Holocaust education for New York students may soon be revamped after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation Wednesday that requires the state Department of Education to examine whether the Holocaust is being properly taught in schools.

New York schools are required to teach about the Holocaust, one of 23 states that have the mandate.

Studies have shown there is a surprising level of ignorance when it comes to learning about the Holocaust, the genocide when six million Jews and millions of others perished at the hands of the Nazis in the lead up to and during World War II.

One 2020 study suggested 34% of millennial and Generation Z New Yorkers think the Holocaust was exaggerated or a myth.

Some have even spread misinformation on the internet that the Holocaust is a myth.

“I was thrown into a truck and pulled away from my friends, separated from my family, forced into a ghetto. That is not a myth,” says Holocaust survivor Celia Kener.

Hochul was at the Jewish Heritage Museum in Lower Manhattan to sign the bill that requires the state Department of Education to review its teaching methods and make sure students learn the true history about the Holocaust.

Hochul says it comes at a time when New Yorkers are increasingly worried about a rise in hate crimes.

“I don’t want the citizens of my state to live in fear, ever. Ever. So, we will take action in any way, in any form, and be tough about it. Be as tough as we need to be. To say you cannot do this in my state. In our state,” Hochul said.

The bill to study Holocaust education programs had trouble getting through the state Assembly. Sources say the state Department of Education quietly opposed it, because it stretched resources. But the bill did finally pass this spring.

“It was a seemingly simple and straightforward bill. But we had a long road to get here,” says bill sponsor, Democratic Assembly member Nily Rozic, of Queens. “I first authored this is 2017, after the Pew Research Center study found glaring Holocaust ignorance amongst my generation, millennials.”

Once that review is complete, the Department of Education will report back to the legislature on its findings within a year.