It's REALLY important to know about the holocaust if you're jewish or have jewish ancestry, but arguably safer or at least more pleasant not to if you don't.
If anything, my impression is that knowing about the Holocaust has made my mother significantly less realistic with respect to assessing potential threats faced by Jews in the present day.
On the other hand, to the extent that it represents a general lesson about human behavior, that understanding might end up being valuable for anyone. Being non-Jewish may actually make it easier to properly generalize the principles rather than thinking of it in terms of unique identity politics.
If anything, my impression is that knowing about the Holocaust has made my mother significantly less realistic with respect to assessing potential threats faced by Jews in the present day.
I think he meant in Nazi Germany, not today.
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.