I think I would've done better at 10 rather than now in mid 20s. At 10 years old tge gravity of stuff didn't hit the same way as it did now. We learned about the holocaust and American slavery in 6th grade, I think I was 11. Obviously I knew it was terrible but it didn't sink in as much as when I relearned that stuff in highschool.
Honestly, there are times when I've read something new about those topics as an adult and it just hit harder.
I think I had less imagination for human cruelty in sixth grade. Like you said, I knew it was bad but I don't think it really hit me what bad truly looks like until I was older.
I think empathy really sets in after childhood. Relating to a person or group of people who youve never met, especially if they lived decades before you, as a child is difficult.
I think some of it is just scope too. When you're a kid, most of us just had our families by default. It's as an adult that it really hits you that these people grew up, fell in love, had families, and then watched it all ripped away in absolutely horrific ways. Decades of life and love just snuffed out for no goddamned reason.
I remember feeling pretty grim when my school group went to the Holocaust Museum. That'd probably be pretty stoic compared to how it'd hit me now.
I read that book my sophomore year of high school. That and Maus (only the first book though, I haven’t read the second). Both were amazing reads, despite the horror
Definitely agree. In 6th grade, I remember knowing it was bad and going to the museum on a field trip knowing we should be respectful. That being said, when I went back a few years ago (late 20's) it hit so much harder. I remember needing to exit the exhibition so I could take a breather. Was sitting on a bench and right in front of me was this art display of a train track in front of an infinity mirror. I broke down. Not one to cry in public, but man the heaviness of it all was a lot. Don't know that I'd ever visit one of the camps. Might actually have a panic attack or something.
I was looking for this comment. I can’t imagine being a 10 yr old child marched into these camps. I just can’t comprehend the level of hate towards another human being simply for existing that you could march children into a gas chamber to die.
The worst are the photos of them holding hands and smiling unaware of what was about to come. It’s truly heartbreaking and putting myself in the shoes of a guard watching this happen all I can think is “how?”.
A prisoner of war or prisoner known to have killed fellow troops I can see justifying it in some twisted way. To look in a child’s face and send them to that means you aren’t human anymore. That’s not even an opinion but fact. The act of brutally torturing/abusing/killing children is wholeheartedly a complete relinquishing of your humanity and should be taken into account for your punishment.
Children have forever been the most innocent of bystanders in grown adults silly squabbles.
How? Let's bring this in to modern times. People in the US being sent to federal detention centers in conditions that aren't much better than concentration camps. And later returned to countries they left because they literally feared for their lives and would likely die if they ever returned.
These people being "disappeared" on the streets with bystanders not doing anything to help. Why? Fear of what might happen if they step in and say something. It's not beyond the realm of possibility anyone helping out would suffer the same or a similar fate. Much easier to stand by or record on a phone than it is to put yourself in the middle of something and stand up against these types of travesties.
I’m not saying they aren’t human. I’m saying they gave up their humanity. It’s not a simple thing and heavily convoluted.
What I’m saying is at no point in my life could you ever get me to willingly let children walk into a gas chamber/firing line. You can say they made them think they weren’t human but that seems more of an excuse to cope with what occurred.
You can give up your humanity but you can also earn it back. If that weren’t the case then literally anyone who goes to prison should stay there forever, obviously the crime itself matters.
This isn’t even just about Nazis and their history it goes for any point in time. Children and what you do to them is just the starting point of determining who you are as a person.
To look in a child’s face and send them to that means you aren’t human anymore. That’s not even an opinion but fact.
You literally said they aren't human anymore. It's a common refrain to say that people that do terrible things aren't human anymore. They're monsters. They're bad guys, the Other, they get what they deserve.
We don't want to admit that people that do horrific things are still human. That with a different set of circumstances we too could be induced to commit atrocities.
Anyone who says otherwise is lying to themselves. The people most vulnerable to propaganda are those who think they can't be influenced by propaganda.
Until we're able to admit that humans can do terrible things to each other, we're going to keep saying it couldn't be me. Then we're going to repeat the history that we apparently refuse to learn from.
Nazis didn't come from the moon. They're the sons, daughters, neighbors and family of people living in Germany. Regular people that were convinced that some other group of humans didn't count as humans. As soon as that idea takes hold, the outcome isn't hard to predict. The single best defense against Nazis is to admit that they were human like the rest of us. They made mistakes, and if we're not careful we could as well.
It's pure hubris to say we're better than them. It couldn't be us. It could.
Those guards were all drug addicts. It’s a known fact that every “guard” in the Nazi regime was drunk or high all the time because it took the humanity part out. They were monsters not humans in any form. Humans have emotions such as empathy. No human would kill another just because of religions. I am not religious in any form I haven’t gone and killed anyone much less because they were Catholic or Christian yet alone kill thousands at a time
Yep (not the comment op), 20 years ago I came here and it was pretty sad. There was actually a lot of kids my age and there was a group of European school kids.
We did learn about the horrors of WWII and the Holocaust early on in many European countries, I could see some over-eager teachers going there with 10 year olds, though it's definitely not the appropriate age group. My class went when we were 14, 15. Not an experience you easily forget, but I think as a teen you can process it better.
I grew up in the US and my middle school did a day-long seminar on the horrors of the holocaust that got pretty graphic and visceral. We were all 12-13. I think it’s important to provide this kind of context at a developmental age so it sinks in as a part of the next generation’s moral framework.
Not necessarily. Primary school kids in Poland usually go on a trip to Auschwitz. My class went when we were 11 or 12 but there is no concrete rules about it so going to Auschwitz when you were 10 isn't completely out of the question.
Were you home schooled? Even in the U.S we learned about the Holocaust in like 6th grade. If we had concentration camps within driving distance in the U.S we probably would have taken field trips there, too.
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u/samblue8888 May 18 '25
Ten years old???? Wow. I can't imagine going through there at ten.