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 agree there is no need for children that young to go.

But I believe everyone would benefit from going. Reading about it does not evoke the same visceral feeling. It makes you comprehend the sheer scale of the holocaust in a way books never can. Some places still have concentration camps and genocide still happens. It's really important to know about these things.

Interesting. What did your 9 year old make of it?
We are intending to visit Berlin this summer, and my 15 year old is very interested in WW2 history. I was considering Sachsenhausen (I have been there before and it is a different experience to (I believe) Auschwitz- less visceral and more informative), so I have been mulling over which places of interest would/ would not be suitable for his 10 year old brother (said child is a relatively tough cookie).

My DP and I visited Sachsenhausen during a trip to Berlin. I found it almost unbearable in places and am sure that they are right in not allowing under 14s to visit. As for taking 3 and 6 year olds to Auschwitz, why on earth would you?

I was 16 when I went to Belsen and it hit me hard.

Hence NOT taking my 9 and 12 to Hiroshima. My husband went alone and hopefully I will have the chance in another trip...

It's fascinating to see so many posters be so adamant about what is right and wrong. There is no rule book about how you have to show respect.
I wouldn't take kids there but I can see why people might.

I choose not to visit at all when I was in Krokow but my husband did. He felt it important to visit but I would have felt it 'intrusive' - I feel the area should be left be whilst fully supporting the view that for many people it's important to visit.

No one is right or wrong. As long as we never forget and we continue to try and learn from what happened.

I had family members who were victims of the holocaust who did a very good job of passing on inherited trauma. I think the scale and horror of it are so extreme that it's very difficult to teach to children without traumatising them, particularly if you are traumatised yourself.

Same here for me. I still suffer from inherited trauma from the fact that my maternal grandmother and most of my mother's family in Germany at the time died in concentration camps. Especially now that antisemitism and holocaust denial is so much higher than at any other time in my life.

I wouldn't have said that it would be appropriate to take children of that age at all.

My late dad went with my step-mum many years ago. He was born in 1934 and remembered seeing the news reports once the camps were liberated so would have been about 11/12 at the time. It shocked him at the time, as you can imagine, but felt very much in later life that he wanted to visit and, as he said 'pay his respects'. When he did go, he said that it affected him far more than he thought it would, so much so that he had to go out. He said he felt such an overwhelming feeling of horror, shock and sadness being there, and that it haunted him for a long time afterwards.

I have read a lot about the holocaust, and like many others have seen a lot of films, dramas etc. I have always felt that I've wanted to go, but DH does have concerns about how it would affect me.

It was a mad idea taking such young children on this tour.

Madness. We went to Sachsenhausen when in Berlin too and it was really very traumatic. My 20 yo dd and her boyfriend were going to go to Auschwitz and I told them I thought they should wait, even at that age. The trip ended up getting cancelled to my relief.

I think it was highly inappropriate to bring these two young children. The parents would have to give energy to caring for them, dealing with tantrums and them wanting to leave. I have never been, but from everyone who I know who has have reported that there is a very errie and disturbing feeling to the place. Children might not understand but they would pick up on that, and other people’s distress.
On a personal note, I feel it’s very important to preserve Auschwitz and the other camps involved in the Nazi genocide of WW2. From those who I have spoken to
who have lost family there, they feel it’s vital that we keep educating everyone about what happened there.
I know as time goes on it may be more difficult to maintain these tours as they are now. I would never want to take a selfie, it feels highly insulting, but others may not feel the same.
The main thing is that the people who attend are aware of what they are moving toward, and young children will have no clue.
I can remember reading a magazine article at home about the Holocaust aged 8, and asking my parents about it. It gave me nightmares. They had both been young children during the war, and said the footage shown at the cinema had really upset them.
However, it’s important to know what happened.
I think the people who need to be educated about it most are the ones who have carried on equally cruel behaviours since. It is a long list which continues to grow.

