Where were you when you last witnessed history being formed? How did you know that the events you had witnessed would turn out to be significant? The missile attack on a plane in Rwanda on 6 April 1994 passed Martyn Beer by at the time. It was later that he came to see that this event, or more specifically the genocide which followed it, as both significant and worthy of study. Beer did not stop merely at studying it. He began to teach it to his students, and then to plan one of the most ambitious field trips ever attempted by a school history department. This article is not really about the trip, though. Instead, Beer argues that the Rwandan genocide is worthy of study, and that it both illuminates and is illuminated by the other genocides of the twentieth century. He provides some initial resources to teachers who would like to teach about Rwanda but do not really know where to start, and guidance on where to find further resources. Most importantly of all, he provides a genuine rationale for varying the Key Stage 3 curriculum in response to recent events.