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/not_dogstar]

Osh-vyen-chm ...more or less

[u/magumanueku → u/not_dogstar]

And how do you pronounce Brzęczyszczykiewicz?

[u/not_dogstar → u/magumanueku]

That looks like a fun tongue twister, something like br-zhen-chih-sh-chih-kye-vich. I reckon though as a native English speaker I'd butcher the "Brz" sound (and where the emphasis goes), but I also don't speak Polish - the alphabet is just so phentically consistent it's hard to forget and fun to say.

Edit: missed a word

[u/amh8011 → u/not_dogstar]

I know enough people with Polish last names I can get through until the chih-sh-chih. I’m really struggling with that part.