2011-2012 OHRC Writing/Art Competition Topic:  Courage to Act

All of our local Oregon Holocaust survivors are grateful to individuals for the smallest act of kindness which contributed to their survival.  Irene Gut Opdyke was a young Polish Catholic nurse who risked her life to rescue 12 Jews from the ghetto who were scheduled for deportation to a death camp. Not all “rescuers” were in a position to help in this extraordinary way, but others were able to show their humanity in more ordinary ways.  Soldiers turned their backs so young mothers could escape; farmers quietly left extra potatoes or milk on the doorsteps of houses where Jews were hidden;  German officials quietly alerted Jewish friends or acquaintances that they would soon be arrested.  If caught, all of them could have been severely punished.  How might ordinary people overcome their fear of punishment or reprisal and find the courage to risk their own safety to help others?

Create a piece of writing or a work of art which through its message will enable readers and/or viewers to understand that the courage to act in the face of injustice, even at great personal risk, is a choice open to each of us.

Click here to download the 2012 Art and Writing contest packet.