Children in the Holocaust Question I need to know about children under the Nazis during the Holocaust, specially in Auschwitz.Thank you. Brian Harmon answers: Hello, I'm one of the question-answerers for the Holocaust History Project. Children did not fare well in the camps: they were generally too young for manual labor and as such were killed upon arrival. Some children did survive: 400 or so children were found in the camp upon its liberation in early 1945. Teenagers were sometimes selected for manual work at Auschwitz, but younger children often were not. Children born in the camps were generally killed on the spot, especially if the child was Jewish. There were some exceptions, beginning in September of 1943 Auschwitz had a 'Family Camp' section where entire families from Theresinstadt (or Terezin) were allowed to live together and were generally afforded better food and living accommodations. This did not last, as the "Family Camp" was liquidated and its inhabitants gassed in May of 1944. The Gypsy camp at Auschwitz did have children in it, but this camp was later liquidated and the Gypsies gassed as well in 1944. Twin children often had some chance of survival; Dr. Mengele did a number of twin studies and went to some lengths to keep these twins alive for the duration of the experiment. Twins were usually murdered after the experiment was over, however, and their bodies dissected in a post-mortem autopsy. Despite the possibility of execution, the chances for medical subjects to survive were much higher than a regular inmate. If you're interested in following this up in more detail I can recommend the book Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp, in particular the chapter written by Helena Kubica entitled "Children." regards, - Brian Harmon back to the list of questions
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