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?

It really isn't "an attraction for tourists" at all. It's a lesson in history and a respectful monument to the awful things that happened and the people who suffered.

I think what's weirder and more disrespectful is that someone is making money from these tours. What a way to pay your mortgage.

Thank you! You did not upset me at all

This.

It's not suitable for young children.

Selfies are not appropriate either

As with many things in life, it depends on context.

Our family went there when I was 10, my younger (-1) and older brother (+1) went too. My DF was in the British Army (based in Germany at that time) and we went as part of a families tour. My stepmother was Jewish, so we did know the basic history in advance.

The standout memories for me were how clean and empty everything was. I was also amazed in that it was the first time ever heard my stepmother speak Polish to other people there. She was a fluent German speaker, but we never knew that!

I don't remember other kids misbehaving, but it would be strange if they did not.

It sounds like you signed up for a tour that included Auschwitz - Birkenau? Once upon a time, access to those sites meant participating in a guided tour, and one of the requirements was to be at least 14. People who had a connection to the site could make connections to tour in private.

Thanks for the Ouradour tip, Auvergne63. For any considering it, please do - you can go via public buses from Limoges. This is not meant in any way to undermine the impact of Oradour, or of Terezin in then-Czechoslovakia which is widely touted as a Nazi atrocity. But Nazi massacres of villages were commonplace in Poland. Polish author Anna Janko (A Little Annihilation) has estimated that there are 50 forgotten atrocities against Poland for every one in Western Europe. I'm sorry; I don't mean to be tit for tat but let's be aware of all of these sites and respect them if we can.

I've been there. I was with my parents and in my teens and you just cannot learn from books / online resources the same way walking through those streets makes you understand the horror.

I think places like concentration camps and Oradour - sur - Glane are not tourist attractions in the same way as Sydney opera house, they are a pilgrimage. They are places to witness what humans can do to each other.

When you see a rusted wreck of a car that someone parked one day and then the next the driver is gone, dead, murdered, along with all their neighbours and all that is left is the rusty shell of a car.

My mother got particularly upset in the church, there is what is left of a child's toy pram.

The people who were not in the village the day of the massacre decided to build a new village next to the old village. They chose the old village to be a symbol and a memorial.

I think YABU about the 6yo. You say they seemed very interested.. I think actually visiting that place has a profound effect and that's so important now there's hardly anyone still alive that was there. People are starting to pretend it never happened.
The younger child is a bit annoying granted but maybe this was a once in a lifetime trip and they had no childcare.
I'm glad people visit Auschwitch full stop.
I went as a child with school and we actually met a survivor to listen to a talk. It was harrowing but it's always stayed with me. I do think what happened there needs to be kind of ingrained in children's sense of history, not something that's taught as a bit of an add on as a teen. I've discussed the holocaust with my son since he were around 7.. probably earlier just to mention it in outline as part of WW2. When they think of that time period I want that to be something my kids immediately think of... we should never forget.

Still thoughtless on his part in that case.

Thank you, that's another thing I didn't know. I will be reading up on this a lot further. The Polish guide was very engaging and passionate about what was done to his country- an then the regime that followed after the war. I definitely want to learn more.

It's not about changing the past; it's about learning about man's inhumanity to man and hopefully preventing such an enormous scale of barbarity ever happening again.

I saw that rusted wreck of a car when I was about 15 and I will never forget it. There's also the wrecked frame of a pram.

Dd was also on that program think it is run by a Jewish education trust. One or two ambassadors are chosen from each school go and then do assemblies to educate the other pupils. Dd regretted doing it as she hated it and felt traumatised by it but I guess that was the point, We would never have gone as a family.

Who is making money of these tours? Dachau is free to visit though I'm not sure about the others. Auschwitz and birkenau are free as well. You only pay for a guided tour. When we visited Munich we did a walking tour with sandeman. Our guide was an American history student and he was brilliant. He encouraged everyone to do to the (paid) tour to dachau. The tour uses public transportation and then this guide took you through the concentration camp. He said if people can't afford or don't want to pay then they should just not pay but still join the tour as he thought it's so important for people to learn about it.

