Let's say a young adult today, early 40's, has never heard of the Holocaust: What do you think their reaction would be to movies like Schindler's List?

I think trying to educate people is wonderful, but if I thought the person was going to be a closed-minded ignoramus about it, I wouldn’t bother. That’s just my opinion. Others may feel it’s worth while to invest hours in explaining things to someone like that. She must really live in a bubble if she’s in her 40’s and has never heard of the Holocaust.

To answer the question itself, without a concept: the person would likely be very, very shocked.

As for the details; the fact that your friend is in her 40s and still does not know about such an event as Holocaust, and her reaction, shows unwillingness to know, rather than genuine ignorance. There is no use of bothering to educate her if she doesn’t want to know.
And Schindler’s list is probably not the best thing to show her. My owner would choose a documentary, rather than a film.

Well, Schindler’s list IS a documentary, just not in documentary form. I think a movie would hold her interest more than a documentary. I love documentaries. Some find them too dry and boring.

I have seen Schindler’s list criticized because it focused on one particular Nazi officer. The takeway I had, and what made it so chilling, was how business-like the whole operation was. They kept detailed records on the whole operation. It was all a matter of bookkeeping. The thought of it still sends shivers through me. I would hope that someone being introduced to the Holocaust through the film would have a similar reaction

I think they created a character and incorporated the horrifying actions of many Nazi officers into the one guy. Oh, he was a slime ball.

My uncle on my ex husband’s side, lived in occupied Holland as a child. When he was 12 a Nazi soldier shoved up against a wall, pointed a gun at him and said, “Prepare to die.” Then he just laughed and laughed at the poor child’s terror. Sick.
You just didn’t mention Germans, or Germany around him. Once I made the observation that his last name (Vogler) was German. Oh my God….

That’s the end result of ignoring history in our school curriculums. And we ignore it at our peril.

How the fuck did Gandhi end up in Auschwitz anyway?

I knew that would come up @NomoreY_A. It isn’t the school’s fault. My kids went through the same school system and they know about it. In fact, it was my son who brought it up in the first place.
You know, home life and culture is much more influential on the kids than school.

Whoa, never heard of the Holocaust?
Where’s this woman been living her whole life, in the root cellar on Aunty Ems farm? lol
Somehow I doubt watching Schindlers List would make much difference to this airhead.
I’d probably start her with a 3rd grade edition of the Anne Frank story. haha

Speaking of such, my daughter and her friend just toured Auschwitz a couple days ago and Schindlers factory. She is only in her 20’s and I was super excited when she planned this European trip and the Holocaust sites were top of her list. No, we are not even remotely Jewish, Scottish primarily. She also visited Anne Franks house in Amsterdam last week.

@Dutchess_III That’s true to a degree, but I think it’s more true of our Boomer generation than more recent generations. And I don’t mean that as a put down, but when I was growing up, WW 2 was a recent thing, my Dad was at Anzio and my Uncle at Pearl Harbor the day it was bombed. We grew up listening to stories about the Axis and the horrors they perpetrated. Not so much these days, it’s a fading memory. But it shouldn’t be.

I too am shocked. That isn’t that much younger than me. I can’t imagine being that ignorant. And I’m not sure I’d even bother trying to teach her anything. She does not seem to care to learn.

I would say that she would have a “normal” reaction. But a semi-educated person in the US, who doesn’t know anything about the holocaust isn’t “normal.”

Hey @Dutchess_III . Do you think someone may have influenced her in some way? I know someone who doesn’t believe that the holocaust happened. My friends and I think his father fucked his head up with antisemitic nonsense. He’s also about 40.

Maybe this person has a bad person who keeps her ignorant…

Depends on the movie-goer, but if reasonably curious, I would hope she or he would do some research and avoid talking to Holocaust deniers.

Many years ago I had wished the same for two teenagers sitting in front of me in a screening of Oliver Stone’s “JFK”, a fascinating but highly speculative recounting of the Kennedy’s assassination composed in a jambalaya of fact, fiction, speculation and conspiracy theory,

All through the movie these kids kept nudging each other and saying “WOW! I didn’t know that happened!!”—especially during the Stone-concocted parts we know never happened

I worked for a man whose wife was about 28 when Schindler’s List came out. They went to see it, and her comment when they left the movie was, “Wow, wouldn’t it have been awful if that had really happened.” She wasn’t a Holocaust denier, she was just completely clueless.

To answer your question, if the person has any emotional range beyond that of a teaspoon, I think that he/she would be, at a minimum, shocked.

@MrGrimm888 I wish she would deny it happened. At least that way I would know she’s at least heard of it. She says she’s never even heard of it.

@NomoreY_A I understand WWII was more recent for us, but this is the only person I’ve ever known who hasn’t heard of the Holocaust. I bet my 13 year old grand daughter knows what it is.

@tedibear it they believed it, yes.

I think their reaction would be that it’s very upsetting that such horrible things happened in history. They might not even understand all that is going on in the movie, might miss some of the subtleties, without knowing some of the history beforehand. Still, I don’t see how a person wouldn’t be moved by the events.

