It's a mind boggling debate: do we tell our children the horrific truth of the Holocaust, or sugar coat it until they're older? There's just no simple way to confront the issue so most parents simply don't bring it up. Unfortunately, the day for Ruth Franklin came while she was writing A Thousand Darknesses: Truth and Lies in Holocaust Fiction. Instead of giving facts straight from her book she did what most of the human population would do: googled Holocaust books for kids, and thus the article was born.
I'd like to start off by saying the genre "children's Holocaust books" is an extreme paradox. Children, like the precious little girl on the side, equal naiive and innocent and the Hollocaust..well..... doesn't. A child couldn't very easily make a transition from Sam I am not liking green eggs and ham to the death of approximately 11 million people in the pursuit of creating a perfect race. Why should kids try to understand it when I, a highschool junior, can't even comprehend how exterminating whole religion and races could ever seem ethical? What happened to sheltering our children from all the monsters under the bed or in the closet? Innocence is a precious thing, but ignorance isn't. Ruth Franklin and I both agree that we must ride that fine line. Talk about the Holocaust when asked about it, but avoid the manslaughter subject. Of course, a parents response to, "Mommy, did Hitler kill people?" shouldn't be "No sweetie, he was a gentleman", BUT it also wouldn't be a good idea to say, "Well yes, but only because he was trying to create a perfect world where all brown hair brown eyed people were burned, gased, slaughtered, or worked to death". Let's imagine how horrific that would be for the little brown hair brown eyed toddler..... That's what I thought.
Warning!
I'm getting sidetracked: STORY TIME! I grew up on a court two houses down from quite possibly the most bitter couple I've ever met. I grew up getting yelled at in German for running through their yard during flashlight tag, and leaving any balls that went too far in their yard and never seeing them ever again. It was a no trespassing zone for fifteen years of my life, and no one would tell me why. As all the kids in my court got older the hatred faded on both sides, and the psychos began to show their faces until one day they came all the way out to the court and told us their story: Dell, the husband, was a liberating officer in World War II, and Nina, the wife, was a captive jew( however, we always called them nazis, irony? Yes, and I feel terrible about it now). Anyway, Dell took Nina and got permission to leave early and marry her. It's movie material, I know.
What's my point? That story would've meant absolutely nothing to me when I was growing up. I still would've thought they were psychopaths and she was scared of the sun. But because they waited to tell me, I now understand that she's super cautious because of her past and he's protective for the same reason. There's no point in teaching a kid calculus before they've master 1+1, and the Holocaust goes along the same guidelines. Don't rush it. It's an important part of the world's history, and all children will learn about it, but there's no point in teaching about it early because they won't fully comprehend. I mean, I still don't.
DON'T READ THIS IF YOU THINK THE HOLOCAUST DIDN'T HAPPEN. Actually, do read this. That is just flat out dumb. The whole "oh it was all in studio, like a movie idea" concept: dumb. That's a terrible movie idea! Like I said: ignorance isn't precious. The worst thing you can do is tell your children it didn't happen.
Remember the Holocaust
"We in the United States should be all the more thankful for the freedom and religious tolerance we enjoy. And we should always remember the lessons learned from the Holocaust, in hopes we stay vigilant against such inhumanity now and in the future. "
-Charlie Dent
Like what you read? Wanna see a professional's opinion? Check out Ruth Franklin!
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