Memory: an element both fragile and strong, fleeting yet enduring.

For Holocaust survivors, memory can evoke both pain and meaning.  Sharing the memories of that horrific era requires the courage to speak the unspeakable, and to describe the unimaginable.

Sponsored by the Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education and The 1939 Society, a community of Holocaust survivors, their families and friends, a new exhibition at Chapman University’s Hilbert Museum of California Art— “MESSENGERS OF MEMORY: A 25-Year Retrospective of the Annual Chapman University Holocaust Art & Writing Contest” —features 75 pieces of visual art, poetry and prose excerpts, and films honoring Holocaust survivors and the enduring significance of their memories for a new generation.

The exhibition showcases the top-placing entries from the first quarter-century of one of the world’s oldest and largest student art and writing competitions focused on the Holocaust.  The retrospective is the first public exhibition to occupy the Hilbert Museum’s new Burra Family Community Room, added during the museum’s expansion.

According to Dr. Marilyn Harran, Director of Chapman’s Rodgers Center, the show represents winning entries from students attending 84 middle and high schools in 52 cities and 11 states in the U.S. and two other countries.  Visitors can view student artworks and excerpts of written entries, as well as 12 student films.  In its 25-year history, the annual contest has reached some 150,000 students and 2,000 educators in the U.S. and 24 other countries.

“This 25th year of the Holocaust Art & Writing Contest highlights Chapman University’s remarkable, sustained commitment to furthering knowledge of the Holocaust and empowering young people to translate knowledge into action,” says Harran.  “The hope is the contest and special retrospective at the Hilbert Museum help create a society free of bigotry, racism and antisemitism.”

The 25th edition of the Chapman Annual Holocaust Art & Writing Contest asked students to submit works under the theme, “Answering the Call of Memory: Choosing to Act.”  An awards ceremony this past March featured remarks by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad, a Chapman University Presidential Fellow who survived genocide and enslavement at the hands of ISIS.

“We are proud to have this 25-year retrospective of this important and impactful contest here at the Hilbert,” says Museum Founder Mark Hilbert. “Over many years, it has reached thousands of high school and middle school students.  The students’ works are amazing.  They are so talented, and clearly the survivors’ testimonies have meant a lot to them and inspired their art.”

Each piece of art in the contest —whether visual, written or filmed —is inspired by a Holocaust survivor’s testimony. “In years past, dozens of survivors from the L.A. and OC area attended the annual contest’s awards ceremony at Chapman, along with hundreds of student participants and their teachers,” says Mary Platt, Director of the Hilbert Museum, who has been at Chapman for 20 years.  “Sadly, many of the survivors have passed away, and the ones left were children during World War II.  This makes it more important than ever for today’s students to watch and hear survivors’ filmed testimonies and respond to them in art and in writing.”  Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation and The 1939 Society are among the organizations that have filmed survivor testimonies, preserving their truths for posterity and making the films available online.

On the inside front cover of this issue, 8th-grader Sophie Shinmei’s 2023 award-winning painting, “Holding on to Hope,” is a scene inspired by the filmed testimony of Holocaust survivor Jadzia Stern.  At age 12, Jadzia was imprisoned in Auschwitz, separated from her family.  She recalled finding a sunflower just outside the wire surrounding the camp and picking it in defiance of the guards.  Later, she found her little sister in the camp hospital and held her for about 15 minutes before she was snatched from Jadzia’s tight embrace.  That was the last time she would see her.  Almost all of Jadzia’s family members perished in the concentration camps.

Jadzia’s testimony is told on film with emotion and dignity.  It’s easy to see why her story inspired Sophie’s powerful painting, some 80 years later.  The exhibition at the Hilbert Museum contains many such images and stories—extraordinary student work inspired by extraordinary people who lived through this history, and whose testimonies plead with us to never forget.

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“Messengers of Memory” runs now through July 31, 2024 at the Hilbert Museum of California Art, located at 167 North Atchison St. Open Tue - Sat from 10 am to 5 pm.  Admission and parking are free.  Registration online is recommended at www.HilbertMuseum.org, though walk-ins are welcomed.

Chapman University Holocaust Art & Writing Contest: www.Chapman.edu/holocaust-arts-contest.