Do you consider Auschwitz to be common knowledge?

[pqr]

Unquestionably!

[Mommy22alyns]

Yes, or it should be. I had a pretty bad PS education (never got past US Reconstruction) and only took a few college classes. I knew what Auschwitz was. Then I undertook to educate myself even more.

[pqr]

I suppose that the issue is that Auschwitz-Birkenau is one of a short list of well known camps. It is understandable not to know of Maly Trostenets or Jasenovac but Auschwitz, Treblinka or Belzec (plus others) should be known.

 

Other camps such as those run by the Soviets in Kolyma are all but unknown in the West, hundreds of thousands died in these camps.

[Laura in STL]

I voted yes, but I studied German for 10 plus years, so maybe I have a different perspective due to that.

[Heidi]

It hurts me to hear that people have no idea what Auschwitz is.

 

Very very sad.

 

If you were to say "holocaust" or "concentration camps" I would know what you were talking about, and probably most people would. I did not know what "Auschwitz" was. I believe my education was sorely lacking compared to most, especially in history, which is why I'm homeschooling my kids and myself.

[pqr]

If you were to say "holocaust" or "concentration camps" I would know what you were talking about.

 

Technically there was a difference between a concentration camp and an extermination camp.

 

Auschwitz was an extermination camp while places such as Bogdanovka were concentration camps and Dachau was a labor camp. Of course the murders and horrors that went on in each made the difference one of semantics, but the Nazis claimed a difference and expressed this at Nuremberg.

 

There were also POW camps that had unbelievable mortality rates, these were on the Eastern Front.

[mommymilkies]

Yes. I think it should be common knowledge. Unless you were confused with the spelling or someone mispronounced it.

 

But I think a lot of history should be common knowledge and find many people don't know them.

 

I remember a girl that was a junior in high school who didn't know who won the American Civil War. I almost fell over on that one.

 

:iagree:

[Slartibartfast]

It is common knowledge, I do think that is something people SHOULD know.

 

 

(I am a history freak, there is a lot of things I think people should know, just like others are likely thinking I should know better grammar :lol:)

[Slartibartfast]

I suppose that the issue is that Auschwitz-Birkenau is one of a short list of well known camps. It is understandable not to know of Maly Trostenets or Jasenovac but Auschwitz, Treblinka or Belzec (plus others) should be known.

 

Other camps such as those run by the Soviets in Kolyma are all but unknown in the West, hundreds of thousands died in these camps.

 

I agree (wow, that was weird)

 

Auschwitz was particularly infamous is the only reason I think one would recognize that name, there were many camps but Auschwitz, Belsen, Belzec, and some others were particularly well known.

[Lovemyblessings]

I just finished the book "Night" by Elie Wiesel. It gave me' nightmares about this horrible place.

[Ginevra]

I have not read replies.

 

I do consider this common knowledge, but I just want to say to the OP that I don't think there's any point feeling bad if you don't know something that is considered common knowledge. Posts happen here often that say, "I can't believe so-and-so didn't know XYZ!" It always bothers me. Nobody knows everything. And sometimes, people know a lot about Particular Subject X, but not much at all about Particular Subject Y, so, when they are around a bunch of people who know gobs about "Y," they suddenly feel ignorant, when in fact, they may know a lot about "X," that the Y-expert people know nothing about.

 

If I discover I have a gap in knowledge, and it is such that I want to fill the gap, then I do. It's not as though you have to have amassed all important "common knowledge" by the time you're 18 and the door is closed. There's nothing to prevent you from learning about Auschwitz now. :001_smile:

[bbmom]

?huh? My husband's aunt was in one of those camps as a four year old girl. she saw her nanny brutally gunned down because she tried to sneak something to her through the fence. she watched as her mother had a cross cut into her back with a samurai sword and be thrown into a pit under the tropical sun for three days with no food or water because she cut the hair off the "pretty" girls so they wouldn't be used as comfort women. when she came out, she was covered with maggots. the japanese did vivisections on prisoners - they were just as brutal, it just isn't taught.

 

I thought the OP of this was referring to the American Japanese internment camps like Manzanar, not the actual Japanese camps.

[kchara]

Yes, I think the name Auschwitz should be common knowledge. I don't know the names of the major camps, but I do know that one.

