Germany's £8.5m plan for kids to visit Nazi camps amid fears Holocaust horrors fading

EXCLUSIVE: Germany's £8.5m plan for kids to visit Nazi camps amid fears Holocaust horrors fadingGermany secure emergency backing with the Bethe Foundation pledging a £8.5m more over five years so trips to sites such as Auschwitz, Treblinka and Sobibor can doubleNewsAndy Lines13:16, 05 Apr 2026View 5 ImagesGermany has launched a £8.5m campaign to send schoolchildren to visit former Nazi concentration camps like Auschwitz(Image: WSH])Germany has launched a £8.5m campaign to send more schoolchildren to visit former Nazi concentration camps like Auschwitz in a desperate attempt to stop memories of the Holocaust fading.‌The original annual budget has now been doubled to £3 million after emergency backing was secured from a private foundation. The Bethe Foundation has also pledged a further £8.5 million over five years, allowing the number of trips to the chilling sites double.‌Family Minister Karin Prien warned that as Holocaust survivors are dying, the horror of Nazi crimes is at risk of fading from public memory. She said only direct exposure to the Germany’s dark history by visiting camps like Auschwitz, Treblinka and Sobibor, can truly convey the full scale of the atrocities.‌View 5 ImagesGermany has launched a £8.5m campaign to send schoolchildren to visit former Nazi concentration camps like Auschwitz(Image: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock)READ MORE: Calls to ban speaker for event at former Buchenwald Nazi concentration campREAD MORE: Holocaust memorials resort to emergency measures amid right-wing extremist fearsShe said: “It is particularly valuable when young people experience history directly and immediately at authentic sites of Nazi crimes and develop a sense of responsibility for our democracy from it. The programmes will be reviewed with regard to target achievement and impact.”And she added: "Visiting a concentration camp alone doesn't make someone an anti-fascist or a democrat." It's about understanding how such a thing could arise. The N...