Contact Laura Patton, via email or 913-327-8236.
Perhaps no single factor determined as much about a survivor’s experience of the Holocaust as geography. Where someone lived when their home country came under Nazi control had an outsized effect on the options that were available to them: when and if they could consider escaping, if they could find a place to hide, the willingness of their neighbors to help, the prevalence of the Jewish community and culture around them, and whether nearby countries were already occupied.
Whether a survivor’s story was one of escape, ghettoization, hiding, concentration camps, forced labor, or partisan resistance, these possibilities often hinged on which country, city, or town one was living in. Experiences for Jews living in Germany in 1933 for example, were vastly different than those living in Poland in 1939. Even within Poland, whether one was living in the West or East, in an urban or rural setting, or what direction one tried to flee, had a profound impact on their experience. These differences extend across all nations touched by the Holocaust.
Regardless of these varied experiences, what unites these survivors is their eventual status as refugees at the conclusion of WWII and again upon arrival in the United States. Geography became a factor in how they made it to Kansas City to restart their lives in a new community.
Today, as refugee crises mount across the globe, paying attention to these stories of geography, occupation, and migration helps us understand the factors that lead someone to leave or stay in their home when threatened by state violence.
This year’s contest will ask students to consider the geographical context of specific Holocaust stories using recorded testimonies from MCHE’s local survivor community alongside interactive story maps from “Through Hell to the Midwest.”
A successful essay or documentary entry will address both portions of the following prompt. At minimum, one-fourth of the finished work must be devoted to the REFLECTION.
RESEARCH: Choosing one local Kansas City survivor from the provided list, watch their recorded video testimony and explore their journey using their “Through Hell to the Midwest” story map. Using these two and at least three additional sources, explain A) how the Jewish community was affected when the Nazis seized power in this person’s country, and B) describe that survivor’s unique journey within that national experience.
REFLECTION: How does the survivor story you researched influence your thinking about refugees in the world today? What is lost, and what does it take to rebuild?
The survivors listed under the Contest Documents – Required Sources tab below are those students may select as a subject for the 2026-27 White Rose Research Contest. Contest entries about survivors other than those listed on the table will be disqualified.
Contest Documents – Required Sources
Top: Through Hell to the Midwest. Your chosen survivor’s story map is a required contest document.
Bottom: MCHE Survivor Testimonies. Your chosen survivor’s video testimony (along with its transcript) is a required contest document.
| Ilsa Cole — Hamm & Geilenkirchen, Germany MCHE – Cole | Bertha Gutovitz — Białobrzegi & Radom, Poland MCHE – Gutovitz |
| Werner Hartwich — Kürsten, Germany MCHE – Hartwich | Ida Loeffler — Krakow, Poland MCHE – Loeffler |
| Kurt Levi — Weisbaden, Germany MCHE – Levi | Ann Walters — Radziłów, Poland MCHE – Walters |
| Ernest Simon — Carlsbad & Plzeň, Czechoslovakia MCHE – Simon | Leo Zemelman — Włocławek, Poland MCHE – Zemelman |
| Ralph Berets — [Krefeld, Germany] Amersfoort, the Netherlands MCHE – Berets | Alegre Tevet — Drama & Salonika (a.k.a. Thessaloniki), Greece MCHE – Tevet |
| Margalith Clarenberg — [Düsseldorf, Germany] The Hague, the Netherlands MCHE – Clarenberg | Clara Grossman — Nyírbátor, Hungary MCHE – Grossman |
| Isak Federman — Wolbrom, Poland MCHE – Federman | Frank Szasz — Budapest, Hungary MCHE – Szasz |
In addition to the story map and video testimony linked above, students are required to use information from the mini-lecture appropriate for the geographical area that your subject survivor called home. The video of one mini-lecture linked below is the third required contest document.
Links to these videos are coming soon!!
HOME for the direct links shown on the table above:
Through Hell to the Midwest (Home)
Map Collections – The MCHE/Fortunoff Collection
MCHE Survivor Testimonies
At the bottom of the MCHE testimony page for each survivor, you will find numerous resources to help you with your research, such as:
You may find the following resources from Echoes & Reflections useful:
MCHE’s White Rose Research Contest Guide is a handy reference in an easy-to-print, PDF format. It provides contest rules, format guidelines, FAQs, and tips for success – written by a teacher who has sponsored White Rose finalists. You will find FAQs and tips in the Guide that aren’t on the website. We encourage all participants and sponsoring teachers to refer to the Contest Guide while working on their essays. Please be sure to consult the Format Guidelines before submitting your entry to the contest.
