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rofessor Hank Greenspan
considers hard-core anti-
Semitism and Holocaust
denial part of the same
phenomenon.
So when a national survey
found the vast majority of Amer-
icans believe the Holocaust oc-
curred, the University of
Michigan professor was not sur-
prised with its findings.
"The numbers tend to be con-
sistent with some estimates of
hard-core anti-Semitism, people
who believe the worst tradition-
al stereotypes about Jews," Pro-
fessor Greenspan said.
As part of a monthly phone
survey, EPIC/MRA, of Lansing,
and Mitchell Research of East
Lansing recently asked 1,000 reg-
istered voters from across the
country to respond to the follow-
ing question:
"Most historians say that six
million Jews were exterminated
during World War II in what is
called the Holocaust. However,
some people and organizations
claim that the Holocaust never
happened. Based on your under-
standing and belief about World
War II history, how certain are
you that the Holocaust and the
extermination of six million Jews
really happened — are you very
certain, fairly certain, only some-
what certain or not certain at
all?"
Eighty-two percent said they
p
were very certain and 10 percent
said they were fairly certain.
Three percent said they were
only somewhat certain, 4 percent
were not certain at all and 1 per-
cent were undecided or did not
know.
"It (conducting the survey)
seemed like an appropriate top-
ic at an appropriate time," said
EPIC/MRA's Bernie Porn. "Es-
pecially now, with groups and in-
dividuals vocally denying the
Holocaust."
Mr. Porn and Steven Mitchell,
of Mitchell Research, decided to
ask the question to coincide with
the 50th anniversary of the end
of World War II and the libera-
tion of the Nazi death camps.
The survey results are gener-
ally consistent with other Holo-
caust denial findings.
According to a Gallup Poll con-
ducted in January 1994, less
than 0.5 percent responded that
the Holocaust definitely did not
happen. Seventy-nine percent
said it definitely occurred.
According to American Jewish
Committee figures released this
year, just over 1 percent of the
American population denies the
existence of the Holocaust.
The AJCommittee poll asked
991 people the question: -Does it
seem possible to you that the
Nazi extermination of the Jews
never happened, or do you feel
certain that it happened?
Most Americans believe the Holocaust happened.
One percent said it was possi-
ble the Holocaust never hap-
pened. Up to another 10 percent
of Americans expressed some
doubt or uncertainty. A majority
felt certain it happened.
The AJCommittee poll was re-
done after results from an origi-
nal survey were considered
flawed due to the wording of the
question. The survey originally
found 22 percent of adults
thought it was possible the Holo-
caust never occurred.
Mr. Mitchell said he was
pleased with the wording of its
question and does not expect it
to be an issue. Although he would
like to have seen 100 percent cer-
"The numbers tend
to be consistent."
— Hank Greenspan
tainty regarding the existence of
the Holocaust, he was satisfied
with the results.
His sentiments were echoed by
Professor Greenspan, who is con-
cerned by another statistic.
"While there are some people
who doubt the existence of the
Holocaust, there is a larger per-
centage of people who know
about it but don't know much,"
he said. "Those are the people I'm
concerned about."
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