
"We need to be constantly on our guard against this, which is why we are asking the public to show their support by lighting a candle to commemorate those killed in past genocides."
Holocaust Memorial Day, a day of remembrance across the world, marks the liberation of the Nazis' Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland.
It will be marked in Britain at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle, northeast England. The national commemoration was to remember victims of the Holocaust and genocides since such as Rwanda, Bosnia and the ongoing situation in the Darfur region of Sudan.
Auschwitz survivor Alex Ward said of the survey: "These statistics emphasise it is not just about remembering -- it is also about learning the lessons to ensure the horrific experiences my friends, family and I endured are not repeated."
I am with the majority on this. I think that not only is it entirely possible, it's probable. I also agree that most people will do nothing. I see most of the world sitting back and doing nothing.
It's scary. And terribly sad.
What do you think?