This session takes teachers through a lesson designed for KS3 students which aims to help them grasp the complex area of post-Holocaust trauma. By taking the case study of Leon Greenman who, after surviving the Holocaust, lived alone to the age of 97, suffered the continuing effects of what he had experienced. Teachers will get a rare insight into Leon’s overwhelming feeling of ‘survivor guilt’, his issues with trust, and battle with torturous nightmares and how all this played out in his everyday life.  Teachers will also be guided on how to assist their students to grasp this and contemplate whether the Holocaust ever ended for those who witnessed it.

In addition, the session will illustrate how survivors like Leon worked tirelessly, through education, peace reconciliation, community cohesion, to fight racism in all its forms and to preserve the memory of victims of genocide. The session and its accompanying ready-to-go lesson explore how human beings can, despite the suffering that has been endured, resist being consumed by hate but can emerge a force for good.