We were astounded to see, as we drove south on the Autobahn from a trip away, a brown 'tourist site' notice for Bergen-Belsen. Because we were in the area we went and our quite young children were with us, there was nothing like organised tours or guides, just information boards. The children were told it was where some very bad things had happened to a lot of people, we didn't mention nationalities, they knew lots of German people both adults and children and we didn't want to damage that aspect of their lives.
At some stage during our time living there there was a news story of some old Nazi being found in South America and when the comment was made about why these searches were still on-going one of our German friends became very angry and said it had to be kept in people's consciousness to try and prevent it happening again.

When I visited Auschwitz it wasn't children who bothered me it was two adults having a full on screaming row. I have no idea what it was about as they weren't speaking English. It definitely wasn't appropriate and they didn't have the excuse of being too young to understand.

The children I saw were all with parents I assumed to be Orthodox Jews from how they were dressed. I just thought it might be considered important for them to understand. Having said that the children were all very well behaved.

Every person who wields power (eg MPs, political donors, CEOs) and every person whose job gives them authority to implement the orders laid down by people in power, should visit.

To learn why they must question or resist orders sometimes, and what hate speech and scapegoating can lead to.

If some children experience this at too young an age it’s a shame, but in terms of the bigger picture, I can’t get too upset on their behalf as the more important thing is a large number of people are seeing it for themselves, not forgetting, and learning from what happened - to ensure never again.

The Imperial War Museum does not recommend children under 14 go into the Holocaust Galleries. For good reason. There are age-appropriate ways to introduce and educate about the Holocaust.

I actually found the scale difficult, I found visiting Schindler's factory in Krakow touched me more, it was on a more human scale.

Perhaps it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for the adults to visit, and they had no choice but to bring their children.

From the children's point of view, I think they are actually less likely to get upset than adults, as they are less able to fully appreciate the full horror of the situation. But I bet the older child will remember it when she's an adult and appreciate having been.

And yes, YABVU for being annoyed at children being children in a place where children are allowed and have every right to be.

Definitely, it's making a circus out of it these days. Completely inappropriate also when you hear of people taking "I wiz here" selfies at such a place.

I think it's a place that everyone should visit, but at an age where they'll actually understand, appreciate and learn from the experience.

It should be profoundly upsetting, so being of an emotional age to deal with that is important if you're going to take anything from it. I went at 15 with school and again in my 30, found the experience quite different.

Taking kids so young that they're tired/distracted and disturbing things for other is very disrespectful.

I have family who died in the camps, others who fled the Nazis, so I don't even remember when I learnt about the holocaust, it was just something I always knew about.

Once, my parents took my little sibings to a museum and unbeknown to them there was a Holocaust display with vidoes of people being liberated. My little sibling wandered off and watched it and was quite traumatised and had nightmares afterwards, seeing videos and hearing about things are quite different.

I have been to Auschwitz (as an adult) and there is nothing particularly horrible to see that I recall. I think it would just go over a young childs head. Unfortunately the tour I was on was in a language I don't understand that well so it wasn't a great experience anyway.

I travelled to Krakau about 15 years ago, and have never quite got over the signs outside travel agents, advertising in English, "Auschwitz and Birkenau: 2 for 1 offer". It was a yellow sign with garish red letters. I have never been, so I can't comment on whether it's appropriate for children. Maybe it is, but it does all seem quite commercial.

Same as dhs dad, he was amongst the first soldiers to liberate Belsen. He said wild horses wouldn't drag him back.

I’ve never had the courage to visit a concentration camp. But I think it’s essential that they stay open and people do go there, and see the physical evidence of what was done.

Holocaust denialism is increasing, along with antisemitism. That’s horrific. It’s hard to understand who could be stupid enough to deny something so well-evidenced and still with some living witnesses, but plenty of idiots do.

I found the Holocaust episodes in The World at War more disturbing than my actual visit to Auschwitz. There are parts I can't even write, I watched it in the early 70s and they haunt me. Auschwitz itself felt very sanitised by comparison. I suppose we all process things in different ways but I know I could visit Auschwitz again but would never ever watch the Holocaust scenes from The World at War again.

It's only a recommendation though. My recent visit was somewhat spoilt by a whinging 6ish year old.

Pointless to bring a child that can’t understand and is a whiny annoying distraction to others who have probably travelled thousands of miles to get there.
A child misbehaving should be taken away from a group.

It’s not suitable for young children at all.