I remember when I was a little boy seeing the first pictures of prison camp survivors in the newspapers. It was a real shock. I can understand a mother not wanting her child to see it, although what this mother's motives were I don't know.
From what she said to me, it was not that the pics in and of themselves were so shocking...what she objected to, was that these deeds had been done by Germans...she did not like her son knowing this, and I actually had no idea she felt this way, until this incident happened...I, in no way disparaged Germans, but I did answer the childrens questions when they came up, and when I told them about the Nazis and who they were, it of course came out that they were Germans...it was not my intent to slur anyone, just my intent to present truthful answers to their questions...
Had my older boy been looking at pics of killed Native Americans at Wounded Knee, and the younger ones asked me who killed them, I would have answered truthfully, chosing not to lie or sanitize the truth...
In short, the whole incident was quite an experience for both me and my two sons...they learned some history, and they learned some peoples reactions to that history..it was a valuable teaching lesson for them...