Gerald S. Kaplan Endowed Lecture – Educating Traumatized Teenagers: The Extraordinary Story of a Swedish International School

Speaker: Bernice Lerner

Date: Thursday, July 16^th, 2025

Time: 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Price: Free

Parking: Paid

After World War II, Sweden absorbed and provided medical treatment for thousands of sick survivors. What to do about those who were teenagers, who had missed years of study on account of the war?  In September 1945, the Swedish government issued an order for schooling to be offered to those under the age of 18. In this presentation, Dr. Lerner will describe the complex process of recruiting wary adolescents, the challenges of teaching homeless, orphaned, and "environmentally damaged” teenagers, and instructors' goals and methods at the most experimental of sites—the “Internat” school her mother attended.