Things overheard in the hairdressers. Couldn’t believe my ears this afternoon.

[ChocolateDoll]

Sat with dye on my hair listening to this conversation taking place next to me. Didn’t know whether to laugh or cry

HAIRDRESSER: What you going to do on your holidays, then?

CLIENT: Well, we’re planning to visit Auschwitz.

HAIRDRESSER: Oh, right. What you gonna do there then? Just chill out for a bit?

CLIENT: Umm...well uhhh....it’s a concentration camp, you know?

HAIRDRESSER: oh right....sorry.....thought it was like a resort or something.

My children are ten yo. They know about Auschwitz, they know about the Holocaust, they know about the first and second world wars and all sorts of other history besides.

This isn’t a generational thing. It’s an educational thing.

I’m fairly old but we definitely didn’t cover the Holocaust in primary school. I seem to remember learning about concentration camps in a Judy Blume book. I wouldn’t have known what Auschwitz meant. I only did history until year 9; I don’t remember an awful lot of what was taught, seemed to be mainly Tudors and Stuarts rather than modern history.

I studied history until Y9 - from what I remember it was mostly the enclosure movement and then onto the industrial revolution. We didn't cover either World War so its entirely conceivable I wouldn't have known about Auschwitz at age 18. I now have a history degree (OU)

Cross post with camelfinger.

Ok I may be out of date but t are the Elgin marbles not in the British museum in London? Am I missing something here?

Sadly, I think this will become more common. Many schools now start teaching GCSEs in year 9, and that means what was traditionally taught (Holocaust/ WW2) has been cut from the curriculum. Schools also are reluctant to teach it to younger year groups as it is such a sensitive topic. The guidelines are that age 14 and over should be taught about the Holocaust.

We've all got gaps in our knowledge yes, but this is a crucial part of our history. I don't blame the people lacking the knowledge - but it makes me wonder wtf they're teaching them at school! Or not!

Just as schools can't cover everything neither can parents and as a parent I would consider a BASIC understanding of WWII, why it happened and what was done to certain communities (I've met adults my own age who thought it was only Jews that were targeted).

Precisely BECAUSE it has and is happening again and we have no hope of stopping it if we don't understand it.

The rise of right wing politics in the west is terrifying, particularly when you understand that those in the political parties concerned are usually of an age where they certainly should and probably do know of what happened.

Out of curiosity I've just checked - trumps father profited from but did not serve in WWII. I find that very telling.

Unless people are educated about such things they risk us ending up with the exact same thing on the same scale happening again.

I was in a queue and the girls behind me were chatting about Downs Syndrome. One of them said "Do they have black Downies , or are they all white.

not snobby at all, that level of ignorance is either didn t get educated or didnt bloody listen. the former is unlikely in the uk.

not to know such historical basics is shameful.

it is a little bit surprising..but then maybe they didn’t enjoy school or listen much.

similar to this, is the amount of grown adults who couldn’t point to the location of any of their vital organs if asked, nor could they name the function of said organs. i find that INSANE. it’s your body, how can you not know?!

someone i know once asked me if their raised liver enzymes meant that their liver was “going to collapse”

DD 10 did a topic on WWII a couple of terms ago. She knows about Auschwitz and other concentration camps, and I bought her When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. Also, a branch of our family's Jewish, and I think all Jewish families have someone who was in a concentration camp.

@ChocolateDoll OP, was this in Wales by any chance?

Molly I think the point was that someone referred to them as the Elgar marbles (confusing them with the composer perhaps)

She might not know, which is undoubtedly a travesty, however I imagine she wasn't really listening. It's super boring to have the same conversation on repeat with every client who sits in your chair. Every time I've ever had my hair done I know the hairdresser is never fully paying attention to what I reply. I don't take it personally!

Calm down specialsubject. Goodness!

Not a hairdresser thing but I went into a bookstore a few years ago to buy a books out the Holocaust that I wanted to read.
I asked if they had it in stock and the young lad serving said is that a fiction book or something that actually happened?
It is shocking how many young people no nothing about such a tragedy.

I wasn't taught anything about the last two world wars at school and I'm 50. We learnt about the Saxons, Normans, Vikings, Romans and The Tudors and Stuarts.
I am so lacking in knowledge and was ashamed to be fair. I have watched lots of documentaries and films and educated myself.
I think history lessons at school should begin with recent world history first.
Saying that, I'm going to quiz my DD18 when she gets home as I'm not sure she is that clued up either.

I think it's genuinely shocking that an adult is so unaware of the world they don't know about the world wars, the holocaust. I didn't study it at school at all (I did do the industrial revolution and Greek myths and legends at least twice though!).

Even if you haven't been taught, do they think that all the films and tv shows and books that are constantly being talked about are fiction? Likewise Remembrance Day?

Just being devils advocate - is it equally as wrong not to know about the Khymer Rouge? (3 million dead), the Armenian genocide (1.5 million), the Rwandan genocide (1 million dead)?

I was born in 1952 and I was not taught about the Holocaust. I did history 'o' level.
I started becoming interested in German history when DD did German A level. I don't think you can condemn people for what they don't know.
DS on the other hand was taught a lot about the Holocaust, and they had a talk by a Jewish Holocaust survivor to which parents were invited. He is 23.

hmc - not really, but they are not 'world wars' and Hollywood has made very few blockbusters about them!

I went to see the Dunkirk film this year and had absolutely zero knowledge of what it was about beforehand. I even had to google if Dunkirk was in England or france! Admittedly I'm not from the UK but I am European. I don't know how that whole chunk of history bypassed me.

Hmc - thank you! I will learn to read properly! Really didn’t notice and so was confused!!

I studied History at O and A level but we never touched on the World Wars at all. Industrial Revolution, Tudors, Thirty Years War but absolutely nothing on 20th century history. I am sadly very uninformed about the World Wars as a result although I do watch documentaries on a regular basis to ensure I am not completely ignorant.

I feel that the curriculum I studied let me down. I went to a really good school with an excellent reputation too.

The most I learnt at school was on a German exchange trip. The teacher said, "While we were bombing you, you were bombing us." I wish I'd thought to say, "You started it!"