YOUNGSTOWN — Students in grades 7-12 in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys can enter the annual Holocaust writing, art, and multimedia contest.

The project by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation is held in conjunction with Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day).

To be commemorated this academic year on April 21, Yom Hashoah is an internationally recognized day set aside for remembering all victims of the Holocaust and reminding society of what can happen to civilized people when bigotry, hatred and indifference reign.

The deadline to enter is April 7.

The theme for this year’s contest is “Why We Must Remember: Honoring the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz.” As taught by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, this year’s theme is a reminder that it is not only important to curse the darkness of the past, but also to illuminate the future and to acknowledge the humanity in all people so that the world can be left in a better place for posterity.

The contest has three components: writing, art, and film. More information is available at jewish youngstown.org.

First place winners in various age categories in each of the components will receive gift cards and a Holocaust-themed book at the annual community Yom Hashoah Commemoration at noon April 21, at the Mahoning County Courthouse, 120 Market St. Prizes will also be awarded for second and third places, as well as to honorable mentions.

ABOUT THE THEME

In 1945, as American, British and Soviet soldiers moved across Europe in a series of offensives on Germany, they encountered and liberated concentration camp prisoners. Advancing from the east, Soviet forces came upon Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland on Jan. 27 where they witnessed unimaginable horrors. In liberating Auschwitz and other Nazi camps, the allies exposed to the world the full breadth of Nazi atrocities, lending urgency to the demands for justice.

Concerned that the world would not believe, General Dwight D. Eisenhower wanted every American to see what was discovered. Eisenhower not only understood the war was a struggle for the freedom of peoples and the ideals on which civilization was based, but also that the horror was so extreme that it might not be believed. Realizing that a failure to believe would be a danger for the future of mankind, he ordered other soldiers to visit the camps and encouraged journalists and Members of Congress to bear witness as well.

Time and distance have not lessened the need to remember and educate future generations how hatred and racism can lead to disastrous effects. The history of the Holocaust raises difficult questions about human behavior and the context within which individual decisions are made. It is crucial not to simplify this history, but to instead seek to convey its many nuances. For example, the word resistance often refers to acts of armed revolt, but during the Holocaust, there were thousands of acts of resistance worth remembering and emulating. These included willful disobedience, the continuation of the practice of religious and cultural traditions in defiance of the rules, the smuggling of messages, food, and weapons, and even the creation of art, music, and poetry inside the camps and ghettos. For many, simply maintaining the will to live in the face of abject brutality was an act of spiritual resistance.

news@tribtoday.com