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?

Thank you for this, I didn't know about this place. Now I do. I will remember them.

Disruption is very subjective. I found whinging and using the phone to watch Peppa Pig disruptive. They were both very well behaved, especially on the face of such long day. Doesn't make it any less distracting.

Oradour-sur-Glâne was featured in the opening and closing episodes of the seminal Seventies documentary series The World at War.

I've been twice and it's been interesting to see the changes in it over time. In 1985 most of the inscriptions in the cemetery read "tué par un allemand." In 2007 they had been mostly changed to read "tué par un Nazi."

In that case I'd have gone alone, one parent ar a time.

I wouldn't take my 11 year old...far to traumatic

I'm only guessing at 6 from size, might have been 7 or 8. Still too young to be there though.

We took our kids to Sachsenhausen when they were younger than that: 15, 12 and 9.

We love Germany and had seen many aspects of German history by that point so decided that they would understand something by being there.

Forgive my ignorance, what do those inscriptions mean? I'm guessing "killed by Nazis"?

Leaving aside the wider issue - parents take their children to inappropriate places every day. Parents place unrealistic expectations on their kids every day. It’s unfortunate and incredibly frustrating for everyone in the vicinity when the child predictably hits their limit and cracks, but it is almost inevitable. Places I wouldn’t take a child include to the cinema for a full-length film, to the members’ area of a museum, to a shop where they wouldn’t understand what to touch or not. But many people do.

I wouldn’t take a child to Auschwitz but I cannot bear to go myself - members of my family were murdered there.

Yanbu. We had to cancel a trip to Auschwitz due to Covid. We then had a baby and accept that we will not be going to Auschwitz for at least another decade! I definitely don't think it's a place for children.

Some friends did say we could go with a babe in arms as they wouldn't be aware, but I'd have felt it was inappropriate to have a potentially crying baby who needed breastfeeding in that environment.

You don’t know who those parents are, you don’t know if they had relatives that died there, you don’t know if it’s thier only chance to go.

Stop with the judgement.

At the Imperial War Museum I think you have to be 13 or over to visit the Holocaust 'exhibition'. Surprised the same rule does apply.

Yes completely agree. It wasn’t until I visited that the full horror of what happened sunk in.

It’s definitely not a place for children.

Killed by a German changed to killed by a Nazi.

If you’ve been to Auschwitz, you’ll see that it is definitely not exploited. It is treated very respectfully. The atmosphere is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It is heavy and for me, it made all the facts I’d been taught and the history that seemed so distant and almost disconnected from my life now hit in a completely different way. It felt so very real and brought home the reality of the atrocities in ways books and films could not. When I was there, nobody was having a jolly day out or taking selfies or doing anything other than showing huge respect.

Thank you. It is little known to be fair. It happened not far from where my grandparents lived at the time. They were very frightened that the SS would do the same to them. They were Italians, who had fled Mussolini in 1926 and had found refuge in France. My grandfather was arrested by the SS, himself, before this massacre. But I am derailing the thread so I will stop.

The first one is killed by the Germans (although I would translate it myself as murdered) and you are right about the second.

Everyone who can should visit Auschwitz.

It’s horrific but the more we forget, the more we protect ourselves from hearing about the horrors, the greater the risk it’ll happen again

But minimum age is about 14. The UK’s Imperial War Museum also sets this age for the standing Genocide exhibition in London and I think they get it about right.

Its still mandatory for every member of the Germany armed forces to visit.

There is already a wealth of age-appropriate holocaust education programs for small children, including on primary curriculums around the world. Anne Frank’s story, etc.

I don't think that's appropriate either. I don't think they should be allowed in until teens.

My mum took me when we were small and lived nearby. It was very normal. Don't think it was inappropriate at all. Kids are part of society too.

There were some teenagers from the Perse who were arrested for stealing souvenirs. There definitely needs to be a strong pre-visit teaching programme.

As another poster said, you can’t judge. And the people running Auschwitz have to respect the autonomy of parents to made decisions about their children, and not create barriers to entry by putting in an age limit. It’s an individual choice. And some people may only get one opportunity in their life to visit. If that’s when the children are too young, who is to blame them for taking it. Maybe they lost family members there.

This physical place is still enormously significant in the lives of millions and millions of people.

I went as a teacher with a group of sixth formers and was horribly emotional. The sixth formers held it together better than I did. That trip changed me as a person and I don’t say that lightly. Ridiculous to take small children because even if it washes over their heads, it’s not appropriate.

I disagree that you shouldn’t make judgements about anything, ever. Even more horrific to bring children round a torture museum where a relative was killed.

Fully agree
I've been and no book or film can prepare you for how awful it must have been.
Not the place for young children