Historical Ignorance

This article from the Daily Mail has provoked quite a reaction amongst my history students this week. It reports on a survey which states that “Adolf Hitler was Germany’s football team manager, according to youngsters aged nine to 15,” and 12% of the children surveyed thought Remembrance Sunday is represented by the McDonalds logo. Clearly the methods used in the survey have been designed to score an easy headline, and it may help to stimulate a debate about historical significance, and the nature of using evidence in newspaper reports…