 

OP, if you're going to get into a study of the holocaust and the camps, you might consider going slow. There's a lot there, and a lot to take in. More than I ever realized. I went to pretty decent schools, and they really did their best to make it "real," and touch us with the truth of what happened, but there's so much more there now, that I'm still learning.

 

DH is a WWII buff, and I've already told him he'll have to teach the kids about the holocaust. They absolutely, 110% need to know, but, emotionally, I can't do it, and I know that, so he'll be doing all of the history when we come to that. I can't even finish Anne Frank's diary.

[LibraryLover]

I'm sure this doesn't surprise anyone here, but I learned most of my world history from high school lit. classes and college art history courses. I learned the most about the Holocaust when we read Anne Frank.

 

cat

 

Yes. We read Anne Frank in 6th grade.

 

I also had (some) modern history in Jr high (see above), and again in high school (went to Vietnam at that point...I'm kinda older than many here.) I am always shocked when I hear that some US kids don't get history beyond the American Civil War. My schooled kids got past that before the end of jr high.

 

Some things are not appropriate for very young ones, so I can see why some schools hold off. We got very graphic details of WWII in 6th grade. In 7th grade we watched some of that terrible black & white footage of concentration camps, not to mention Blitz footage-- where buildings are crashing down on parents and children as they try to run away.

Edited July 18, 2011 by LibraryLover

[Rosie_0801]

They are taught in Australia. I think most Australians know more about the Japanese prison of war camps, Burma Road, Changi etc. than they do about WWII in Europe. seeing as such a large amount of Aussie soldiers ended up in them.

 

Not me. Believe it or not, we never touched on this part of our history at school. It was all boomerangs, Captain Cook and the First Fleet. :glare: (And a semester of WW2 history as an elective, but that wasn't new since I had a Polish grandfather.) I have read bits and pieces about it since school, though.

 

Rosie

Edited July 18, 2011 by Rosie_0801

[Spy Car]

Technically there was a difference between a concentration camp and an extermination camp.

 

Auschwitz was an extermination camp while places such as Bogdanovka were concentration camps and Dachau was a labor camp. Of course the murders and horrors that went on in each made the difference one of semantics, but the Nazis claimed a difference and expressed this at Nuremberg.

 

There were also POW camps that had unbelievable mortality rates, these were on the Eastern Front.

 

 

Auschwitz actually comprised a number of different facilities that included a concentration camp, a labor camp, and an extermination camp.

 

Bill

[8circles]

Auschwitz actually comprised a number of different facilities and included concentration camps, labor camps, and extermination camps.

 

Bill

 

:iagree:Auschwitz should be common knowledge. Not just "the holocaust" but specifics.

[pqr]

Auschwitz actually comprised a number of different facilities that included a concentration camp, a labor camp, and an extermination camp.

 

Bill

 

Correct, I was trying to keep the discussion relatively simple, many of the extermination camps had ancillary facilities. Incidentally, there was also a POW camp near there.

 

The site is well worth a visit, an incredibly emotional place.

[readinmom]

I read Sarah's Key as I was teaching Night this year. The students liked the comparison of the experiences. The bad thing was, though, that this was some students first experience with the Holocaust. Most had never read Anne Frank, had very little knowledge of history outside of the US, and that was mostly about the Civil War. I chalk it up to the almighty state test.

[Spy Car]

:iagree:Auschwitz should be common knowledge. Not just "the holocaust" but specifics.

 

This year I worked on a tribute film about a survivor who was at Auschwitz in a labor camp. Most of her family were gassed in the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.

 

Listening to the four-hour videotaped testimony she gave to the Shoah Foundation (which documents the stories of survivors) was absolutely chilling.

 

We should never forget!

 

Bill

[Spy Car]

Correct, I was trying to keep the discussion relatively simple, many of the extermination camps had ancillary facilities. Incidentally, there was also a POW camp near there.

 

The site is well worth a visit, an incredibly emotional place.

 

When I was ten years old my father was working on a television documentary on Nazi Germany and the death camps. I remember spending a week-end in his editing room as he watched the most horrific footage from the camps I have ever seen. It was far too graphic for television in those days, and even today I think most of this footage has never been seen by general audiences.

 

Horrible, horrible crimes and atrocities.

 

It made an awful deep impression.

 

Bill

[LibraryLover]

I just finished the book "Night" by Elie Wiesel. It gave me' nightmares about this horrible place.

