What grade (age) do you feel appropriate to study Hitler?

[Ceila]

My son studied WWII in fourth grade last year. We had may interesting conversations with him related to what he was studying. He also has an interest in anything military-related, so we let him watch Valkyrie.

 

[puffkin]

I remember learning about it in 4th grade. I know I read Anne Frank in 5th grade. We did some pretty extensive projects about WWII/Holocaust in middle school. IMHO it is a topic that needs to be discussed early before kids get too desensized and skeptical by high school. It really is amazing what kids can understand and process.

 

[autumnpalm]

I think I was also around 4th grade when first taught about the Holocaust. In an age appropriate way, I think it important to teach children about these things so that history does not repeat itself. I think we have a responsibility as part of humanity to learn from and about the past.

I think one of the first books I read was The Secret of Gabby's Dresser which was very good.

 

[aprilgail2]

My daughter is in 5th grade and they just finished a whole segment on that. They broke the kids down into groups of 3 and one kid got before the holocaust, one kids during, and one kid after and they had to work as a gorup making a poster board and doing a report. My daughter googled a bunch of stuff and was horrified seeing some of the things but thats part of history.

 

[padams]

DSs read Number the Stars and another book (can't recall title, not Anne Frank) on the Holocaust in 3rd grade (they are now in 6th and 8th) as part of the curriculum. My older DS met a Holocaust survivor on a middle school community service project to a nursing home in 6th grade. It made a huge impression on him. In fact, I think it will be one of the moments that he will always remember about middle school.

 

[taylor3297]

I know some students in the 5th grade also read "The Devil's Arithmetic", which is historical fiction.

 

[vettechick99]

We did it in 5th grade. I think it's important to teach children about these terrible historic events (and it instills a great deal of empathy).

 

[bumbershoot]

I also had ds11 watch Saving Private Ryan last year, when he kept glorifying war.

The Longest Day is also good, and not as gruesome.


I don't know the answer to the question, but I do know that an understanding you have at one point will change entirely. I am always being hit by how little I understood something big before, when I have a new flash of insight about something now. So the idea of "OK now we've covered it, we're done" just boggles my mind...


I was 26 when I watched Schindler's List and I couldn't speak for almost a day. I cannot even imagine showing it to a child....

 

[lisajl]

My son started his obession with WWII in the third grade. Now, mind you, he did not delve into the serious stuff until this past year. He did a report on Stauffenberg and got an A+.
I think it varies for each child. Me, if I would have learned any sooner than I did (6th grade), I would have lost it. Too much information.

 

[Carly_Roach]

To read a story about a child in the concentration camps (no, not Ann Frank)

I think we started studying concentration camps I was in the fifth or sixth grade which would have made me about 11 or 12.

 

[FireDancer]

I think I first studied it in 5th grade. We read the Diary of Anne Frank and watched the movie in 7th grade, I remember that clearly. In hind sight though I think the wrong things were concentrated on while teaching about that era in history, especially in High School. The Holocaust was one part of a huge dynamic that was Germany from 1920 (Really June 18, 1919) until 1945. I think studying what would lead to a condition allowing for something like the Holocaust is much more important than just studying the end result. What caused the Holocaust is much more than one man, it was a huge set of events that really were started at the peace table in Paris and concluded in the gas chambers of the camps.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

In Canada many teachers use the book and accompanying film and radio documentary "Hana's Suitcase" starting in the 4th grade to teach about the holocaust. The true story involves a quest by a holocaust museum curator in Japan to find the former owner of a child's suitcase that is a popular artifact in the museum. The young girl that the story focuses on (and who died in the concentration camp)'s older brother emigrated to Canada after the war, and so the story was extensively covered in Canada when the mystery was finally solved and the suitcase's owner (well, the brother of the former owner) discovered.

 

[NHdisneylover]

DD read several books set during the holocaust as a second grader (seh got interested and kept finding them at the library). She would have been 6-7 that year. DS was 7 when he was in a production of the Sound of Music so we talked about it a lot then. They both understood a lot more than most people thought they would. Kids are so much more capable than we give them credit for.

 

[minniebeth]

My DD was almost 11 when we went throught the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. We screened a lot for her and showed her what was age appropriate for her. They have a youth area based on the book Daniel's Story written for youth. It was a very life changing experience for her.

I think this age with a lot of the book recommendations on an age appropriate level is great.

 

[FireDancer]

DD read several books set during the holocaust as a second grader (seh got interested and kept finding them at the library). She would have been 6-7 that year. DS was 7 when he was in a production of the Sound of Music so we talked about it a lot then. They both understood a lot more than most people thought they would. Kids are so much more capable than we give them credit for.

I think it would be really interesting to know how they kids in Germany study the Nazi era and Holocaust. I imagine the insistence they were solely responsible for WW1 and the treaty that resulted is covered a bit more than here.

