Should you take your kids to Auschwitz?
When we came to Kraków on our 4 week interrail and Couchsurfing trip through Eastern Europe, we were struggling with the thought: would it be appropriate to bring my 12 year old son Tim to the horrific site of Auschwitz? Would it be harmful to him? Would he be able to take it seriously? Or would it be an educational and thought provoking experience to actually see the place he has been studying so much in school? After all, the recommended age to visit the place is 16 years old.
Like most children, Tim had read Anne Frank´s diary in school. They have studied the holocaust during their history lessons. We had also watched the dreadful film "The boy in the striped pyjamas" together, and both had been deeply touched by the story of the son of a German officer who became friends with a Jewish boy in a concentration camp. Tim knew a lot already. And in hindsight, it proved to be the right decision to bring him.
Here is a sample from the chapter about our Auschwitz visit:
The transfer departs from central Kraków, and about ten foreign tourists, ourselves included, squeeze into the seats of the minibus. The sixty kilometer journey, which should only have taken ninety minutes, is long and drawn-out, through sleepy towns and monotonous countryside. When we finally arrive at our first stop more than two hours later, we stumble stiff-legged and a little dazed out of the bus. We are handed maps and information leaflets; we've chosen to walk around the site on our own instead of joining a guided tour.
The camp complex, divided into three sections, is enormous. Auschwitz is the German name of the town we are now in, Oświęcim, and between 1940 and 1945 it was Nazi Germany's largest and most brutal concentration and extermination camp, covering a total area of forty square kilometers. Our first stop is at Auschwitz II/Birkenau, and we walk towards the large entrance with the infamous and terrifying so-called "Gate of Death" that we had previously only seen in photographs – the long brick building that has become one of the strongest symbols of the genocide that took place on the other side. Here in Birkenau, about ninety percent of all prisoners were murdered – around one million people, most of them Jews, but also Poles, Roma, homosexuals, and Soviet prisoners of war. Upon arrival, they were tattooed with prisoner numbers on their arms, their heads shaved, disinfected, and forced into striped uniforms. They were then selected based on their ability to work – the unfit, such as the elderly, the sick, and children, were sent straight to the gas chambers, while those deemed able to work were transferred to labour camps.
We spend more than five hours here in Auschwitz I, but even so, there is no chance of seeing all the exhibitions – we realise we would have needed at least a full day. Overloaded with facts, stories, images, and new insights swirling in our heads, we meet up with our fellow travellers at the car park for the return journey. Tim and I talk a bit about what we've seen and experienced. Like me, he is deeply affected and exhausted. But just as I had hoped and believed, he has throughout the visit shown interest, empathy, and respect. I was right to bring him here – of that I am now firmly convinced.
In our book, Sofas & Strangers, you could read more about our interrail and Couchsurfing trip through Eastern Europe.
Read more about it here