 

 

I read this when I was a young teen, and it's haunting. There is such a feeling of hopelessness, and given the horror, why wouldnt that be true? It might be something that could wait until a reader is older.

 

It's a book that has never left me.

Edited July 18, 2011 by LibraryLover

[pqr]

Incidentally, there was also a POW camp near there.

 

.

 

Interesting story on the POW camp.

 

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/18552/British-prisoners-of-AuschwitzBritish-prisoners-of-AuschwitzBritish-prisoners-of-AuschwitzBritish-prisoners-of-AuschwitzBritish-prisoners-of-AuschwitzBritish-prisoners-of-AuschwitzBritish-prisoners-of-AuschwitzBritish-prisoners-of-AuschwitzBritish-prisoners-of-AuschwitzBritish-prisoners-of-AuschwitzBritish-prisoners-of-AuschwitzBritish-prisoners-of-AuschwitzBritish-prisoners-of-AuschwitzBritish-prisoners-of-AuschwitzBritish-prisoners-of-AuschwitzBritish-prisoners-of-Auschwitz

 

There is also the story of the British POW who changed positions with a Jewish prisoner, though some question the veracity of the account.

 

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article7039572.ece

[LibraryLover]

When I was ten years old my father was working on a television documentary on Nazi Germany and the death camps. I remember spending a week-end in his editing room as he watched the most horrific footage from the camps I have ever seen. It was far too graphic for television in those days, and even today I think most of this footage has never been seen by general audiences.

 

Horrible, horrible crimes and atrocities.

 

It made an awful deep impression.

 

Bill

 

Meat hooks? Those were still swirling about when I was a child/young teen. I saw those. I am always floored when people don't know.

[bairnmama]

I just wanted to say that while I believe that a general remembrance of the holocaust is common knowledge, I don't think the specific name of "Auschwitz" is anymore. I definitely think it SHOULD be, though! It seems that many people are wanting the shield their children from the specific and real horrors of the past so the details are getting left out. I can't seem to wrap my head around this thinking seeing what many of these same people allow their children to watch/listen to in regards to movies and music! :confused:

[LibraryLover]

I just wanted to say that while I believe that a general remembrance of the holocaust is common knowledge, I don't think the specific name of "Auschwitz" is anymore. I definitely think it SHOULD be, though! It seems that many people are wanting the shield their children from the specific and real horrors of the past so the details are getting left out. I can't seem to wrap my head around this thinking seeing what many of these same people allow their children to watch/listen to in regards to movies and music! :confused:

 

 

I know people who have parents/grandparents/g grandparents with numbers on their forearms. A lot of kids don't get to be protected, although of course one wants to be careful with young children. It is a topic beyond comprehension. I remember when my oldest was little and read Snow Children ( I think it was 4th grade ). They talked some in school about it , although not graphically. More an intro to the war. I remember him saying/contemplating, "But they didn't kill the children, right?" I couldn't handle all of that for him at age 8 or so. I gulped and evaded, lying almost, choosing to say that many people helped the children, which was only a partial lie. I decided at that moment to avoid the full horror for him. Of course, he learned soon enough and in January of this year toured two concentration camps. I remember when I first saw those bluish numbers...she was a 'regular' grandma/person...with a concentration camp number peeking out of her blouse sleeve. I can tell you with my whole soul that my blood ran cold. I never felt my blood pressure drop that way. I was probably 12. If I was Jewish, i would have seen/noticed it at a far younger age.

Edited July 18, 2011 by LibraryLover

[bairnmama]

I know kids with grandparents/g grandparents with numbers on their forearms. A lot of kids don't get to be protected.

 

 

I know... but in my part of the country holocaust survivors are few and far between. I think I was an adult and married before I personally met one. I didn't say I thought they needed to/should be protected, only that it seems to be a prevalent sentiment where I live. I actually think those kids you speak of are blessed and have an amazing opportunity. They get a chance to understand these things in a way others may never understand...

[8circles]

When I was ten years old my father was working on a television documentary on Nazi Germany and the death camps. I remember spending a week-end in his editing room as he watched the most horrific footage from the camps I have ever seen. It was far too graphic for television in those days, and even today I think most of this footage has never been seen by general audiences.

 

Horrible, horrible crimes and atrocities.

