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Original poster

School trip to Auschwitz - opimnions

161 replies

forsale · 19/09/2007 15:19

dd has brought a letter home from school re: a visit to Krakow with a view to visiting Auschwitz - Does anyone have experience of this?

OP posts:
bossykate · 19/09/2007 15:25

how old is your dd?

Original poster
forsale · 19/09/2007 15:26

sorry - she's 14 year 10

OP posts:
Bessie123 · 19/09/2007 15:27

Don't know if this is what you want to hear, but I went on a trip to a concentration camp in the Czech republic when I was 17 and it gave me nightmares for weeks.

FrannyandZooey · 19/09/2007 15:30

Ooh blimey I would be very unsure

it is harrowing beyond belief from what i have heard

madamez · 19/09/2007 15:30

I have been to a camp museum in Belgium. They are eerie, upsetting places. Does your DD want to go on the trip? Is she the type who will have nightmares for months? It will certainly be thought-provoking for her.

bossykate · 19/09/2007 15:31

i will see if i can get my dh on to answer this. he is a holocaust scholar who has visited auschwitz.

i think it's a safe bet it will be a disturbing visit for your dd.

how much does she know about the holocaust already?

visiting krakow should be fun - isn't it a beautiful medieval city?

expatinscotland · 19/09/2007 15:32

It would depend on the child, I think.

bossykate · 19/09/2007 15:33

here is the website here

hana · 19/09/2007 15:33

haven't been there, but visited Hiroshima in Japan and that was incredibly disturbing.....I was about 25.

belgo · 19/09/2007 15:34

If she goes with her firends, I should think they will help each other through the experience.

Cammelia · 19/09/2007 15:35

My dd aged 10+ knows about the Holocaust but I think a school visit to Auschwitz would be far too harrowing

belgo · 19/09/2007 15:36

has the school taken previous years to Auschwitz?

milfAKAmonkeymonkeymoomoo · 19/09/2007 15:37

Fantastic idea, I went to Normandy and did the whole war graves thing etc when I was 12. Made history seem more real, as long as there is lots of support i would ahve no hesitation in my daughter going at that age.

portonovo · 19/09/2007 15:41

Funny, my daughter brought home a letter last week about the self-same thing! Part of Yr 10 R.E. Previous years got lots out of the trip and I would be happy to let my child go. Only thing is the cost - it's £200 more than the History trip to the WW1 battle sites in Belgium so I think she's more likely to go on that one.

southeatsastras · 19/09/2007 15:43

i would have thought 14 was too young, it's alot for young people to take in. it would have given me nightmares

Peachy · 19/09/2007 15:45

It'd be one of thsoe things where you need to look at the child and decide, I would think.

Certainly I would actively encoyrage it at post-16 level, but at 14 I would say it depends on your child and their levels of maturity etc

Lilymaid · 19/09/2007 21:48

I would take a child of that age to Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam but Auschwitz would be too emotionally draining. Read "If this is a man" (Primo Levi) before deciding.

SpeccieSeccie · 19/09/2007 21:58

What a weird choice for a school trip.

I think that going to Normandy to see the graves and trenches would be one thing (and would probably be a positive thing) but Auschwitz is too hardcore. Really. If your dd is sensitive then a going to Auschwitz is obviously going to have an impact. There will be some kids who will be very moved by it and some who'll lark around and treat it like a jaunt. Even if at 14 I could have dealt with the emotional impact of a concentration camp, I don't think I'd have wanted to do it with my mates looking on.

lisalisa · 19/09/2007 22:01

Message withdrawn

Pickie · 19/09/2007 22:01

I went there on a schooltrip when I was 14 and I found it very realistic, interesting and eerie and a lot more emotions but well worth it

I would welcome it if my DC would go there one day.

smallwhitecat · 19/09/2007 22:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

berolina · 19/09/2007 22:05

IMO a lot would be down to how the school intend to prepare the participants for it - and how they intend to help them deal with it afterwards. At 14 I would consider it but would want to know about the before and after.

BecauseImWorthIt · 19/09/2007 22:08

But their coursework is about WW2 - how on earth can you expect them to fully 'get' what went on without them experiencing this?

Yes, it's harrowing - but that is the brutal truth about the war.

FluffyMummy123 · 19/09/2007 22:09

Message withdrawn

twinsetandpearls · 19/09/2007 22:09

I went on a Youth Group trip to Aushwitz at about that age and found it quite harrowing but intensely moving and it shaped me as a person - for the better.

It does depend on the nature of your child I suppose

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