In this lesson students will be learning about the life and legacy of Leon Bass, a lifelong Philadelphian who fought in a segregated army unit in WWII and liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp. He went on to become a principal of Benjamin Franklin High School and a human rights activist. Leon’s unique perspective as both a victim of oppression and a witness to oppression allowed him to engage wide audiences and speak to the universality of bigotry and intolerance.
We have placed Student Handouts and Student Videos in the sidebar that are the core components of this lesson plan. Note that additional optional resources are also available in the sidebar.
“Something happened when I walked through the [Buchenwald concentration camp] gates. My blinders came off. My tunnel vision dissipated. And I began to realize that human suffering is not delegated just to me and mine. Human suffering touches everybody. All people can suffer.”
Born and raised in Philadelphia in a predominantly black neighborhood, Leon Bass grew up a happy child in a large loving family and community. Philadelphia had what Bass understood as “unwritten rules” segregating him from white Philadelphians but he did not think much of it as a young man. His parents were both from South Carolina where they had experienced intense racism. They taught their children tolerance and respect for all. Leon attended West Philadelphia High School where he loved history, English and art, and upon graduating in 1943, he volunteered to fight in World War II. Leon enlisted for adventure and intrigue, not to defeat the Nazis on moral grounds. He had heard of Adolf Hitler but knew nothing of the camps or the systematic murder taking place.
The U.S army was segregated at the time, and during training Leon would travel to Georgia and Mississippi, where he experienced racism from locals and army leadership. He was angry that putting his life on the line to serve his country was not enough for him to be considered equal to white soldiers in his own country.
“I wasn’t good enough in Macon, Georgia to get a drink of water at a public water fountain. And in Beaumont, Texas they still said I wasn’t good enough to eat a meal in a restaurant… What a damnable experience to have when you’re 18 years of age and you volunteered to serve your country.”
Leon was part of the 183rd Engineering Combat Battalion. Almost all of the soldiers in this unit had gone to college and Leon attributed his motivation to continue schooling after the War to these young and ambitious black men. While serving, he participated in the Battle of the Bulge and the liberation of Buchenwald. He was scouting locations to set up a camp for the Battalion in Vellmar, Germany when his Lieutenant brought Leon and two fellow soldiers to a concentration camp.
“In all the training they had given me, no one ever mentioned concentration camps. But on this day in April, in 1945, I was going to have the shock of my life because I was going to walk through the gates of a concentration camp called Buchenwald. And you got to believe me when I tell you that I was not ready for that. I was totally unprepared for that kind of a situation. But you see, I can never, ever forget the day. It was that spring day in April when I walked through those gates and I saw in front of me what I call the walking dead… I saw human beings, human beings that had been beaten and starved and tortured and denied everything – everything that would make life livable. There they stood in front of me. They were skin and bone. They had skeletal faces with deep-set eyes. Their heads had been clean-shaved, and they stood in these ragged, stripe-type pajamas. Some were naked. I could see sores on their bodies and I was told that came from malnutrition.”
“[A] young man, who spoke English, began to tell us about Buchenwald… that these people were Jews and Gypsies, they were trade unionists and Communists…He went through a litany of groups, saying these people were incarcerated there because they, if I can use a term I used before, saying they were not good enough. Saying they had been put here for one purpose and that was to be worked until they died, starved until they died….”
Leon returned to the U.S. in January 1946 poised to be an activist. Leon attended West Chester State College where he experienced significant racism- he was not allowed to live in the dormitories or eat in local restaurants. Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Leon began to channel his anger at racial injustice into positive action and was active in the Civil Rights movement. He continued his education to receive his Masters and Doctoral degrees, as well as his principal’s and superintendent’s certifications, and became an educator in all black schools in Philadelphia.
Leon served as principal of Benjamin Franklin High School for 14 years where he engaged and supported black students in a way that the overwhelmingly white administration of the school had never done before. At one point, he observed students disrespecting a classroom visitor- a Holocaust survivor named Nina Kaleska who was trying to tell her story. Leon spoke at length with Nina, and when she heard about his experience at Buchenwald, she encouraged him to tell his story. Leon began speaking to the students in his school about liberating Buchenwald.
His Holocaust education program was so successful in his school, that he started speaking at educational institutions all over the country. He became a noted lecturer on the subject of racism and the Holocaust. Leon’s unique perspective as both a victim of oppression and a witness to oppression engaged wider audiences and spoke to the universality of bigotry and intolerance.
A beloved activist and educator, he died at age 90 in 2015.