The Lydia May Memorial Holocaust Writing Contest is named for the grandmother of DHRC Director Renate Frydman. Lydia is shown here with her daughter Carmen, Renate’s mother, who passed away in 2014 age 107.
Each winter the Dayton Holocaust Resource Center sponsors two contests for students in grades 5 through 12. Click on the links below for complete details about the contests, including this year’s themes and deadlines. Contact dhrcdirector @ gmail.com with further questions.
The 2024 Lydia May Writing and Max May Holocaust Art Contests have as their theme:
Righteous Gentiles
חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם
Choose and research a Righteous Gentile. What inspired this person to risk his or her own life to save Jews and others who were marked for death by the Nazis?
One person can make a difference!
Righteous Gentiles, or more formally “Righteous among the Nations,” are defined by Yad Vashem: “The Righteous Among the Nations, honored by Yad Vashem, are non-Jews who took great risks to save Jews during the Holocaust. Rescue took many forms and the Righteous came from different nations, religions and walks of life. What they had in common was that they protected their Jewish neighbors at a time when hostility and indifference prevailed. . . . Most rescuers were ordinary people. Some acted out of political, ideological or religious convictions; others were not idealists, but merely human beings who cared about the people around them. In many cases they never planned to become rescuers and were totally unprepared for the moment in which they had to make such a far-reaching decision. They were ordinary human beings, and it is precisely their humanity that touches us and should serve as a model.”
Of course, there are a few very famous Righteous Gentiles, but most are not well known. Try to choose one of the latter – you may want to show us why that person should be better known.
Here is a brief list of resources to help students get started:
A local Righteous Gentile, Johanna Van Hagen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYMOPRXU0ew&t=13s
The local Bosma family:
General resources:
Students will find plenty of information on the web with a simple search. However, most deal with only a few individuals. The following are the best sources for large databases of people to consider.
Yad Vashem in Jerusalem
https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous.html
Holocaust Museum in Washington
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/righteous-among-the-nations
Jewish Virtual Library
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/famous-righteous-gentiles
The librarians at the ERC at Wright State will be happy to help: contact beth.anderson@wright.edu
We know that the uncertainties of this school year may present obstacles to students, teachers and parents alike when it comes to creating art and writing for the contests. We encourage entries from students being schooled at home as well as from the traditional classroom.
Entries must be submitted by Friday, March 22, 2024. But any time before that is fine!
Because of the large volume of entries we receive each year – both art and writing – please try to send us only your students’ best work.
Important: You may either e-mail entries or send them by regular mail. If mailing hard copy, you need to include a cover sheet with the student’s name and grade, teacher’s name, and school; the entry itself should not include any of this information, in order to ensure anonymity in judging. Please send three copies. Entries coming directly from students will not be accepted – they need to come through a teacher, except in the case of home-schooled students.
Send e-mail entries to: jhochstein@jfgd.net
Mail entries to:
Dayton Holocaust Resource Center
525 Versailles Dr, Dayton, OH 45459
Your entry may be fiction, nonfiction, prose, drama or poetry.
DIVISIONS: Division I is for grades 5, 6, 7, and 8. Division II is for grades 9-12. Students at any greater Dayton area school, public, parochial or private, as well as home-schooled, are eligible.
AWARDS: Monetary awards will be given for First, Second, Third Place and Honorable Mention.
GUIDELINES:
Entries must represent the independent and unassisted work of the student under whose name they are submitted. Proofreading for corrections by a parent or teacher is acceptable, but content must not come from anyone but the author.
Entries will be judged for originality, content, and understanding of the subject.
Entries become the property of the Dayton Holocaust Resource Center, which reserves the right to publish them in part or in their entirety.
PLEASE NOTE that the deadline is Friday, March 22. Winners will be notified soon after that date, and will be announced at the annual Yom HaShoah commemoration at Beth Jacob Synagogue in April
If you aren’t already on our e-mail list, please ask to be added; updates are sent out periodically.