Children at Auchwitz

[JuvenileBigfoot]

I went to Auchwitz yesterday. There was a family on our tour with 2 young children. 6ish and 3ish. I was pretty surprised to see them to be honest. Even taking away where we actually were, it was a 2 hour coach ride each way and 4 hours of walking around. The little one had reached her limit before we even got through security and had a meltdown. And then walked around with her mum's phone during the tour. She also fell over a few times on the uneven ground. Her dad was then getting annoyed that she was crying and whinging.

And then.... well, we all know what happened there. The 6 year old did seem very interested but I think there's a bit more of a child friendly way to teach about the holocaust without being there, surrounded by horror. It was a lot even for the adults. Several people cried, some had to walk out of some of the exhibits. It just felt like it was a bit much. And who knows how much the little one took in. The parents started off with the ear phones on her, listening to the guide who did NOT hold back on the details (and nor should he)

Lastly, on a selfish level, it was very distracting having a whiny 3 year old there.

Overall it just didn't seem appropriate.

AIBU?

I honestly think some parents are completed stupid in bringing their children to totally inappropriate places and often spoiling it for others. I have been to a few Shakespeare plays and am surprised at the ages of some of the children being dragged to them. The ones behind me a few months ago were uninterested and bored. They kept talking and asking when it was going to finish. Same with fancy restaurants and bringing children when its way past their bed time.

As I said before some parents are clueless.

Respectfully, I disagree. The death camps aren't some awful accident or unfortunate event with a death toll. They are evidence of man's hate and planned torment and execution of millions of innocents. This is too large to just tuck away in the 'must be respectful' category. The camps must be shown to as many people as possible. Memory is short. Look at the rise of antisemitism around the world now. Never again is now and the more people learn from history, the greater the chance that future generations can do better.

You really dont take a 3 year old to a place like this. What will they understand?

I have been and would have been fuming if some child was kicking off whilst others were trying to reflect.

You werent being selfish not wanting young children there. THEY were. I notice a massive sense of entitlement with some people. I want to do this and dont really care how it affects others.

I’ve done lots of holocaust education with older teens and have visited Auschwitz many times as well as other death and concentration camps. We don’t know the motivation behind why they took small children- maybe it was the parent’s only chance to go, maybe they had relatives who were there or maybe they just didn’t think.

I’ve seen groups of Israeli teens chanting around the camps, taking selfies etc and was horrified until a Jewish friend said it was their way of sticking 2 fingers up to the Nazis- saying you tried to kill and silence us but we are still here and loud whereas you are gone.

Ultimately, however people visit doesn’t matter, the important thing is that the horrors of where hate can lead are not forgotten and we remember the millions of individuals who were murdered because of hate, racism and antisemitism.

i thought there was a minimum age of 14. Completely disrespectful to take younger ones when people are visiting to have a reflective and solemn experience

I imagine that the parents were in the area and took the time to go while they could as the opportunity might never present itself again. It's unfortunate that the children were disruptive, but I suspect it would have all gone over their heads. It's better than going to Krakow for a stag do and come back not even knowing Auschwitz was there.

It's also better than what I had to put up with when I went in 2006. There was a group of teenaged German schoolchildren, behaving perfectly respectfully. A couple of Brits on my tour still fighting the war in their heads even though they had been born decades after it ended spent the entire time tut-tutting at them and asking out loud how these kids born in the 90s had the nerve to show their faces there.

Hello.
In many respects I don't disagree; of course this consequence of men's actions should never be forgotten.
But to me, and I appreciate that this is merely my tiny opinion, tours are a tad disrespectful. I think we can learn without having to be there. I really don't think it makes the visceral response any different to seeing footage, hearing personal testimonies and reading.
Sadly, and disgustingly, antisemitism, racism, xenophobia and hatred will persist despite such reminders of inhumanity.

