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More Than 50 Holocaust Survivors to Share History with California Middle and High School Students at Chapman University on March 6

Posted on: Tuesday, 3 March 2009, 13:40 CST

ORANGE, Calif., March 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 50 Holocaust survivors from throughout Southern California will meet with middle school and high school students participating in the Chapman University Holocaust Art and Writing Contest on Friday, March 6 on the Chapman campus in Orange.

The contest, now in its 10th year, drew nearly 5,000 student entries this year, from a record 93 Southern California middle and high schools. The finalists in each category - essay, poetry and art - along with their parents and teachers, are invited to Chapman for the awards ceremony and to meet the Holocaust survivors who inspired their works. The ceremony takes place at 11 a.m. in the university's Memorial Hall.

Chapman University President James L. Doti and Dr. Marilyn Harran, director of Chapman's Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education, will welcome the students and their guests. Natalie Weinstein Gold, a child survivor of the Holocaust who lived out the war hidden in a convent, will be the ceremony's featured speaker. Gold's father, 98-year-old Leo Weinstein, a Warsaw Ghetto fighter, also plans to attend. The youngest member of the real-life "Schindler's List," Leon Leyson, is also among the survivors scheduled to attend the ceremony.

The survivors, all members of the Los Angeles-based "1939" Club, one of the largest Holocaust survivor organizations in the U.S., will cheer on the student winners and then meet with them at a reception after the award ceremony. Music will be provided by the Orange County Klezmers.

Entries in the Holocaust Art and Writing Contest are gathered from students in participating schools in the months leading up to the award ceremony. Students access The "1939" Club website to learn the histories of the survivors, and choose one to base their entry upon. A panel of distinguished judges, including the event's honorary national judge, Nobel Peace laureate Elie Wiesel, reviews the entries and chooses the finalists.

Chapman University's Leatherby Libraries will present a concurrent exhibition, "Holocaust Survivors: The Indestructible Spirit," featuring 50 portraits of members of The "1939" Club by photographer Bill Aron, accompanied by histories researched and written by Dr. Harran and her students.

The 10th Annual Holocaust Art and Writing Contest is co-sponsored by Chapman University, The "1939" Club, the Samueli Foundation, Dana and Yossie Hollander, and the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education.

SOURCE Chapman University

Source: PR Newswire

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