Background:

All of these objects have a local connection to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest – either the survivors or their family members live/lived here. Tell the students that each artifact tells a different story, experience, perspective of the Holocaust. All of these stories contribute to, or help define the Holocaust.

Instructions:

Explore the objects in the gallery using the guiding questions. Take notes on your findings. If done with a group, discuss your responses together. Then, view and read the artifact summary. Feel free to explore the full artifact write up and the related Survivor Encyclopedia page. Discuss how your thoughts or feelings about the artifact changed after learning more about it. Did the “story” change your initial thinking about your artifact? If so, how?

For full teacher instructions, please visit here.

"...tell thousands so that millions will know what Dachau is..."

In 2016, Clarice Wilsey donated the remarkable letters of her father, Captain David B. Wilsey, M.D., an army anesthesiologist present at the liberation of Dachau concentration camp, to the Holocaust Center for Humanity. 

The Wilsey collection features 280+ letters, photographs, and more from Dr. Wilsey’s time in the U.S. Army, including the liberation of Dachau and experiences thereafter healing survivors.  Researchers, historians, and students alike have found the letters extraordinary.  Dr. Wilsey and his family were longtime residents of Spokane, Washington, and keeping this historically significant collection in the Northwest, at the Holocaust Center in Seattle, was a priority of the Wilsey family.  

The Holocaust Center was thrilled to announce on July 11, 2019, what would have been Dr. Wilsey's 105th birthday, a new online repository for the Wilsey Collection.  This browse-able collection allows the public to experience these letters for the first time and includes resources for educators. The collection can be accessed at: https://hchwilsey.omeka.net/.

Although Dr. Wilsey rarely discussed his experiences at Dachau after the war, he wrote to his wife Emily in several letters in 1945 “to tell thousands so that millions will know what Dachau is and never forget the name of Dachau.”  To pay homage to this, Clarice Wilsey continues to share her father's story as a member of the Center's Speakers Bureau, and in early 2020 Clarice and co-author Bob Welch published a memoir, Letters from Dachau: A Father's Witness of War, a Daughter's Dream of Peace.  Find and order the book from Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

Access the Online Collection   

See Excerpts of Dr. Wilsey's Letters

With gratitude to University of Washington Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS ) graduates Leslie Denning, Conor Doyle, and Rachel Ramey for their tireless work to create this site. The MLIS team devoted their second-year capstone project to make the Wilsey Collection website a reality.  

Special thanks also goes to the Peck Stacpoole Foundation and 4Culture/King County Lodging Tax Fund for their generous support of this project. 

Holocaust Writing, Art, and Film Contest 2023

The Writing, Art, and Film Contest challenges students to explore the history and stories of the Holocaust.  Open to students in grades 5-12 from Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska, the contest runs from January to May.

Thank you to all who participated in this year’s contest!

This year, we were honored to have 476 entries from 32 schools across the Pacific Northwest. Entries explored the lives of over 30 Holocaust survivors through art, writing, and film.

Explore our 2023 Winners Booklet for a look into all the award-winning works!

EXPLORE THE WINNERS

Navigate directly to a subtopic:

Featured Works | Physical Art Winners | Digital Art Winners | Film Winners | Writing Winners | 2023 Prompts 

Featured Works

1st Place Grade 9-12 Physical Art
Shelly Netz, Grade 12, Tesla STEM High School

2nd Place, Grade 9-12 Physical Art
Elisha Calaunan, Grade 9 Peninusla High School

1st Place, Grade 9-12, Digital Art
Brian Yin, Grade, 12, Tesla STEM High School

2nd Place, Grade 9-12 Digital Art
Davis Yang, Grade 12, Tesla STEM High School

Physical Art Winners

View the winners’ art in our winners booklet.

Physical Art 5th/6th Grade:

1st Place: Kimber Poser, Grade 6, Emmett Middle School, Emmett, ID

Physical Art 7th/8th Grade:

1st Place: Evie Hobbs, Grade 7, Lake Washington Girls Middle School, Seattle, WA
2nd Place: Caitlin Radtke, Grade 7, Lake Washington Girls Middle School, Seattle, WA
3rd Place: Colin Johnson, Grade 8, Brier Terrace Middle School, Brier, WA

Physical Art 9th-12th Grade:

1st Place: Shelly Netz, Grade 12, Tesla STEM High School, Redmond, WA
2nd Place: Elisha Calaunan, Grade 9, Peninsula High School, Gig Harbor, WA
3rd Place: Aaryan Bondre, Grade 12, Tesla STEM High School, Redmond, WA
Honorable Mention: Triana Fernando Grade 12, Tesla STEM High School, Redmond, WA

Digital Art Winners

View the winners’ art in our winners booklet.

Digital Art 7th/8th Grade:

1st Place: Ayla Sibay, Grade 7, Lake Washington Girls Middle School, Seattle, WA
2nd Place: Katrina Becker, Grade 8, Brier Terrace Middle School, Brier, WA
3rd Place: Davis Wurzburg, Grade 7, Lake Washington Girls Middle School, Seattle, WA

Digital Art 9th-12th Grade:

1st Place: Brian Yin, Grade 12, Tesla STEM High School, Redmond, WA
2nd Place: Davis Yang, Grade 12, Tesla STEM High School, Redmond, WA
3rd Place: Deepalakshmi Thirumal, Grade 12, Tesla STEM High School, Redmond, WA
Honorable Mention: Evan Kim, Grade 12, Tesla STEM High School, Redmond, WA

Film Winners

View the winners’ films in our winners booklet.