They take a lot of money to maintain. And people are paid to work there and do tours....why would they not be? Why shouldn't they be able to pay the mortgage?!

Do you expect tour guides to work for free? That’s a pretty odd comment in the context of forced labour camps, quite apart from anything else.

If this is the Holocaust Educational Trust Lessons from Auschwitz programme I’m really sorry your Daughter regretted doing it.

The whole point is certainly not to traumatise students and lots of support is offered to individuals and schools at the orientation and follow up seminar and on the day trip its self. It is long and gruelling and the information is hard hitting but I’ve always found that most 6th formers come back with a sense of determination to play a small part in ensuring the lessons are not forgotten and to do something to challenge hate and prejudice.

The guides who work in Auschwitz are really knowledgable and have often dedicated their careers to educating about the Holocaust and remembering victims. There is nothing weird or disrespectful about that.

IIRC one dd visited as a teen, while doing WW2 as part of GCSE history. I certainly wouldn’t think it at all suitable for any child under that sort of age.

Are you able to visit them as a tourist attraction which was the point of the comment which you’re well aware of.

And yet the horrors of Auschwitz continue in many countries today.
The Syria being relieved of Assad this last week being one and what China and Russia are doing with ethnic minorities some of whom are making the cheap clothing sold in the 'West'. 30 years ago I went on a walk in Lodz (Poland) and came across the former Jewish ghetto which had simply been abandoned after the Jews were shipped out by the Germans. Just so you are aware IBM (the American computer company) produced the machines (card indexing machines) that allowed the 3rd Reich to be so efficient with their deportations and there is evidence I believe that COPIES of the records were sent to IBM in the USA at the time so at least some there were aware of what was actually going on: As the Germans had taken control of the railways they could schedule trainloads of prisoners across Europe, meaning the camps knew how many would be arriving.

I wouldn't take mine personally.

My parents wouldn't have taken my sister and I either. Especially as my sister would cry every time we'd even see a graveyard or cemetery!

One time, on holiday in Wales, I was about 9, so sister would have been about 12. My parents wanted to visit Aberfan, as they remembered it happening. My sister sobbed hysterically the moment we saw all the graves, despite only knowing the very barest bones of what had happened.

We went to Auschwitz-Birkenau in March this year and totally agree with you on the importance of the horrors of hate not being forgotten. It wasn’t our experience at all that these camps are exploited on the tourism trail, in contrast they are treated with reverence and respect. We did see a small group and a few individuals taking selfies and I like your explanation of why it was done. If there was any mocking or disrespect going on it was towards the nazis not the poor souls who perished there.

On a slightly different, but similar, note one of the most emotional sights we saw that day was a group of young Jewish men (by their dress I’m guessing orthodox Jews) who gathered together and left the camp singing. Jewish voices raised to the heavens in a place where once they were silenced.

I’m not sure what the right age is for children to be taken to the camps but it is important that they are educated on the past. History can’t be changed because it is unpleasant. It must never be forgotten.

It sounds completely inappropriate for such a young DC to be there and I'm surprised there isn't an age restriction, or at least a guide to appropriate behaviour.

I had similar but on a much lesser scale at the Museum of War at Gdansk. They had a huge section dedicated to the concentration camps and I wanted to take my time to read and listen to all the information ( it really is an excellent museum) but there was a family with a youngish DC age 5-6 and her family was trying to jolly her round whilst she complained- all loudly. It felt so disrespectful to what I was looking at but it wasn't the DCs fault, she was acting age appropriately.

I have been to Krakow and I do feel the trips to Auschwitz are badly sold as a "must do" visitor attraction, sometimes in conjunction with the salt mines in a single day. I chose not to go as I felt such a trip shouldn't be undertaken likely and I simply didn't want to expose myself to the horror of it (NB I have jewish heritage and I am not unaware of what happened there). I feel a lot of people go without considering what they are actually going to see.