ABSTRACT
This chapter starts from the notion that traumatic places are often forgotten or silenced in local memory narratives. This chapter describes a specific in situ learning project of site visits related to the Holocaust in Lithuania. Teachers, educators, librarians, and memory institution specialists participated in the project, visiting the memorial site of Paneriai, a site of mass extermination, in order to keep the memories of the Holocaust alive, with a view also of replicating such site visits with Lithuanian youth. The project was challenging for participants as it also addressed the mass extermination of the Roma, which is a stigmatised and silenced group in Lithuanian society. Amongst other things, this contribution explores the theme of the “genius loci” of such killing sites and discusses the challenges that educators face when visiting these memorial places, in terms of preparing students for such “uncomfortable” visits, how to teach them to show due respect and behave appropriately in these sites in order not to desecrate the victims honour.
