If you have been there and you have kids, at what ages do you feel this specific museum is appropriate for kids? Please understand that I believe that this part of history is an important part of their education - the question is whether or not this venue is appropriate at what age. Thanks.

My son was 11 when we took him. He was strongly yet positively affected by the experience, which he remembered long after. Of course this is subjective, but 9 or 10 is probably the earliest I would have brought him. The museum makes a special effort to help kids gently understand the Holocaust and what it was like for its young victims,{you might want to buy your child "Daniel's Story",which used to be sold in the museum gift-shop} but it is heavy stuff.

At least 12. We took our son at age 10 & he passed out - no, he was not hungry/over-tired/over-heated/sick, etc. He was overwhelmed. The whole museum is designed to recreate the feeling of being taken into a camp. There is some very graphic footage on experiments done at Dachau - it was rough for adults to look at. The Zyclon-B exhibit did him in. He has read several books on the subject - I guess it depends on what your kid can handle. Ours is pretty rough & tumble, but ...

I appreciate the interest being shown here but I must point-out that there are some serious problems with this musuem from a true Torah perspective.

I urge people to go to the following urls and read the articles.

Thank you.

http://jewsformorality.org/holocaust.htm

'Misrepresenting the Holocaust' by Rabbi Daniel Lapin,
http://www.theamericanenterprise.org/taemj99m.htm

Aside from the difficulty of a youngster understanding and being able to handle the content, there is the issue of the amount of time visitors spend standing in front of attractions and reading. Three of us (40's) did the entire museum and were totally exhausted afterwards. We gained so much by reading everything! But I wonder how much stamina a child would have if he knew that it meant two or three hours of reading.

It really does depend on the child. We took our daughter for the first time when she was 7, and hoped for the best. She got a little antsy about half way through (we were trying to read all of the text and see all of the artifacts) at that point I took her to the Daniel's Story exhibit. This section is geared for children and proved to be an incredibly well done exhibit that got at what kids would be able to relate to and therefore have some understanding of what happened through the eyes of a child.
Interestingly, last summer we had a day to spend in D.C and as it was raining we needed to choose something to do indoors. We asked our daughter (then 10) what would be the one thing she would like to do and she chose the Holocaust Museum! This time she was more engaged by the regular exhibit although she wanted to go through Daniel's Story again also.
A little preparation in terms of books could help. They do have a wonderful selection in their bookstore which I believe you can visit on line.
Enjoy!

Thank you for all your useful and polite responses (considering some of the venom floating around on these boards lately I was alittle worried about the responses I would get to a serious question) - I will do some more reading and put it on our list of "maybes".

Gail, your question was thoughtful and important, and the responses treated it as such (unlike that naive mom seeking spring break ideas for her 17 year old).

My opinion: Of course relative maturity is critical, but 11 or 12 years old at a minimum strikes me as appropriate. A prior knowledge of the Holocaust would also be important to avoid the shock factor. Good luck.

I took my just turned 7 year old daughter to see the Daniel's story exhibit. She was able to grasp the importance of the event and I have no regrets her seeing it. However, since my husband wasn't there I did not go through the rest of the museum because I felt it would be too much for her. If I would have had another adult with I would have traded off and gone through the rest.

I took my 13 year old - mind you I am a minister and this is a part of history she has gotten for all levels and at all ages in her life - Daniel's story is an emotional piece but does not even come close to the experience of the main museum - be sure to have a reservation so you don't have that anxious period of waiting - she did OK, she stood close to me at all times which I am sure was from a need just to have comfort- the very last piece of the museum deals with the experimentations and this was too much for her and she was able to say "OK I really can't see any more" this is the last part of the exhibit and as you leave there is a reflection room, really perfect - I sure was not the only person hugging a child in this room - what you do need to consider is what to do after - we were visiting DC - so home was not an option afterwards, it would have been the hotel - we walked to the Smithsonian metro, she was pretty quiet, then we got off at Foggy Bottom and took a long walk down M street into Georgetown, the walk was great as it gave us a chance to talk about the horrors of war, corruption of power and hatred, contemporary issues and by the time we got into the heart of Georgetown we were able to move on with the day, we had a great dinner and more talk - and that was a good way to weave the traumatic experience of the museum with real life - let us know how you do!

Gail:
I personally would not recommend the museum for children under 12.I went with my son's 8th grade class and it was hard on all of them.Some of the children had to leave before viewing everything.My son sobbed at the end (I cried the entire time).I think any child should be prepared beforehand of what they are going to see and encouraged to talk about it immediately after.It is emotionally exhausting-take care in what is planned afterwards.

Gail, I think that the differing opinions expressed here reflect the range of maturity and sensitivity displayed by children as individuals. I liked one poster's solution, to take the child to "Daniels Place", then take turns touring the other exhibits if you feel it's more than your child can handle, and to prepare the child beforehand.
You are obviously a sensible and responsible parent, and I'm sure that you'll be able to tailer the experience to whatever level you feel your child can handle.
Have fun in Washington