I saw a documentary about the Russian school that was sieged by terrorists, I don’t remember the name of the Russian town. I cried off and on throughout the movie. I hadn’t known about it before I saw the documentary. That didn’t matter.

I learned about the Holocaust in 8th grade in school. I already knew about it, because I was Jewish and references had been made to it my entire life. My family wouldn’t buy German products. Family and close friends wouldn’t step foot in Germany. The French were “almost worse” than the Germans. “We” were used for experiments. “We” were murdered. “We” had been sent to the ovens. If I had not been Jewish I easily could have made it through school without knowing much about the Holocaust if I had lived in a place that taught it in 7th grade and then another taught it in 8th and I had moved from one school to the next with the wrong timing.

I do think it’s odd to be 40 and be very clueless about it, but in your early 20’s maybe not so much.

@Coloma I think a lot of Jews avoid visiting those places. When I was in Germany I didn’t want to go to see any of the Holocaust stuff. I might be persuaded now.

First of all the fact that she is in her 40’s and hasn’t heard of it seems ridiculous. I’m 13 and I know a lot about it, I’ve been to a concentration camp in Prague, read Anne Frank’s diary, etc. I don’t even have Jewish heritage or anything like that. So it’s very surprising she hasn’t heard about it.
Anyway, I guess it depends on what kind of person they are. I’ve never seen Schindler’s list but from the above comments I’m guessing it’s very upsetting. If they’re someone who seems like they would just dismiss it as fiction, maybe don’t bother but try to educate them on it somehow. If they are someone who would listen and are curious about it I think you should show them.

Was she homeschooled?

@lugerruger Shindler’s List is a great movie. It’s upsetting, but it’s also inspiring, because Shindler saved many many Jews. I highly recommend it. I think it’s ok to watch at your age, ask your parents first.

The Jews who worked for him are referred to as “Schindler Jews.” When he died years after the war he was buried in Israel.

His story is one of how people made a difference, and did things to protect Jews. He was a businessman too, so at first it was motivated by greed, but later he came to really care about his Jewish staff and protected them.

His story like the story in Denmark where the government and non-Jewish citizens helped their Jewish citizens escape when the Germans were coming, are the stories that need to be told, so good people act when things like this are happening.

No @ragingloli. She was not home schooled. But even if she had been, how could she have gone 40 years and missed all the references to it??

Also, their descendants consider themselves Schindler Jews @JLeslie.

I guess my biggest question is, would she even believe that it is real? The movies today are so full of violent bull shit, that the Holocaust may seem almost tame on comparison, especially if you couldn’t fully accept that it really did happen to human beings just that way.

I don’t remember when I specifically learned about the Holocaust. Seems like I’ve always known about it, and as the years go on it becomes more and more horrifying.

@Dutchess_III My dad was with troops who liberated a camp, don’t recall which one. I recall him telling company about it, when he’d have a few beers, saying things like it was the most horrible shit he had ever seen, and how we should have let the Russians have all of Germany, the hell with the inhumane bastards. Those guys back then said what they felt, being PC wasn’t fashionable in those days.

That is perfectly PC to me, @NomoreY_A.

@Dutchess III Well, by that point in time, West Germany and Japan were our Allies against the Soviet Bug Bear, but a lot of vets like my pap didn’t keep their feelings about their former enemies under the surface, despite all of that.

Japan was never our ally @NomoreY_A during WWII. We were at war with them. Remember Pearl Harbor? After the war we occupied Japan, but they didn’t like us.
The Soviet Union and the UK were our allies against Germany, even though we didn’t like Russia.
Then the cold war with the USSR started in 1947 so after WWII the Soviet Union was not our ally any more. We kicked them off the island.

**************************

I know that the girl in question has a grandfather who was only 20 years old during WWII, but I don’t think he served. He’s still alive today. Didn’t she hear anything about it from him or her grandmother?

She has a younger sister. I’m really curious now to know whether or not her sister knows what it is.

I know, I’m saying that after we began to occupy and rebuild Japan and Germany after the war, they were looked at as possible allies against the Soviets in any possible future war. Yup, I remember Pearl Harbor, my uncle was there Dec. 7 1941. Used to hear all about that when I was growing up, as well. And I share your disbelief that this woman has never heard of the Holocaust, seems that she should have heard about it from her grandparents, unless they’re part of the “Zionists are behind all world events” crowd, who deny the Holocaust.

I think to even deny it means you have to have thought about it. She honest to goodness had no idea what I was talking about. Blew my mind. Oh, and her boyfriend, same age, had no idea either.

Very strange….

@Dutchess_III The Jews he saved are called Shindler Jews or Shindler’s Jews, and their descendants are called descendants of Shindler Jews.

Not to be rude, but could this person just be stupid?...

Could be. But man, that is a level of stupidity that is stupifying. I don’t know how she functions and holds down a job.

That’s what I’m wondering.

She does. She is a hard worker. She is working her way up in management. At, um, Walmart. She’s making really good money at this point.
I have also noticed that there are zero books at her house. None. No magazines, no reading material at all.

An ignorant Walmart employee?

Now I’ve heard everything…..

^ Is that an Oxymoron? lol

I know. That’s why I said “um, Walmart.” But she is a hard worker!

No. It actually explains a lot…