Following are winning essays in the 2006 Holocaust Essay Contest, which is sponsored by the Habush Family Foundation and is a program of the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center. Entrants were asked to write on the topic, “How has studying the Holocaust influenced the way you act, the way you look at the world and the way you treat others?”First- and second-place winners in each of the two divisions will receive a trip to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C., and their schools will receive a gift of books. Winners will be presented at the community-wide Yom HaShoah-Holocaust Remembrance Commemoration on Sunday, April 30, 2 p.m., at Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue.
Congliang (Connie) WuNinth grade,
Homestead High School
First prize, division I (7-9 grade)
Darkness gently caressed Elijah’s face as he stood on the front porch, looking out into the distance. The sound of dry autumn leaves crackling filled the air as he slowly closed his eyes. A gust of wind bulldozed its way into his heart, thrusting open the long-forgotten lacerations.
Pain jolted his body, and warm tears flowed freely down his cheeks washing away laughter, love, and confidence. His mind raced as images flashed through his head, sending him back into his past, his childhood. It was a childhood filled with hunger, cold, homelessness, and depravation.
The Holocaust robbed humanity of family, friends, pride, justice, and innocence. It left us with the bitter taste of evil and the silent realization that millions of innocent people disappeared because of their perceived imperfections.
Though memories of the Holocaust faded, the scars it left have not, and looking at the deep, painful wounds taught me how to view the world from a different perspective and appreciate life the way it is today.
For as long as I can remember, the necessities of life always appeared at the tip of my fingers. Happiness rested on the sturdy foundation of fulfilled desires, pushing away the possibility of satisfaction. Boxes filled with toys, closets full of clothes, and shelves crammed with movies meant that another spot in the house left room for more.
Like most teenagers in the world today, I never understood the meaning of “enough.” However, as life quietly changes its pattern, so do people’s standards. During the Holocaust, people dreamed of staying alive and gaining access to food, shelter, and safety.
Unlike the children in Rwanda and Sudan, I never suffered the horrors of death and genocide, and unlike the emaciated children in Africa, I feel a sense of purpose in life and look forward to a future filled with goals to achieve.
Though society comes with all kinds of pressures, my family and friends will always be at my side, cheering me on. For the first time in my life, I feel relieved that I have the opportunity to live life at this time in history in the United States.
However, our world today continues to lag far behind perfection. While millions of people lost their lives, jerking the world out of centuries of slumber, history continued to repeat itself.
After the Holocaust, genocide comes back to haunt us again and again, and each time, the world stands by and watches because it refused to face reality, and when it did, thousands of people already perished.
In 1994, the U.N. ignored the tragedies of Rwanda when it refused to declare the slaughtering as genocide. Families separated, and people lived with the blind destiny of not knowing what tomorrow would bring. The fact that 800,000 lives vanished in just 100 days shocked the world, and reparations cannot come in the form of regret.
We lost battles again and again for the same reason: we never fought back. Even now, while 400,000 people died in the Sudan genocide, the U.N. took almost no action while it pondered on the question of whether the tragedies were truly genocide.
Presently, the situation is deteriorating, and 3.5 million people continue to suffer from starvation. Where is help? When will it come?
During these times of desperation or childhood, the strongest and most irrational discriminations arise. When right and wrong are indistinguishable, parents or society make choices for us.
Hitler used the Great Depression and anti-Semitism to rise to power and brainwash the children with false promises. With the German society’s support, Hitler’s beliefs set the standard for truth: The Aryans were builders of civilization, and others had the vocation to serve them while Jews were only fit to fuel furnaces and disappear from the world.
People do not have the power to choose their physical features and family background, for they become a reality before birth. If they must be judged, achievements and character should tip the scale, for they shape humans into whom they are.
Love, respect, and acceptance tightly bond our society together, while hate, war, and discrimination create barriers. Let us make the right choice, and walk through the doors of tomorrow together.
Looking back to the past brings tears to millions of victims of the Holocaust, and their stories touch millions of others. The world can no longer endure another Holocaust, for it left humanity with too much pain and suffering, so let us learn from our mistakes.
We may not have the power to prevent all tragedies in the world, but genocide certainly can be conquered. Unfortunately for us, happiness is a split second while misery lasts forever. Let us work toward those split seconds, for they are what we live for.
Natalie Otte
Eleventh grade, Cedarburg High School
First prize, division II (10-12 grade)
The word “holocaust” is derived from a Greek word meaning, “sacrifice by fire.” Six million Jewish people are a huge sacrifice. Was the Holocaust at all necessary? Hopefully, many would say no it was not.
What makes a German “racially superior” to any Jewish person? What makes a German “racially superior” to any person in general?
I can honestly say that I do not know as much as I probably should about the Holocaust. When I was in the eighth grade, I studied Anne Frank’s diaries about her life, which took place during the Holocaust. I was very intrigued, and have always been curious to know more about it.
My sophomore year in high school, in my Modern Civilization class, we studied Hitler, Nazi Germany, and many other things relating to the Holocaust. That section of the class also intrigued me to push my studies even further.
How could a man like Hitler convince a nation to follow him through complete lies? It has always stunned me to think about that. The problem with what he was doing was the fact that he used that power for such selfish and negative causes. Hitler convinced millions that diverse people, especially Jewish people, were wrong for their beliefs, opinions, lifestyles, and skin color.
It is unfortunate to know that Hitler and the Nazis never had Germany’s best interest in mind when they convinced a nation that Jewish people were evil. It is especially unfortunate because Hitler and the Nazis then exterminated Jewish people and other dissidents through genocide and many other terrible acts of hatred.
Being a teenager, and even just someone who was not alive in 1933, I admit to the fact that I do not think about the Holocaust very much.
I do, however, think about segregation quite often. I feel very strongly about human rights. It upsets me that homosexuals, political and religious dissidents, racially diverse people, and many more are hated and sometimes tormented for their beliefs on a day-to-day basis in this world.
Why should we hate and stray away from people because of the way they look, act, think, or feel, especially in America, the “land of the free.” Not everyone is so free after all, which is unfortunate to discover.
Every day when I wake, I may not be thinking about the Holocaust itself, but I do think about segregation often, because it is part of life.
In the past year, especially, I’ve learned a lot about how treating others affects them. In the past, I was often torn down by the way people treated me daily.
Throughout my life, I have tried to abide by the “Golden Rule,” which is to treat others how you would like to be treated. I agree with that rule entirely. What a person puts into a situation is what they will get out of that situation.
I think that people should embrace diversity for what is it: a point in which things differ. There are so many interesting people in this world that come from different backgrounds and cultures. I do not understand why anyone would want to segregate, or eliminate these people, when we could be learning so much from them.
The Holocaust and genocide have a lot to do with what happens today in the world.
Remembering my sophomore year in high school, my sister and many of her friends sold bracelets, tee shirts, pins, and other merchandise to raise money for Darfur, which lies in the western region of Sudan.
Darfur was suffering through a period of genocide and is suffering through a period of conflict currently. To see that green bracelet on my wrist is a daily reminder of the pain people go through in Darfur because of genocide, though I will never be able to really feel the pain as deeply as they can.
On the other hand, I can feel the pain of my friends being ridiculed for homosexuality, political and religious dissidence, and racial diversity. This country has many citizens who are willing to make room for diversity, which makes me proud to be an American.
Unfortunately, on the other hand, this country also has many citizens who don’t accept diversity because they are afraid. They are afraid to step out of their comfort zones and embrace difference. Many people do not even know how to react to diversity.
In the end, I may not be able to see it, but I guess I do think about the Holocaust much more than I think I do. The Holocaust really has made its mark on me in more ways than one.
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