2022 SPOKANE COMMUNITY OBSERVANCE OF THE HOLOCAUST
16th Annual Eva Lassman Memorial Writing Contest
"Why Holocaust Education?"
Spokane residents, Carla Peperzak (left) and the late Eva Lassman (right),
share their Holocaust stories with local students
News
-In recognition of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Thursday, April 28th at 7:30 pm, KSPS Spokane Public Television will be broadcasting the 1/2 hour program, "Voices of the Holocaust." This is a locally produced video featuring Holocaust survivors from our community, Eva Lassman (OBM), Core der Koorkanian (OBM), and Carla Paperzak - all of whom spoke up about their Holocaust experiences. This program is excerpted from a longer educational video for classrooms and general audiences that was collaboratively produced by our committee and KSPS. We recommend that viewers disable the "Continuous Play" feature so that the last seconds of the video are not cut off.
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-Congratulations to Carla Pepperzak for the groundbreaking of a new middle school named after her!
Context
The Holocaust was the most extensive planned and executed genocide in recorded history. In 1933 Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in Germany. They cultivated long-standing fear and hatred for "non-Aryans" to rally the German people to wage war against the rest of Europe. A central objective of the Nazis was to rid the world of people they deemed either inferior or a threat -- Roma, Jehovah's Witnesses, Communists, homosexuals, people with disabilities, and particularly Jews. When World War II ended in 1945, the Nazis and their collaborators had exterminated 11 million people, of whom 6 million were Jews. Two-thirds of the entire Jewish population of Europe (1/3 of the world's Jewish population) was eradicated.
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Study of the Holocaust provides a unique opportunity to learn how hatred and intolerance can progress to genocide. But the subject receives little attention in most Inland NW schools.
Prompt
Why it is important for students to learn about the Holocaust?
Instructions:
(1) Find out as much as you can about the Holocaust by reading and viewing videos, including survivors' testimonies, provided in the REFERENCES and/or by your teacher.
(2) Write a persuasive essay or poem explaining:
a. Why is it important for all students to learn about the Holocaust.
b. How studying the Holocaust and learning from survivors' testimonies
empowers you and your fellow students to make a difference in your
school, communities or world.
Awards
(1) All winners of the high school and middle school divisions will be announced to their schools and the 1st place submissions will be published in the Spokesman-Review
(2) The winners will receive the following scholarship rewards:
Middle School
1st Place Middle School Division: $250
2nd Place Middle School Division: $100
3rd Place Middle School Division: $75
High School
1st Place High School Division: $400
2nd Place High School Division: $250
3rd Place High School Division: $100
Rules
(1) The contest is open to all high school and middle school students in the Inland Northwest.
(2) Your essay or poem can be up to about 1000 words, double-spaced, in either Microsoft Word, Google Docs (include permission to view!), or body of an email.
(3) Sources must be cited, preferably at the end of the essay. They will not be included in the word count.
(4) On a separate cover page, type your name, phone number, email address, school name, grade, and teacher's name.
(5) Email your entry to: neveragain-spokane@comcast.net before midnight Sunday, May 1, 2022.
(6) Submissions will be judged by the Spokane Community Observance of the Holocaust Planning Committee based on responsiveness to the prompt, originality, content, evidence that you have used the references, spelling, and grammar, and accuracy of information.
(7) The Committee reserves the right to disqualify any submission that has inappropriate or plagiarized content.
(8) The winners will be announced by Tuesday, June 7, 2022.