By , JTNews Correspondent
Each year, the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center holds its Jacob Friedman Holocaust Writing and Art Contest to give students in grades 5–10 from around the state the opportunity to explain in the medium of their choice what they’ve learned about the Holocaust in their education. This year students were asked to consider the tree Anne Frank wrote about in her diary — a sapling of that tree will soon be planted in Seattle’s Volunteer Park.
Excerpts and artwork from a few
of the winners of the 2010 contest are printed here. Find the rest online at the Holocaust Center’s Web site, www.wsherc.org/writingcontest.
Artwork, Grades 7–8, 1st place
Finn Colando. Lake Washington Girls Middle School, Seattle. Grade 7.
Teacher: Jennifer Zavatsky
Every tree starts as a seed. This tree in a gutter comes from someone or something dropping a seed in it. Without realizing it, a seed can change a building from something ordinary to something extraordinary. Whether we notice or not, all of us change our world in the same way this tree completely changed this building.
Writing, Grades 9–10, 2nd place
Nicola Morrow. Sehome High School, Bellingham. Grade 9.
So Anne,
the tree that you brought to life
outside your window
With your words
Is now our tree,
And it will take more than ink
To sustain it.
It will take the memory of six million dead,
And a promise.
A promise to change,
And to live with your passion.
[excerpt from a poem]
Writing, Grades 5–6, 1st place
Samantha Braman. Lake Washington Girls Middle School, Seattle. Grade 6.
Teacher: Lindsey Mutschler
Does change really begin with me? Did I change the world when I simply asked my friend to stop gossiping?…What is humankind’s capacity for injustice? Our world has never accomplished the taste of being respectful to differences. It is our hunger. We feed upon being a strong, powerful group. We thrive on releasing our fury on those innocent people we force our faults upon. Propaganda and scapegoating are actions that sometimes seem impossible to change…
What should I do? I asked myself. Yes, I do think that Sara is a bit annoying, but no, gossiping is not the answer to this problem. I gulped, and then said, “Hey guys, let’s try not to gossip about Sara. It can hurt her feelings.” I knew that gossiping could lead to verbal putdowns, which could lead to ganging up, which could lead to worse…
Artwork, Grades 5–6, 1st place
Anna Fotheringham. Lake Washington Girls Middle School, Seattle. Grade 6.
Teacher: Lindsey Mutschler
In February, the cherry blossom trees start to blossom. My art piece shows a cherry blossom tree that is a negative. I chose to do a cherry blossom tree because I think that everyone’s stereotype of a tree is a brown trunk. I put numbers in the blossoms to represent the numbers by which the prisoners were differentiated. My sunset represents the different cultures, races and religions, integrating together peacefully. At the base of the tree is a Star of David, and the roots branch out to represent Holocaust survivors and the roots they will spread to future generations.
Writing, Grades 7–8, 1st place
Laylan Tahir. Cedar Heights Middle School, Covington. Grade 8.
Teacher: Sylvia O’Brien
Do you know the story behind my face? What do you see when you look at me? Do you see a typical teenage girl? Are you going to judge me without knowing me? I am a thirteen-year-old Kurdish girl; Anne Frank was a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl. They say there is no such thing as perfection. Although I believe that if people had more respect and tolerance for one another, that saying would definitely be proven wrong. The world would be better.
Anne Frank is a name we will remember…Anne Frank reminds me of one person, my mother. During the early nineties Kurds in Iraq were threatened due to the cruelty of one person, Saddam Hussein…. My family would walk days and days not knowing what’s going to happen the next day, where would we end up, or will we still be alive. The harsh sights people had to see, the millions of innocent deaths that could have been so easily prevented…
I think when Anne Frank was sitting there writing, she thought, maybe, just maybe, one day, people will all respect each other. This will soon be over. I will be free again. My family thought that, too. The only difference was our dream became a reality. For me, it began by one man killing my family and ancestors for the differences in our races, but it ended in one country reaching out to us, to save us. My life changed by the United States having respect for my family and bringing us to safety, I can’t imagine what it would be like if every country had turned their backs. Sometimes everyone having respect and tolerance for one another is just an imaginary thought that cannot be achieved, but it can be strived for. Change will happen, it will begin with me. I have begun to teach tolerance and respect by sharing my story, I am a thirteen-year-old Kurdish girl, and I am a survivor.