Contest awards young writers

The 12th annual Student Holocaust Writing Contest featured essays and poetry.
YOUNGSTOWN -- A candleholder with six candles stood alone on a table draped in black cloth at the Mahoning County Courthouse rotunda.
The candles represented the 6 million Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust.
The candles were lighted by members of the local Jewish community who survived the "Final Solution," the willful destruction of European Jews by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime during World War II.
Against that backdrop, several middle school and high school pupils were honored at the 12th annual Student Holocaust Writing Contest sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation.
The contest was open to children from grades seven through 12 in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties. The topic was "From Liberation to the Pursuit of Justice." The pupils could write either a poem or an essay on that topic.
Rabbi Joseph Schonberger, co-chairman of the Holocaust Commemoration and Education Task Force, said the event was to "honor the legacy of the past and raise the consciousness of our children and grandchildren."
It was 60 years ago this month that Allied forces liberated Nazi concentration camps in Germany, Austria and Poland and exposed the Nazi atrocities committed against the Jewish people and others the Nazis considered inferior, including people of Polish descent and those referred to as Gypsies.
The Germans formally surrendered in May 1945.
Remarks
Rabbi Schonberger said Tuesday's event also honored the Allied liberators and said thanks for "keeping alive the lessons and core values of our country."
Mayor George McKelvey presented a proclamation to the commemoration task force and reminded those in attendance that Hitler did not defeat the 6 million victims of the Holocaust, saying the spirit of those victims prevailed over the sadistic plans of Hitler and the Nazis.
Rabbi Simeon Kolko of Beth Israel Temple Center in Warren presided over the candle-lighting ceremony and led the audience in a Jewish prayer.
Rabbi Joel Berman, who led the benediction, reminded the audience that the yearly commemoration of the Holocaust is needed.
"We must keep the memory alive," he said. "Each year, survivors grow fewer, and the twisted minds who deny the Holocaust ever happened grow in number."
Rochelle Miller, co-chairwoman of the commemoration and education task force, and the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, introduced the winners. The poetry winners read their work to the crowd of family, friends and teachers who filled the rotunda.
After the ceremony, Rabbi Schonberger encouraged the audience to go to Federal Street for a memorial tree planting in honor of the Holocaust survivors and the end of World War II in Europe.