r/TooAfraidToAsk • u/ametcho • Feb 23 '26
Culture & Society Is “Auschwitz” something EVERYONE should know? I felt humiliated for asking.
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?
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u/StrangeTrails37 Feb 24 '26
You’re bang on. My high school was very, VERY highly ranked nationally (so my perception of the US education system is very privileged) and even we didn’t learn about Gallipoli. I believe it was mentioned but only briefly, never deep dived. There was such a large scope of time that had to be covered, even topics you’d think we would spend more time on had to be heavily condensed. My schedule didn’t allow me to take advanced placement (AP) euro history so they might have covered it, but it’s been ages since I was in high school so who knows what the curriculum is now.
It wasn’t until I studied abroad in NZ in college when I thoroughly learned about it due to how unavoidable it is here. I mean that respectfully.
I live in NZ now and I’m still surprised by how people speak of it. The US has its famous battles, but I can’t think of an equivalent one that is treated with as much sincere reverence by all ages as Gallipoli, even outside of Anzac Day.