The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation is inviting students in grades 7–12 in Mahoning, Trumbull, and Columbiana counties and Western Pennsylvania, to enter its annual Holocaust writing, art, and multimedia contest, a project held in conjunction with Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial Day). To be commemorated this academic year on April 28, 2022, Yom Hashoah is an internationally recognized day set aside for remembering all victims of the Holocaust and for reminding society of what can happen to civilized people when bigotry, hatred, and indifference reign.
The theme for this year’s contest relates to the Wannsee Conference, a 90-minute meeting in January 1942 that was attended by 15 high ranking Nazi party and German government officials and convened to discuss and coordinate the implementation of the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question,” a previously approved plan to deport and exterminate some 11 million Jews throughout Nazi-occupied Europe and beyond. The primary item on the conference agenda was merely to ensure the cooperation of the administrative leaders of various government departments so that the components of the Final Solution could be successfully carried out. Missing from the agenda was any substantive consideration of the ethical implications of mass genocide.
While most historians agree that the Final Solution cannot be attributed to a single decision or meeting, there were pivotal gatherings like the Wannsee Conference which sped up and legitimized the elimination of millions. The Wannsee Conference was a turning point in history. The attendees at the conference, who represented virtually every key German government agency, expressed no opposition to the planned deportations and mass killings, and minced no words in their frank discussion of the methods about to be deployed to carry out the plan. However, the minutes of the meeting contained less explicit language. This 90-minute meeting ensured all German governmental agencies were on board with how to quickly and efficiently eliminate European Jewry and to understand that the SS was the final say in any authority.
Appropriate contest submissions MUST relate to the historical analyses of the Wannsee Conference. Suggested topics include but are not limited to the ethics of genocide; the equality or not of guilt between perpetrators and bystanders; the role of government and the rule of law in the implementation of mass atrocities; or how the use of milder language in place of that considered to be too harsh or blunt (euphemisms) contributed to the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jewish people.
The guidelines for the format of the contest entries are as follows: The writing component can be a narrative composition or piece of poetry, no more than 1,500 words, double spaced and submitted as a Microsoft Word document. The art component should demonstrate originality and a creative representation of the theme, using paint, crayon, pencil or other similar medium on 8.5x11 white paper. Multimedia submissions no longer than five minutes will be accepted in the form of YouTube videos, Instagram Reels, or TikTok posts submitted electronically or on a flash drive that demonstrate originality and a creative representation of the theme, and that are as substantial in form and content as a written entry, though in accordance with the possibilities of these newer forms of media.
All entries, whether writing, art or media, must be accompanied by a title page or label containing the following information: student’s name, home address and telephone number; student’s school address and telephone number; teacher’s name; and grade.
The deadline is April 1, 2022. Submissions may be emailed to Nancy Sentelik at the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation, nsentelik@jewishyoungstown.org. Presentation of contest awards will be made during the Community Yom Hashoah Commemoration Ceremony at noon April 28, 2022, at the Mahoning County Courthouse. Contact the Jewish Community Relations Council at 330.746.3250, ext. 108 for further information.