A recent survey conducted by Leger for the Association for Canadian Studies revealed that one in six Canadians between the ages of 18 and 24 believe the Holocaust has been exaggerated. (Overall, five per cent of Canadians and eight per cent of Americans share this view.)

How have so many people in both countries come to this troubling conclusion? It’s not for lack of opportunity to learn about the Holocaust. Vast and widely available literature on the Shoah exists, to say nothing of the tens of thousands of videotaped testimonials by Holocaust survivors. A more plausible explanation lies with social media influencers who recklessly draw comparisons between the Israel-Hamas war and the Holocaust, thereby minimizing the scale and cruelty of the atrocities that the Nazis carried out.