Oskar Knoblauch award keeps vital Jewish narrative through embrace of technology
Staff Reports | Digital Free Press
The Arizona Jewish Historical Society is presenting the inaugural Oskar Knoblauch YouTube Contest honors 2 p.m. June 21, at the Cutler Plotkin Jewish Heritage Center.
High school students across the Valley of the Sun were asked to create a 3-minute YouTube video to inform and educate viewers about the Holocaust using local survivors’ stories, according to a press release.
AZJHS created the contest to encourage students to make impactful videos that teach lessons of the Holocaust, the release states.
In the contest’s inaugural year, there were 14 entries in group and individual categories. The students produced meaningful and educational videos that create an experience of empathetic understanding, Jewish Historical Society representatives report.
At this year’s event, local Holocaust survivor Oskar Knoblauch will present the first, second and third place prizes and Honorable “Menschen.”
“We created this project to encourage students to engage with survivor testimonies, but to do so in a way that is also innovative, contemporary, and creative,” said Dr. Lawrence Bell, executive director at AZJHS. “Arizona is home to many survivors, and each has a unique story of loss, survival, resilience, and hope. Their stories help define the experience of the Holocaust for future generations.”
The top three videos in group and individual categories will be given cash prizes and a copy of Oskar Knoblauch’s book “A Boy’s Story, Man’s Memory.” AZJHS will launch the 2nd Annual Oskar Knoblauch YouTube Contest in Fall 2023.
