When I was first asked, by a London synagogue, to give a talk about the role my father, Leonard Berney, played in the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, I was a little apprehensive. Public speaking is not something that comes naturally to me. I would always try to avoid having to make a speech if I could. But I knew how important it was that my father’s story be told for the sake of his legacy, and for the sake of Holocaust education. So I decided to face my fears and to just do it!

I put together a talk based on the details of the liberation that my father left us in his book, Liberating Belsen Concentration Camp – a personal account by (former) Lt Colonel Leonard Berney, and I presented it a few times and it all went OK. But then I was invited to become a G2G speaker. I knew that this would be a much more professional affair, and a bigger commitment than my giving one or two talks every now and then.

With excellent guidance from the G2G team, I overhauled and upgraded my presentation to the highly polished talk that it is today. It even includes voiceover artists reading the quotes on my slides. My first engagement as a fully qualified G2G speaker was on 20 July 2022 at a school in Bromley, and I’ve never looked back. I’m proud to say that, to date, the 23 talks I have given, both in person and online, have reached over 2,500 people of all ages, living both in the UK and abroad.

The subject matter of my talk is so sad that I sometimes actually worry that I’m traumatising the audience, even though great care has been taken not to show any upsetting images that are too graphic. But then I remind myself that it is essential that this information is widely known for the sake of preventing history from repeating itself, and to reach people with the truth before Holocaust deniers seed doubt in their minds.

But my talk doesn’t only impact the audience, it also impacts me! Even though I’ve presented my talk so many times, at certain points mid-talk, I very nearly lose it, only just managing to hold it together. It’s as if, in response to words and my audio-visual presentation, I somehow pick up an intense wave of sadness coming from the audience – something I never feel when reading the talk to myself, alone. 

I’ve seen members of the audience choosing to look away when potentially upsetting images are on screen, but the effect on the audience, generally, is not one of tears – rather, stunned silence. Several teachers told me afterwards that their students were transfixed by what I was saying, something that doesn’t happen often! I have noticed that, during almost every talk, you could hear a pin drop, so I would like to think it means that my message is getting across.

When my father first told me about what he experienced at Belsen, I remember thinking how awful it must have been for him to have to deal with such traumatic memories, haunting him ever since. I also began to realise that I had a duty of responsibility to tell his story and what he witnessed, and to make sure it was never forgotten. So, being a G2G speaker has helped me fulfil that responsibility which has now become a very meaningful and worthwhile purpose in my life. 

I point out in my talk how harmful discrimination is, of any kind, and where it can lead. “Being mean, excluding someone or ridiculing them, or bullying them, just because they are different, is where it all starts.” If my words have helped prevent just one schoolchild from being bullied or just one antisemitic slur, then it really has been worthwhile.

Lastly, I am very grateful to G2G for allowing me to put forward what I believe to be the solution to prevent future atrocities and genocide from recurring: human rights education. The 30 articles of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights were drawn up as a result of the Holocaust for that very purpose, so it goes without saying that it is essential for everyone, especially children, to be made thoroughly aware of what their human rights are.