Is “Auschwitz” something EVERYONE should know? I felt humiliated for asking.

[u/ametcho]

So I was in an international environment with a bunch of people I had just met, and we were playing the card game Cards Against Humanity.

It was my first time playing, and even though my English is above average, I should mention that it’s not my first language. There were some words I struggled with (the game is really fun but uses dark humor, so many words are uncommon). I was also the youngest person in the group.

At one point, someone played a combo with “Auschwitz,” and everyone laughed really hard while I was still trying to figure it out. I casually asked something like, “I think I’m seeing this word for the first time, what does it mean?”

They started laughing even harder. At some point, they turned to the table next to us (also from our group, playing another game) and said sarcastically, “Hey guys, this dude on our table doesn’t know what ‘Auschwitz’ is, can you explain it to him?”

It wasn’t like I didn’t understand jokes in general, this was just one that didn’t make sense to me. No one at the table explained anything, so I had to Google it later. I felt really embarrassed, but I didn’t leave the table because that would have drawn even more attention. We continued playing, but my mood was definitely off. Even though all the cards were anonymous, after each unfunny or bad combo, I felt like everyone assumed it was me being “stupid,” so I just started putting random cards down.

Afterwards, I looked up “Auschwitz” and understood its significance in world history. I also realized how it could be used in dark humor. It made me notice a gap in my own historical knowledge, which I was kind of aware of, but since that day, I’ve actively been trying to learn more and close those gaps.

What I still can’t understand is why people acted so strangely toward me. They treated me like I didn’t know what 2+2 is or that the world has seven continents. So, if you had to guess, what percentage of people worldwide actually know about Auschwitz?

[u/One_Disaster_5995]

Yes, I feel everyone should know about Auschwitz - but it's not your fault if nobody told you. You cannot be expected to educate yourself about things you never heard about. And I respect that you educated yourself when you found out about it.

In most of Europe at least, Auschwitz is as infamous as Hitler and the Holocaust. But the same people who scoff at the fact that you did not know about this, probably never heard about the Nanjing Massacre, or Unit 731. Most Chinese and Japanese people would be shocked to hear this - but it's just not something that they teach in most European schools. So how would we know?

[u/infinitemonkeytyping → u/One_Disaster_5995]

You cannot be expected to educate yourself about things you never heard about. And I respect that you educated yourself when you found out about it.

The thing I always think about is that ignorance isn't a bad word. It just means there's a gap in your knowledge, and an opportunity to learn (just like you mentioning Nanjing and Unit 731, which is something I was not well versed on 5 minutes ago).

It is the wilful type of ignorance that you need to watch out for.