Press

Fully qualified lawyer, keynote speaker and author Anna Sokołowska received the Excellence Award at the 15th International Speaker Slam in Mastershausen.

In her four-minute keynote she spoke about the effects of transgenerational trauma — how the burdening experiences of earlier generations can influence the lives of their descendants.

As the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, Anna Sokołowska connects her personal family history with current scientific findings. Her aim is to raise awareness of transgenerational trauma and to encourage people to understand their own story more deeply.

With this message she convinced both the jury and the audience of the international Speaker Slam.

The Excellence Award honours speakers who convey complex topics in an accessible way and reach people lastingly with their message.

For her award-winning keynote, Anna Sokołowska also received an invitation to a speaker appearance in New York in 2027.

Many people suffer from fears, inner restlessness or sleep disorders, even though they themselves have never experienced a severe trauma. Where do such feelings come from?

The research of American trauma researcher Dr Rachel Yehuda indicates that severe trauma can have effects on subsequent generations. This phenomenon is called transgenerational trauma.

For me, this topic is not only scientifically interesting, but part of my own family history.

My grandfather was a prisoner in the Buchenwald concentration camp and the Klein-Sachsenhausen subcamp. For many years I did not understand why fears accompanied me, even though I had never experienced war or persecution myself.

It was only through engaging with the research on transgenerational trauma that I realised our history often begins long before we are born.

My point is not to explain every fear through family history. But I want to encourage people to become more consciously aware of their own imprints.

Because those who understand where certain patterns might come from gain new ways of dealing with them.

I was able to present this message at the International Speaker Slam and was honoured with the Excellence Award for it.

My wish is to bring the topic of transgenerational trauma from science into the heart of society — understandable, human and hopeful.

Because: