The Lesson (2020)

At the age of 14 every school child in Germany is forced to confront the reality of the Holocaust, often for the first time. The Lesson follows four children in the town of Frondenburg embarking on this educational journey. From their first naive contact with the topic in history class, to their trip to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and into the football stadium where they are exposed to Neo-Nazi groups; this voyage proves far from simple. With shocking revelations of familial ties to Nazism and trapped between a myriad of conflicting perspectives each of the children grapple with this sordid history differently. Their experiences and findings over the course of four years reflect how fractured and disparate the collective memory of National Socialism remains within Germany and provides a timely call for better education on the subject. Indeed the Lesson shows that even in a developed state such as Germany the remnants of a shameful past live on and help shape the future generations.