Each school year 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 any further questions.
The 2027 Lydia May Writing and Max May Holocaust Art Contests have as their theme:
Children of the Holocaust
The Holocaust stole the childhoods of millions of Jewish children, taking away their normal lives, daily routines, and the people they loved. Some escaped through the Kindertransport and were adopted or fostered by complete strangers in Britain. Others – known as “hidden children” – were taken in by non-Jewish families who risked everything to protect them and passed them off as their own. Some endured ghettos and concentration camps, while a few survived entirely on their own. Most never saw their families again. And a million and a half Jewish children died.
Reflect on the experiences of these survivor children, their courage, their resilience, and the lasting impact of the Holocaust on their lives.
See these links for detailed instructions on how to enter the contests.
Lydia May Memorial Holocaust Writing Contest
Click here to see a booklet of some past winning entries.
Max May Memorial Holocaust Art Contest
The deadline for submitting entries will be Friday, March 19, and we will be able to accept delivery of art entries at Temple Beth Or in Kettering during the week of March 15-19. Writing contest entries will be e-mailed to us, as usual. More details to come on Facebook and our website!
Some resources for your students
Websites
From Encyclopedia of the Holocaust:
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/children-during-the-holocaust
Children of the Holocaust, from Yad Vashem
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/children-during-the-holocaust
Fifty Biographies of Child Survivors, from the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles
https://museumoftolerance.com/children-of-the-holocaust
Children in the Holocaust, from the UK’s National Holocaust Museum
https://www.holocaust.org.uk/children-in-the-holocaust
How the World Failed Children in the Holocaust (from PBS)
https://www.auschwitz.org/en/history/fate-of-children/
How the World Failed Children in the Holocaust (from PBS)
https://www.pbs.org/auschwitz/understanding/failed.html
Children’s Diaries during the Holocaust (from the USHMM)
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/childrens-diaries-during-the-holocaust
Some of the Lost Children (from the Museum of Jewish Heritage)
https://mjhnyc.org/blog/some-of-the-lost-children/
Primary Sources: The Holocaust: Children & Teens (from Folrida Atlantic University) – primary sources are always best!
https://libguides.fau.edu/holocaust/children
Jewish Victims of the Holocaust: Hidden Children (Jewish Virtual Library)
https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/hidden-children-of-the-holocasut
The Hidden Children Foundation, at the Anti-Defamation League
https://www.adl.org/holocaust-education/hidden-child-foundation
Survivors’ Experiences as Hidden Children
https://holocaustcenter.jfcs.org/holocaust-survivors-experiences-as-hidden-children/
The Difficulties Involved in the Rescue of Children By Non-Jews – Before and After Liberation – from Yad Vashem
https://www.yadvashem.org/articles/general/difficulties-in-rescue-of-children-by-non-jews.html
Sinti and Roma children at Auschwitz
https://www.auschwitz.org/en/history/fate-of-children/roma-children
Kindertransport, 1938–40: Oral Histories (from USHMM)
The Kindertransport Association
Kindertransport (from the UK’s Holocaust Museum)
https://www.holocaust.org.uk/kindertransport-overview
Nicholas Winton – one of the most important rescuers of children
https://www.nicholaswinton.com/exhibition/kindertransport
A full interview with Winton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIoT76X2KgM
6 Stories Of The Kindertransport (from the Imperial War Museum in the UK)
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/second-world-war/holocaust/kindertransport
Photos: Children of Auschwitz share stories of survival (from PBS)
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/auschwitz-survivors
Videos
From the USHMM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34_6solRBpw
Surviving Auschwitz: A Child Emerges from the Holocaust
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlPnoLDRxVc
Teenage Survivors, from PBS Frontline
https://www.pbs.org/video/children-of-the-holocaust-drawn-from-memory-gctvvg/
Fifty Biographies of Child Survivors, from the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles
https://museumoftolerance.com/children-of-the-holocaust
Jewish Children during the Shoah – from Yad Vashem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k8WVQN89ow
Daniel’s Story: A Boy’s Life During the Holocaust
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tT_LBlAsuc
Holocaust Survivors and Their Children: A Search for Positive Effects, by Fara Kaplan (rather academic for students, but fascinating)
The Hidden Children of the Holocaust: Two Sisters’ Stories of Survival
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1CtsCEbcuw
Maud Dahme: “Hidden Child” of the Holocaust (from history,com)
https://www.history.com/videos/maud-dahme-hidden-child-of-the-holocaust
Romani (Gypsy) children used in racial studies at Auschwitz (from USHMM)
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/film/romani-gypsy-children-used-in-racial-studies
The Kindertransport: Strangers in a Strange Land | a Yad Vashem Podcast
https://www.yadvashem.org/podcast/kindertransport-podcast.html
The Holocaust’s youngest survivors: Born in a labor camp, on a death train, in a concentration camp (from CBS 60 Minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdkdenRs8bE
In 2002 we published a booklet containing some of the best contest entries from the past decade. Contact us if you would like copies, or view the entire booklet here. (large PDF file)
In 2003 and 2004, a selection of Art Contest entries were exhibited at the Webster Street Market, the Dayton Art Institute, and Sinclair Community College. Click here for the complete exhibit catalogue – thanks to Jill Wysong of the DAI.
Since 2004, selected Art Contest entries have been exhibited at the Dayton Art Institute. Some of these are pictured on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/DaytonHRC