Can I visit Auschwitz with my 4-year-old son?

Answer

If you wish, you can visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp with your son, you will not be denied entry. During the visits it is asked not to disturb the silence and the dignified atmosphere, if you want to distract your son from the horror or distraction, it is best not to do this with cheerful music or highly attractive and noisy toys.

But is it also desirable? A four-year-old child is cognitively and psychologically inaccessible to the historical or “admonitional message” that should result from such a visit. The management of the camp sites flatly advises against visitors under the age of 10 in this sense. Older children and adolescents are only recommended to visit if they are under pedagogical guidance (e.g. during a school trip), and it is pointed out that the emotional impact, also in adolescents and adolescents (and for that matter also in adults), can be great. and sufficient “talking opportunities” must be provided with parents, supervisors, teachers…..

It sometimes happens that, for example, grandparents who are former prisoners themselves, still want to pass on a personal message to their grandchildren. That is understandable, but even then it is recommended to do this very carefully. For example: Grandpa lived there in that barrack, he had a very hard time, got little food and had to work hard. But the dosage of the atrocities is also obvious here…..

So it seems that the answer to your question is: no, better not.

Prof.em.A.Schaerlaekens, member of the pedagogical committee of the Auschwitz Foundation.