Auschwitz -Birkenau

One of the most important things to do while in Krakow is to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps. 

It’s an education, a hard one, but important. It was on the list from the moment we decided to go to Poland. However, when I went to book the tickets, I had to pause. There was a warning that Auschwitz-Birkenau was not recommended for anyone under the age of 14.

Kids aren’t forbidden, but … we needed to think and prepare to see if ours were actually ready for the seriousness of the place. 

Jimmy, at 13 and 1/2, was well read and enjoys studying history. He knew what happened at Auschwitz and was interested in the “why” of events. It would be hard, but he was mature enough for this. 

For Sammy, at nearly 12, and Lucy, at 8 years old, we weren’t so sure. Sammy had read “Number the Stars” in school, and we had talked at a high level about the Nazis and the Holocaust. All Lucy knew was that the Nazis = bad, but not more than that. 

So, we had some prep work to figure out if taking them was a good idea. 

We did some research, read some blog posts and talked with some trusted friends and took on a recommendation to start by reading “The Diary of Anne Frank” aloud to all the children.

Jimmy and Sammy knew what happened to Anne and her family, but Lucy did not … 

Chapter after chapter, we saw Lucy falling in love with Anne and all her dealings with the family and their hiding. About halfway in, we realized that Lucy was eagerly anticipating their rescue and would be utterly crushed when she found out that they would not be. 

We stopped reading. She wasn’t ready. 

Sammy, at nearly 12, was a little harder. He’s very mature in some ways, but in others he is very sensitive. 

At the same time, we felt strongly that the visit was important enough to see and walk through in person. 

We felt this is especially true today, in this age of our children growing up with much that is digital, with artificial intelligence, and where information can be faked and manipulated. 

We believe that there might come a time (indeed, for some, that time is now) when people no longer believe that a government run by the Nazis persecuted, imprisoned and ultimately murdered over 6 million Jews. 

But to walk in the place… To see the buildings… the train cars … the beds… the luggage … the shoes … the empty gas cans … 

So, while I stayed at our apartment with Lucy, all the rest spent the day learning about the terrible things man does to man. 

When they came home, we talked. 

The boys had so many hard questions. 

Good questions. 

I’m so proud of them. 

Lucy and I will come back one day and go through it together.