School trip to Auschwitz - opimnions

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i had a conversation with my dad (77) about the holocaust. i asked him why it happened. he had no answers he was a child during the blitz. he said we didn't know anything about it at the time.

i was 32 when i had that conversation with him.

it's not something a 14 year old should have to deal with at this time

??? Yes, they were victims, but they were also prisoners of war.

I really think, although it is harrowing, that children studying GSCEs really need to understand all the aspects of war - not just dates, 'who did what by when and why', but also the human cost of what happened.

I went to Dachau when I was 11, as part of a much longer family holiday, and it had a profound effect on me. It really brought home what it must have been like (and I can only really imagine a tiny part of it).

Why on earth would we want to protect our children from this kind of learning/understanding? I know it's horrible and shocking, but that's exactly why they need to know what went on.

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I reckon I would have been less bothered by this at the age of 14 than I would be now, aged 42.

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dh and I went last year. It was horrific and I had nightmares for months after. I don't know if children would appreciate the full horror of it however - I think at 14 they would still be too young to understand fully what went on. Saying that however, I wouldn't let my 14yo go. I know she would be traumatised.

I do feel it is very important that my children learn about our history (good and bad) but feel there are less brutal ways to introduce them to the horrors of our past. When they are older and more able to cope with learning about such things, they can choose for themselves whether they wish to investigate them more fully.

icod - your comment isn't acceptable.

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the brutal truth of war, is something that in my experience, is better understood from age 20s onwards.

How is it not to do with the war, Cod? People there were prisoners of war!

I went on a Youth Group trip to Aushwitz at about that age and found it quite harrowing but intensely moving and it shaped me as a person - for the better.

It does depend on the nature of your child I suppose

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But their coursework is about WW2 - how on earth can you expect them to fully 'get' what went on without them experiencing this?

Yes, it's harrowing - but that is the brutal truth about the war.

IMO a lot would be down to how the school intend to prepare the participants for it - and how they intend to help them deal with it afterwards. At 14 I would consider it but would want to know about the before and after.

I went there on a schooltrip when I was 14 and I found it very realistic, interesting and eerie and a lot more emotions but well worth it

I would welcome it if my DC would go there one day.

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What a weird choice for a school trip.

I think that going to Normandy to see the graves and trenches would be one thing (and would probably be a positive thing) but Auschwitz is too hardcore. Really. If your dd is sensitive then a going to Auschwitz is obviously going to have an impact. There will be some kids who will be very moved by it and some who'll lark around and treat it like a jaunt. Even if at 14 I could have dealt with the emotional impact of a concentration camp, I don't think I'd have wanted to do it with my mates looking on.

I would take a child of that age to Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam but Auschwitz would be too emotionally draining. Read "If this is a man" (Primo Levi) before deciding.

It'd be one of thsoe things where you need to look at the child and decide, I would think.

Certainly I would actively encoyrage it at post-16 level, but at 14 I would say it depends on your child and their levels of maturity etc

i would have thought 14 was too young, it's alot for young people to take in. it would have given me nightmares

Funny, my daughter brought home a letter last week about the self-same thing! Part of Yr 10 R.E. Previous years got lots out of the trip and I would be happy to let my child go. Only thing is the cost - it's £200 more than the History trip to the WW1 battle sites in Belgium so I think she's more likely to go on that one.

Fantastic idea, I went to Normandy and did the whole war graves thing etc when I was 12. Made history seem more real, as long as there is lots of support i would ahve no hesitation in my daughter going at that age.

has the school taken previous years to Auschwitz?