Public Opinion about Comparisons to the Holocaust

Holocaust and genocide researchers are engaged in a vigorous debate concerning the uniqueness of the Holocaust and the appropriateness of comparing this event to others. They concur, however, in criticizing comparisons to the Holocaust made by activists, characterizing these comparisons as carelessly reasoned and self-interested. We use a U.S. national survey to identify which comparisons to the Holocaust are most salient to the public. Further, we test hypotheses about possible motivations or predictors of various comparisons, including influences of education and gender on ways of knowing, effects of race and political orientation on ethnoracial comparisons, and generational differences in collective memory. We conclude that public comparisons to the Holocaust are in concordance with elements of the United Nations' definition of genocide. Comparisons to the Holocaust are best predicted by education, gender, race, and current events. These findings have important implications for Holocaust pedagogy and for our understanding of the public's role in the construction of historical accounts.