2020 Yom Hashoah Essay Contest

75 Years Later: Our Stories of Survival, Loss, and Liberation

Who’s Eligible: All Howard County middle school and high school students

Purpose of the Essay Contest: The Howard County Holocaust Remembrance Committee seeks to remember the Holocaust by learning from the events that took place in Europe from 1933 to 1945. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps. The essay provides students an opportunity for reflection, and to consider how the atrocities of the Holocaust continue to impact us today. The hope is that this will highlight the importance of standing up against hateful actions to prevent terrible events from happening again in the future.

There will be a first and second place prize awarded at the middle school level, and similarly at the high school level. First Prize winners will each receive $100 and Second Prize winners will each receive $50.

Essay Background and Topic: On April 15, 1945, General Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke these words after he saw the newly liberated camps:

“The things I saw beggar description...the visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty, and bestiality were...overpowering...I made the visit deliberately in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to “propaganda.”

In thinking about this quote, share your responses to the following questions. Your discussion should be written in the form of an essay.

1.How do you think General Eisenhower felt as he spoke these words?

2.Why do you feel it was important to share what he saw with the world?

3.What impact did reading this quote, or learning about the Holocaust in general, have on you?

Students who are interested in learning more about this topic are encouraged to visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s online collection of digital resources, at https://collections.ushmm.org/search/.

The Basic Things to Know:

•Essay should be 300-500 words and no more than 2 typed pages.

•Essay should be submitted by email no later than March 15, 2020.

•Winners will be notified by March 31, 2020.

•Essay should be submitted by email to YomHaShoahEssayContest@gmail.com. Please type either Middle School or High School in the subject line. Include a title page with your name, school name, grade, contact phone number and/or email address.

Judging:

Essays will be judged by Howard County Holocaust Remembrance Committee members and Howard County teachers, using a 6-point rubric that will incorporate common core standards.