Film 5th-8th Grade:

1st Place: Cecilia "Ceci" Garzon-May, Grade 7, Lake Washington Girls Middle School, Seattle, WA
2nd Place: Isaac Royce, Grade 8, Gateway Middle School, Everett, WA
3rd Place: Sophie Shade, Grade 7, Lake Washington Girls Middle School, Seattle, WA
Honorable Mention: Cara Nishimura & Quinn Wiita, Grade 7, Lake Washington Girls Middle School, Seattle, WA

Film 9th-12th Grade:

1st Place: David Gershony, Grade 12, Tesla STEM High School, Redmond, WA
2nd Place: Ananya Unnikrishnan, Grade 12, Tesla STEM High School, Redmond, WA
3rd Place: Ethan Yu, Grade 12, Tesla STEM High School, Redmond, WA
Honorable Mention: Arihant Singh, Grade 12, Tesla STEM High School, Redmond, WA

Writing Winners

View excerpts from our writing winners in our winners booklet.

Argumentative Writing 5th/6th Grade:

1st Place: Sophie Gillick-Downs, Grade 5, Seattle Jewish Community School, Seattle, WA
2nd Place: Eden Benzikry-Stern, Grade 5, Seattle Jewish Community School, Seattle, WA
3rd Place: Daniel Smith, Grade 5, Seattle Jewish Community School, Seattle, WA

Creative Writing 5th/6th Grade:

1st Place: Jacob Anguiano, Grade 6, Park Place Middle School, Monroe, WA

Argumentative Writing 7th/8th Grade:

1st Place: Olivia Chen, Grade 8, Open Window School, Bellevue, WA
2nd Place: Ivy Rudat, Grade 8, Coupeville Middle School, Coupeville, WA
3rd Place: Riley White, Grade 8, Coupeville Middle School, Coupeville, WA
Honorable Mention: Sophia Allman, Grade 8, Horizon Middle School, Spokane Valley, WA

Creative Writing 7th/8th Grade:

1st Place: Arlo Alberts, Grade 8, Sacajawea Middle School, Spokane, WA
2nd Place: Felicity Anderson, Grade 8, Sacajawea Middle School, Spokane, WA
3rd Place: Lexi Mahoney , Grade 7, Lake Washington Girls Middle School, Seattle, WA

Argumentative Writing 9th-12th Grade:

1st Place: Brietta Yi, Grade 11, Newport High School, Bellevue, WA
2nd Place: Jonas Koller, Grade 9, Peninsula High School, Gig Harbor, WA
3rd Place: William Gong, Grade 12, Tesla STEM High School, Redmond, WA

Creative Writing 9th-12th Grade:

1st Place: Rachana Venugopal, Grade 11, Eastlake High School, Sammamish, WA
2nd Place: Claire Poulsen, Grade 9, Freeman High School, Rockford, WA
3rd Place: Kalyn Swanson , Grade 9, Freeman High School, Rockford, WA

Contest Prompts

Option 1: Creative Writing, Physical Art, Digital Art, and Film

Background:  “...I consider that everything should be recorded and noted down, even the most gory, because everything will be taken into account." -Yitskhok Rudashevski, teenage diarist murdered during the Holocaust. 1927-1943

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the largest, symbolically most important Jewish uprising, and first urban uprising in German-occupied Europe.  While organized armed resistance was the most direct form of opposition to the Nazis, resistance also included escape, hiding, cultural activity, and other acts of spiritual preservation.  Such non-armed resistance refers to attempts by individuals to maintain their humanity, personal integrity, dignity and sense of civilization in the face of their oppressors' attempts to dehumanize and degrade them.

Prompt: Describe or illustrate, in the art form of your choice, how a Holocaust survivor's experience with resistance during the Holocaust can inspire us to make meaningful change today.

*Use one or more entries in the Survivor Encyclopedia: Washington State and/or the story of a survivor about whom you have learned in your class to inform your entry.

Option 2: Argumentative Writing

Grade 5-8

Background: The Holocaust Center for Humanity has been asked to submit a recommendation to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) in the state of Washington regarding whether instruction about the Holocaust should be required in public schools, and if so, in which grades.  

The current law, which “strongly encourages” teaching about the Holocaust, indicates that, “The studying of this material is intended to: Examine the ramifications of prejudice, racism, and intolerance; prepare students to be responsible citizens in a pluralistic democracy; and be a reaffirmation of the commitment of free peoples never again to permit such occurrences.”

Prompt: In a cohesive paper, write a letter to the legislature arguing in favor of mandating (requiring) Holocaust education in Washington State schools.  Use one or more entries in the Survivor Encyclopedia: Washington State, and/or the life story of a survivor about whom you have learned in your class, as well as at least one of the sources provided to inform your entry. 

Grades 9-12

Background: Any study of the Holocaust raises questions about what might have been done to stop the rise and expansion of the Nazis in Europe. The Nazis built a society based on exclusion and persecution of the Jews and other marginalized groups in Germany and, eventually, throughout Europe.  Over time, governmental leaders in the United States made choices that drove the American response to the atrocities committed by the Nazis and their collaborators.

Prompt: Was the American government response to the Holocaust (1933-1945) sufficient?  In a well organized paper, support your position by discussing two or more specific events related to the American response.  In addition, based on what you have learned, how should America respond to human rights violations in other countries?  Explain your thinking.

See Previous Winners

See our winners' packet Celebrating Life: Holocaust Writing, Art, & Film Contest 2022 here.