I was there a few months ago with my 13 year old daughter. She was very quiet and respectful, as was everyone else. I think both of us came away not quite knowing how to feel. It was singular experience. In no way is it presented as a 'tourist attraction'. The guide we had was very severe for want of a better phrase and certainly didn't spare us, I cannot imagine her in any circumstance accommodating children that young. In one way, I didn't learn anything I didn't already know and I didn't really feel an atmosphere as other people describe. And it would have felt crass in some way to have even cared about my own feelings or emotional response anyway. I'm still not sure whether it was the right thing to go or not.

You view it as a tourist attraction? I view it as a physical reminder of the horrors inflicted on millions of people by the Nazi regime.
We have, in France, a village left as it was after the SS burnt the villagers in the church and murdered every single person, bar one who survived under a pile of bodies.
It is a powerful testimony to the dead. Its name? Oradour- sur- Glane.
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/oradour-sur-glane-martyred-village

I agree. I visited there on a history trip over 20 years ago. I still remember vividly the feelings and emotions that I felt walking into the gates.

I remember crying throughout - it hits you so hard that I would almost say the only way to ensure it never happens again is to encourage everyone to go. It's such a visceral reaction that you simply couldn't get that reaction and empathy from books.

What struck me the most however, was the overall sense of peace and calm that permeated the place.

Were they allowed because they had lost family there?

I seem to recall there were exceptions for those with a personal connection

https://www.auschwitz.org/gfx/auschwitz/userfiles/_public/visit/48_en.pdf

The regulations sound pretty stringent. I can only assume that if the family weren’t asked to leave, the children weren’t that disruptive.

I'm going to generously assume that the parents had made a one off trip to that part of Europe and would have no other chance to go.

I've not visited the camps but we went to the Museum of the Atomic bomb in Hiroshima. From memory, there were a good amount of young children there. Maybe not 6 but definitely under 12. It's not so awful until you get the the final section with the belongings of the people killed - including children. I wouldn't have taken a child under 12.

You are so right. Excellently put.

I think it’s also a memorial ,in the same way I visit war graves and battlefield sites to remember those who lost their lives because of other peoples evil actions. it is a different experience to what you see on documentaries or read about… they are the death places of so many and on my visits I found it extremely moving. It’s easier to disconnect from seeing an image. The striking memory I have of 1 , which is in the middle of a forest, is the absence of birdsong.

I agree with this, it was a very powerful experience. Everyone was very respectful and it was a very sombre atmosphere. I think its important to go and experience it. But I don't think a 6 year old really needs to be exposed to the full horror of the atrocities.

The 6 year old was taking notes on her phone. Looked like a diary. She was writing about Jews being tortured and killed.

Unfortunately, a lot of people can't, and it's very easy for the world to forget such horrors. I think of it more as a memorial than a tourist attraction. A constant, physcial reminder of what we are capable of and what we should never forget.

Yes, I’m Jewish and I have a very powerful memory of visiting Auschwitz on a youth tour as a teenager and singing together there.

People need to visit these sites to see the proof of what happened with their own eyes, because collectively as a society it is easy to forget and minimise. I personally feel the experience of visiting was a million miles away from seeing footage or reading testimonies.

It’s not appropriate for young children though.

I agree. My 8 year old niece is very empathetic. She wouldn't cope at all.

I definitely wouldn't take young children there...I do hope to go one day because I discovered that some of my grandmother's family were murdered there. Having said that, she thought people who visited concentration camps were absolutely mad.

I would take my 13 year old but not sure about my 9 year old simply because she is quite sensitive and can over think things sometimes and seeing something like that might be too much for her.
6 and 3 is far too young and it was silly of the parents to think of taking them there.

I think I 6 year old is well able yo understand death and that a lot of people were involved. Especially seeing all the hair, shoes, glasses etc.

And having a whining 3 year old present was distracting for everyone else.

Pure selfishness on the part of the parents.

Not many 6 year olds could do that