Visiting concentration camps

[Helendee]

Am I unreasonable in feeling it is ghoulish at the least to want to visit Auschwitz, Belsen and othersvif their kind?
I was on another site reading how people were booking tours to the above and stating they were “looking forward” to it.
I totally understand the importance of ensuring these monstrosities never happen again but can’t help thinking that some people seem to get some kind of kick from misery.
Please help me to see another side.

It's not something I would want to do and actually a friend who did became quite depressed afterwards as it affected them so deeply.

People are different though.

If they're going there to try and commemorate and honour those that died, to try and let the enormity of what happened sink in, that's no ghoulish.
I have visited one (not arranged by me, I had no choice) and it was utterly harrowing. We owe it to those that died to remember and never let similar happen again.

Everyone should go , you only appreciate the enormity of it when you see it for yourself. It's a museum and must never happen again

I think it depends how someone is visiting. Preparing themselves and honoring the dead is valuable. Knowing nothing and going is weird and inappropriate.

@maddy68 has summed it up perfectly

It is something I want to do, and I want my family to do. I would not say I am 'looking forward to'. It is something I feel we ought to do, because as the years go by, the doubters and deniers increase, and also, I want myself and my children to understand the enormity of what the allies fought against, and surmounted.

I think it's important that people do visit so that it's never forgotten and that they learn about the horrors that occurred so they are never repeated.

I think it was the “looking forward to it” comments that freaked me a little.

@maddy68 I don't really agree. I think it is possible to understand without visiting. I would find it too upsetting. I certainly wouldn't look forward to going. I find it hard enough where I live that there are a lot of plaques on walls where locals were shot by the nazis. Awful.

I've been, but I've read extensively on the subject and it was part of that really. Even after reading so much, seeing the documentaries etc, seeing it in real life still shocked me.
Some things just can't be explained, they have to be seen.

The allies won the war but didn’t “surmount” the Holocaust.

I agree with @maddy68

I had nightmares for a weeks after I visited Auschwitz but I'm Im glad I went as before I don't think I fully appreciated the scale of what happened until I saw it myself.

Smemorata

I totally agree.

Watching Schindler's List and The Pianist was enough for me to appreciate the absolute horror of the Holocaust. But I can understand why people want to visit those sites, in the same way people visit Ground Zero. It's a mark of respect and remembrance. Nazis and anti semitism still exist unfortunately so it's vital that people continue to educate themselves.

Visit I can understand. The pillocks taking gurning selfies make me rage though.

Three of my ancestors died in Auschwitz. I want to visit one day to remember them.

I think it should be mandatory for everyone to go. It should be compulsory to see what happens when people do nothing, and when people are seduced by powerful megalomaniacs. In the era of Trump and Johnson it’s more important than ever for us to stay close to the atrocities of our political past. We should never, never forget the price that’s been paid and we are edging worryingly back towards similar ideologies.

I think anyone who is a Holocaust denier should be made to go.
I’ve visited Sachsenhausen in Berlin and it moved me enormously.

There's a different between respectful and disrespectful visits. I've been to quite a few battle fields, prisons and execution sites as part of general historical wanderings. Many have a museum or information centre attached to educate visitors about what happened in the past. I do feel that we have a duty to inform ourselves.

*difference, not different

The allies won the war but didn’t “surmount” the Holocaust.

I didn't mean that they did - more the Nazi threat in its totality. I also think that possibly today it's more important than ever, to remember just how fragile the line is between tolerance and peaceful co-existence, and xenophobia, religious intolerance and demonism, and what its ultimate outcome has been seen to be.

I've been to Auschwitz 6 times (school trips), everyone should go

And of course the Japanese threat.

ForalltheSaints I totally understand why you would want to go to respect your ancestors. Hope you manage to do so one day.

I've done it. I studied the Holocaust and as part of that i had already watched some very upsetting films. It felt natural to me to visit while I was travelling nearby. It was sombre and made you reflect on what happened but it didn't make me feel depressed. If anything it made me feel more determined to fight racism so it doesn't happen again. I think it's good that people go, so that what happened isn't forgotten. But I entirely understand why some people wouldn't want to go and that's fine too.