When did you tell your Jewish child about the Holocaust?

[Anonymous]

From a young age, I was taught that in the Holocaust, the Nazis killed six million Jews and many others, and put Jews in ovens. As I got older, I read about some of the Jews who fought back. In Warsaw, for instance, Jewish women played a courageous role in the ghetto uprising. There’s a young reader appropriate book about it (obviously for those older than age seven).

[Anonymous]

My son is learning about it in school (private) right now. He is 14. I thought I knew all about the Holocaust, and I've been to the museum, but even I am shocked and really upset about some of the things I've learned about through the materials he's brought home. These are histories and primary sources, not fiction books. It's not that it's graphic, just that it's horrible and true. I'm really impressed with how well he is handling it though. He likes the fact that he knows the truth and is well-informed, even though it's upsetting. So I think this is probably the right age.

[Anonymous]

We told our oldest at 8 and the 5 year old was there though she didn't really ask any questions. But she's now heard the term so eventually she will. I felt like a little earlier might have been better. Anyway, we did it in an age-appropriate way and will expand on it as they get older. We have mentioned it several time since the first, incorporated it when he asks questions like "who are xyz relatives' parents" and we explain that on one of the family all the relatives were murdered, whereas on the other everyone came over before the Holocaust and so survived, etc.

I don't remember ever not knowing, but my grandparents were very active in the Jewish community, had friends who were survivors whom we visited, grandfather was a WWII veteran, etc. So it was naturally a big part of their lives. I recall reading Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic at around age 10 - which my grandmother lent to me from the synagogue library, of which she was librarian - and that made a huge impression and reinforced whatever other messages I'd gotten.