Ordinary Women and The Holocaust: 1939 – 1945

Part of the Soldiers of Shropshire Friends’ Talks 2025. These popular monthly talks are open to everyone and cover a range of topics.

January's talk will focus on Ordinary Women and The Holocaust: 1939 – 1945 and will be delivered by Phil Ginnings.

Phil Ginnings was a history teacher and department head in several schools and an FE College for 25 years until he took a career break to complete a Master’s degree in Second World War Studies: Conflict-Societies-Holocaust. He now works as a freelance historian, educator and tour guide. He has organised and led Battlefield tours and other educational visits since 1998 and, in the ensuing period, has guided over 100 school and adult groups to sites of 20th-century conflict in seven European countries.

He is a Fellow of Holocaust Education at the Imperial War Museum (IWM) in London and helped devise and lead a fourth phase of the programme that involved visiting Holocaust sites in Central and Eastern Europe with academics and teachers. He has also worked alongside Yad Vashem, the Wannsee Conference House, the Wiener Library, the Soldiers of Shropshire Museum, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and UCL’s Centre for Holocaust Education.

He is currently an Outreach Educator for the Holocaust Educational Trust and works on their Lessons from Auschwitz and Testimony 360 programmes. He is also a member of the Western Front Association and a volunteer guide for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.