 

It made an awful deep impression.

 

Bill

 

I don't know what the smilie is for feeling a kinship over something so horrific.

I was raised on holocaust movies. That history is too personally close for comfort. We must never forget & we must never be silent.

[8circles]

I just wanted to say that while I believe that a general remembrance of the holocaust is common knowledge, I don't think the specific name of "Auschwitz" is anymore. I definitely think it SHOULD be, though! It seems that many people are wanting the shield their children from the specific and real horrors of the past so the details are getting left out. I can't seem to wrap my head around this thinking seeing what many of these same people allow their children to watch/listen to in regards to movies and music! :confused:

 

Those people who are trying to protect their children are not doing them any favors. IMO.

[stripe]

We should never forget!

 

We've already forgotten. Genocides keep happening. Not against Jews in Europe, true, but the desire to point fingers at the other and single "them" out for bad treatment, not to mention massive international inaction as thousands and then tens of thousands of innocents are killed, is still alive and well.

[Spy Car]

We've already forgotten. Genocides keep happening. Not against Jews in Europe, true, but the desire to point fingers at the other and single "them" out for bad treatment, not to mention massive international inaction as thousands and then tens of thousands of innocents are killed, is still alive and well.

 

Unless the human rights abuses occur in an area where the world community has strategic interests, it is all too often the case. Sad, but true.

 

Bill

[Mom-ninja.]

Yes, I believe it should be common knowledge, but that doesn't mean it is. I grew up in the States and went to public school in several states. I was taught about Auschwitz being one of the main hubs of murder.

 

I would be shocked to meet someone who didn't know. Shocked and then not surprised. History is not a strong point in the US.

 

I have plenty gaps in my knowledge. Plenty. So I'm sure there are things that I should know that I don't. My dh was shocked when I told him I had no idea what he was talking about when he mentioned the Gateway arch in.....um.....Michigan? Minnesota? See,I still can't get it right. Something about the gate to the west.

 

 

However, the murder of 6 million is important enough to be taught to everyone.

[Mrs Mungo]

Yes, I believe it should be common knowledge, but that doesn't mean it is. I grew up in the States and went to public school in several states. I was taught about Auschwitz being one of the main hubs of murder.

 

I would be shocked to meet someone who didn't know. Shocked and then not surprised. History is not a strong point in the US.

 

I have plenty gaps in my knowledge. Plenty. So I'm sure there are things that I should know that I don't. My dh was shocked when I told him I had no idea what he was talking about when he mentioned the Gateway arch in.....um.....Michigan? Minnesota? See,I still can't get it right. Something about the gate to the west.

 

St. Louis, Missouri. ;)

[Mom-ninja.]

St. Louis, Missouri. ;)

 

That's the one! Dh was so disappointed when he talked about being there and I just blankly stared at him. :lol:

[sewingmama]

I am of German background - my grandparents were teens living in Germany at the time - I had relatives kiled by the Nazi's for refusing to join their party.

 

My step-grandfather is Jewish. He was 16 years old and living in Germany. His entire family were killed in the concentration camps -he was the only one to survive.

 

So for me it is common knowledge but I wouldn't expect someone without the same background to automatically know - although I would probably still raise an eyebrow that they didn't ;)

[Slartibartfast]

I have plenty gaps in my knowledge. Plenty. So I'm sure there are things that I should know that I don't. My dh was shocked when I told him I had no idea what he was talking about when he mentioned the Gateway arch in.....um.....Michigan? Minnesota? See,I still can't get it right. Something about the gate to the west.

 

 

 

The Gateway arch is there because it was from St Louis that Lewis and Clark set off after the Louisiana Purchase.

[cin]

One fellow commented that nothing had happened at Dachau... It was weird.

 

Put him in a room with my Uncle. He was one of the first to go in to liberate those poor people. And he was NEVER the same. My poor uncle took PTSD to a new level. I learned some of my first profanities from him, as he discussed the piles of children's shoes he had to go through when liberating them. When I was 6 or 8 yrs old.

 

Dachau and Auschwitz were words I grew up with. As was Normandy. He was there too. No wonder he was like he was. For me, it is all a part of our family history.

[CAMom]

I voted "no." I think it should be common knowledge but with some of the ignorance I've seen lately, unfortunately, I don't think it is.:glare: