The Lesson depicts the personal journey of director Elena Hord, who returns to her small hometown to follow four children as they experience Holocaust education in the public school system in rural Germany. Filmed over five years, from 2014-2019, the film is a window into deeply rooted social and political attitudes in Germany amidst the resurgence of the far-right, xenophobia, and a fractured, disparate collective memory of the nation’s history.