{"id":14716,"date":"2023-03-21T10:05:17","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T17:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogschapman.wpenginepowered.com\/wilkinson\/2023\/03\/21\/advocating-for-survivors-the-importance-of-love-in-the-face-of-tragedy\/"},"modified":"2023-03-21T10:05:17","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T17:05:17","slug":"advocating-for-survivors-the-importance-of-love-in-the-face-of-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/wilkinson\/2023\/03\/21\/advocating-for-survivors-the-importance-of-love-in-the-face-of-tragedy\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocating for Survivors: The Importance of Love in the Face of Tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The 24th Annual Holocaust Art & Writing Contest.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On March 10th, 2023, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences<\/a>\u2019 Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education <\/a>hosted the awards ceremony for the 24th Annual Holocaust Art & Writing Contest<\/a> for middle and high-school students. The theme for this year was \u201cThe Strength of Love and the Will to Survive.\u201d Participants used an interview with a Holocaust survivor to create a work of poetry, prose, film or art that connected the survivor\u2019s testimony to the year\u2019s theme. Presidential Fellow and author, Glenn Kurtz<\/a>, was the keynote speaker and spoke about what it means to have a life shaped by love.<\/p>\n

The names of all participating schools, nationally and internationally, either in attendance or viewing the ceremony remotely, were read during the event. Finalists in each category were recognized, with second-place winners receiving a certificate and first-place winners reading or showing their award-winning entries.<\/p>\n

Kurtz spoke about a 1938 home movie that he discovered which captured three minutes of life in Nasielsk, Poland, a town where most Jewish residents would perish in the Holocaust. Kurtz described a sense of responsibility for preserving their memory. He explained how this sense of responsibility turned into love, as he said, \u201cI would never have said that what I felt for them was love. But it was.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The 24th Annual Holocaust Art & Writing Contest.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A peculiar kind of love. A commitment to respect and to honor them.\u201d By dedicating the time and energy to telling the survivors\u2019 stories, he explained that this could be called nothing else but love. The participants in this contest shared the same responsibility in preserving the memory of a survivor, and thus shared the same kind of love.<\/p>\n

Kurtz quoted Marian Turski, a survivor of Auschwitz, who claimed that there is an eleventh commandment: thou shalt not be indifferent. Survivors teach us to care in the face of violence, even if apathy would be easier and less painful. His closing quote of his speech addressed indifference.<\/p>\n

\u201cApathy and indifference might protect you, but everyday, the survivors and the victims challenge you to accept the responsibility of caring to do the hard work, of finding in yourself the strength to do justice, to make a difference, to do the hard work of a life shaped by love.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dr. Marilyn Harran, director of the Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education and the Stern Chair in Holocaust Education<\/a>, gave her closing thoughts, taking a moment to honor the participating schools from Poland who were hosting Ukrainian refugees. She spoke about the war in Ukraine and natural disasters in Turkey and Syria and the importance of love.<\/p>\n

When asked how we can advocate for survivors of other tragedies, Dr. Harran brought up Nadia Murad<\/a>\u2019s story of survival. She said, \u201cOnce suffering begins to become real to us, and we make that human connection, we also know we can be empowered to make a difference, even if it is only for one individual in need. As Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, a Presidential Fellow said, \u2018the opposite of love is not hate, it\u2019s indifference.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The list of first place winners are below:<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • MIDDLE SCHOOL PROSE
    \n<\/strong>Alejandra Rosas, Grade 8
    \nGood Shepherd Catholic School, Beverly Hills, CA
    \nTeacher: Caitlin Carlos
    \nSurvivor Testimony: Bertha Haberfeld<\/li>\n
  • MIDDLE SCHOOL POETRY
    \n<\/strong>Dylan Brigulio, Grade 8
    \nHarbor Day School, Corona del Mar, CA
    \nTeacher: Chatom Arkin
    \nSurvivor Testimony: Engelina Billauer<\/li>\n
  • MIDDLE SCHOOL ART\u00a0<\/strong>
    \nSophie Shinmei, Grade 8
    \nBeechwood School, Fullerton, CA
    \nTeachers: Marisa Sonny &\u00a0 Janette Bustamante
    \nSurvivor Testimony: Jadzia Stern<\/li>\n
  • MIDDLE SCHOOL FILM\u00a0<\/strong>
    \nVeronica Flack, Grade 8
    \nLa Ca\u00f1ada High School 7\/8, La Ca\u00f1ada, CA
    \nTeacher: Leslie Baldwin
    \nSurvivor Testimony: Vera Gissing<\/li>\n
  • HIGH SCHOOL PROSE<\/strong>
    \nAngelina Morosan, Grade 12
    \nSaint Sava National College, Bucharest, Romania
    \nTeacher: Denis Radu
    \nSurvivor Testimony: Bluma Goldberg<\/li>\n
  • HIGH SCHOOL POETRY<\/strong>
    \nNaama Denan, Grade 9
    \nWoodbridge High School, Irvine, CA
    \nTeacher: Karen Briner
    \nSurvivor Testimony: Bluma Goldberg<\/li>\n
  • HIGH SCHOOL ART<\/strong>
    \nAeryn McCallie, Grade 9
    \nSentinel High School, Missoula, MT
    \nTeacher: Tammi Allison
    \nSurvivor Testimony: Sally Roisman<\/li>\n
  • HIGH SCHOOL FILM<\/strong>
    \nAnna Kunkel, Grade 10
    \nThe Seven Hills School, Cincinnati, Ohop
    \nTeacher: Mark Beyreis
    \nSurvivor Testimony: Ren\u00e9e Firestone<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    On March 10th, 2023, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences\u2019 Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education hosted the awards […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":14718,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,21,43,5,198,2631],"tags":[3452,3453,3454,301],"class_list":["post-14716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-awardsscholarships","category-events","category-history-2","category-news","category-rodgers-center-for-holocaust-education","category-wilkinson-college","tag-24th-annual-holocaust-art-writing-contest","tag-glenn-kurtz","tag-presidential-fellow-and-author","tag-rodgers-center-for-holocaust-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/wilkinson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/wilkinson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/wilkinson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/wilkinson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/wilkinson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/wilkinson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/wilkinson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/wilkinson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/wilkinson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/wilkinson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}