I’m trying to provide my adult daughter with alternatives to Auschwitz-Birkenau as everything I’ve read and heard about the place is pretty intense—not something for an HSP (highly sensitive person). Any recommendations? We’ll be staying in Annweiler—a 2 to 2.5 hour train trip to Frankfurt or Munch.
Thank you everyone!
But, you won't be staying in Krakow? If you were, I'd suggest a visit to the Jewish cemetery, a tour of the old Jewish quarter and the Schindler museum.
I would call myself an HSP. When I'm traveling in Europe, I seek out resistance museums. I find them fascinating and I like the idea of people who were actively trying to help the Allied efforts/undermine the Nazis.
Hi Jules,
We have such precious little time together on this trip (she has 14 days) that I’m trying to steer us away from the earlier planned Prague > Krakow segment which absorbs 4 nights/5days of our vacation time.
Been leaning towards either Buchenwald, near Weimar or Sachsenhausen, near Berlin. This keeps us closer to family (the whole point of our visit) and free us up to visit the Dordogne region by car for 3d/4n. The HSP aspect is very important to keep us connected in a non-traumatic way.
You might be better off skipping the concentration camps altogether. Each of the camps have a terrible history, whether it be Auschwitz, Buchenwald or Ravensbruck. The only camp I didn’t find particularly intense or particularly upsetting was Dachau for some reason.
It's not compulsory to go to a concentration camp. Germany and Poland are more than their wartime history. I would not put your daughter through this. If you want something to remember the Jewish population, then you must look out for Stolpersteine (stumble stones), which are small brass cobblestones engraved with the name/s of Jewish people who perished in the Holocaust and laid outside where they last lived before being transported. You are supposed to literally stumble across them and think of the people commemorated on the cobblestone. This is simultaneously subtle and in-your-face. Stolpersteine are not only in Germany but have branched out to other countries. The lead artist is Günther Demnig.
Lavandula
Visiting concentration camps isn't something I would ever do. I know terrible things happened, but I don't necessarily want to go there to see where they happened.
I know that might be a somewhat controversial opinion here. I get that travel is for experience. But still, not for me, and it's sort of heartening for me to see that there's other people it wouldn't be the right fit for.
May I add to the post about the Stumble Stones? They are for anyone killed by the Nazis, not just Jewish people. You will find them for Communists, Socialists, Jehovah Witnesses, Roma/Sinti, and so many others.
If you are in Frankfurt, you may want to visit the Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Wall, with the names of almost 12,000 Jewish people deported from Frankfurt. There is also a WW2 bunker you could visit, with several historic exhibits inside.
https://initiative-neunter-november.de/
Going to Sachsenhausen, Ravensbrüch, Dachau, or Buchenwald are going to be very disturbing for your daughter too. 1000s and 1000s of people were killed in those places as well as horribly tortured. Suggest staying away from them and see or do something else that is not filled with photos of those who suffered and died.