 

[1957]

Our family was stationed in Germany from 1950 to 1954, and I never heard the words "Hitler", "Nazi", or "concentration camp" ever mentioned. I went to German kindergarten, and American School for first and second grade. Dad later said it was absolutely forbidden (verboten) by anyone. Never heard of the Holocaust until I was in 9th grade, when I read Uris' book "Exodus" (1960). Became fascinated that such a thing could happen, and still read or watch anything I can about it. Have been to the Holocaust Museum twice. We had neighbors in the 70's who were Holocaust survivors and still had the arm tatooes. They met and married in a relocation camp after the war. The Military Channel often has some very good programming on the subjects.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I think it would be really interesting to know how they kids in Germany study the Nazi era and Holocaust. I imagine the insistence they were solely responsible for WW1 and the treaty that resulted is covered a bit more than here.

That would be interesting to know. We have only been in Germany for about 10 months so I have no idea how the issue is approached here. Perhaps similarly to how Jim Crow laws and lynching in the past century in the south are approached in the USA I was not taught taht germany was soley responsible for WWI (or II) or the consequent treaties in US public schools. Is this common?
I am getting to know enough people Ican probably ask about that soon. I will be interested to see how both world wars are covered in history class with my kids (among many other subjects I am curious to see how they are covered here).

 

[FireDancer]

Our family was stationed in Germany from 1950 to 1954, and I never heard the words "Hitler", "Nazi", or "concentration camp" ever mentioned. I went to German kindergarten, and American School for first and second grade. Dad later said it was absolutely forbidden (verboten) by anyone. Never heard of the Holocaust until I was in 9th grade, when I read Uris' book "Exodus" (1960). Became fascinated that such a thing could happen, and still read or watch anything I can about it. Have been to the Holocaust Museum twice. We had neighbors in the 70's who were Holocaust survivors and still had the arm tatooes. They met and married in a relocation camp after the war. The Military Channel often has some very good programming on the subjects.

That doesn't surprise me given the time frame being so close to the event. I know even today that display of the swastika is not allowed under most circumstances. I imagine educational use or museum display is an exception but I'm not sure. I would hope though that 60+ years later it is at least talked about. Ignoring the past is not really a good way to handle anything.

We are in a very important time historically in regards to WW2. We still have the ability to hear first hand accounts of all things about the war. There are still survivors from the camps, the raids on London, D-Day, Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Market Garden, and everything else. I would hate to loose those accounts because we were either too ashamed or too scared to get those accounts.

 

[NHdisneylover]

That doesn't surprise me given the time frame being so close to the event. I know even today that display of the swastika is not allowed under most circumstances. I imagine educational use or museum display is an exception but I'm not sure. I would hope though that 60+ years later it is at least talked about. Ignoring the past is not really a good way to handle anything.

We are in a very important time historically in regards to WW2. We still have the ability to hear first hand accounts of all things about the war. There are still survivors from the camps, the raids on London, D-Day, Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Market Garden, and everything else. I would hate to loose those accounts because we were either too ashamed or too scared to get those accounts.

It is certainly "talked about" in so far as it is present in many, many museum displays. DD says there was a lot of fascinating information about WWII in Berlin when she was there for camp this summer. There is an ampitheater in the hills near here which was built for Nazi propaganda rallies--as noted on the sign there. We toured a palace last week which had a museum about it's history in it and there were photos of the town filled with nazi flags and a swastika painted on the palace as well as photos of the ruins the palace was in after bombing, etc. I have never gotten the impression that Germans are trying to forget or hide this prt of their histpry at all--then again, I think many Germans would like the world to remember they are not all responsible for this any more than all Americans were responisible for slavery, etc.

 

[FireDancer]

That would be interesting to know. We have only been in Germany for about 10 months so I have no idea how the issue is approached here. Perhaps similarly to how Jim Crow laws and lynching in the past century in the south are approached in the USA I was not taught taht germany was soley responsible for WWI (or II) or the consequent treaties in US public schools. Is this common?
I am getting to know enough people Ican probably ask about that soon. I will be interested to see how both world wars are covered in history class with my kids (among many other subjects I am curious to see how they are covered here).

In regards to the bolded part, its hard to say. World War 1 isn't covered very much in depth in the schools. Sure, they talk about the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and the trench warfare but it is covered very one sided. There is very little coverage of Churchill's practice of disguising military ships as passenger vessels or that our sending of munitions to England via these ships was a contributing factor to the sinking of the Lusitania. I believe that the peace conference in Paris at the end of WW1 was instrumental not only is causing WW2 (or at least setting it up as inevitable) but also putting into motion the conflicts that would one day turn into Korea and Vietnam and even set up the current situation in the middle east.

I have never gotten the impression that Germans are trying to forget or hide this prt of their histpry at all--then again, I think many Germans would like the world to remember they are not all responsible for this any more than all Americans were responisible for slavery, etc.

I didn't think they hid it, I was saying I wasn't surprised they did so in the 50's but am glad it is talked about. I definitely don't think of Germans or Germany that way and don't think most people do. I was more generally talking about people not learning from history, and all parts of history. I would hope that we can all look at all facets of historical events and realize they are complex and not just good vs. evil. There was a lot more to Nazi Germany than the Holocaust just like there was a lot more to the antebellum south than slavery. Too often we dwell on one aspect and not on the overall situation.