Contest Eligibility Guidelines:
The following resources about thesis statements may be helpful to essayists and educators:
The following resources about citations may be helpful to students and educators:
MCHE encourages teachers to utilize this research contest as a classroom exercise.
Learn how the White Rose Research Contest fulfills the Common Core State Standards.
TIP: While we work, we often find great primary sources on Holocaust topics that we think might be useful to teachers and students. These are linked on our website under RESOURCES – Primary Source Documents.
Important notes for Sponsoring Teachers about contest entries:
Our goals for “Preview the Contest” are:
Please RSVP and keep your date with us!
We want to plan a workshop that is interactive and interesting. This is easier when we know how many people will be attending. If we make a plan to have folks work in small groups but a bunch of people don’t show up, that makes it more difficult to implement the plan. We also want to get to know you, and we want you to get to know us – and that we are here to help!
Contest entries will be evaluated in two rounds of judging.
View the scoring rubric for essay entries.
All White Rose Finalists and their sponsoring teachers will be recognized at MCHE’s Academic Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, 4 May 2027.
Winners of each contest category and age division will be announced at the ceremony. Winners will be asked to read an excerpt of their essays for the audience.
Contest winners in each category and age division will receive a $300 prize.
Sponsoring teachers of each winner will be awarded a voucher worth $150 toward the purchase of Holocaust-related books, instructional materials, or professional development opportunities.
Before submitting your entry, PLEASE review the “Format Guidelines for Written Work” in the White Rose Research Contest Guide.
What happens after the contest deadline?
2025-2026 Contest Theme: Propaganda
RESEARCH: Analyze at least two examples of Nazi propaganda—one designed to promote inclusion and another designed to enforce exclusion. For each example, consider when it was produced, its intended goals, and the propaganda devices employed. Who was the target audience for inclusion, and who was excluded?
REFLECTION: Having learned about how propaganda can promote inclusion or exclusion, how does this impact how you consume and evaluate media today?
During the 2025-26, documentary contestants were allowed to submit a script rather than a film introduction – a change from the previous year.
Lower Division Essay Winner: Eric Mi
Lower Division Documentary Winner: Elyse Ashlock
Upper Division Essay Winner: Kate Jack
2024-2025 Contest Theme: Non-Jewish Victims of Nazi Persecution & Murder
RESEARCH: Describe why and how one category of non-Jewish victims experienced persecution and murder by the Nazis. (You may choose from among the following non-Jewish victims groups: Jehovah’s Witnesses, LGBTQ+, Roma and Sinti, and the Targets of Eugenics.) Provide as an example how that persecution was experienced by at least one person. Also consider whether the group experienced continued persecution during the post-war years.
REFLECTION: How can you apply the learning gained from your research to your developing responsibilities as a citizen in U.S. society?
During the 2024-25, contestants were allowed 1,600-words for essays and 800-words for film introductions – a change from the process paper required the previous year. In both cases, one-fourth of the word allowance was to be reserved for the reflection. The time constraint on documentaries is ten minutes, one-fourth of which must be devoted to the reflection prompt.
Lower Division Essay Winner: December Valdivia
Lower Division Documentary Winner: Olivia Griffis
Upper Division Essay Winner: Elwyn Patterson
Upper Division Documentary Winners: Addison Doyle & Addison Hild
2023-2024 Contest Theme: Americans and the Holocaust
RESEARCH: Describe the motivations and outcomes of a non-military action or policy taken by the U.S. government or American citizens to address the persecution of European Jews between 1933 and 1945. Discuss how these actions impacted the European Jewish community or Jewish individuals, citing specific examples.
REFLECTION: Based on your research, what responsibility do you believe the U.S. has toward refugees and immigrants in today’s world?
Note that the word allowance changed during the 2023-24 contest year. Contestants were allowed 1,600-words for essays and 800-words for process papers. In both cases, one-fourth of the word allowance was to be reserved for the reflection. The time restraint on documentaries is ten minutes, one-fourth of which must be devoted to the reflection prompt.
Lower Division Essay Winner: Morgan Franey
Lower Division Documentary Winner: Halen McClure & Walter Sumner — Documentary and Process Paper
Upper Division Essay Winner: Vicky Pan
Upper Division Documentary Winner: Sophia Grantham & Piper Riffe — Documentary and Process Paper
2022-2023 Contest Theme: Jewish Resistance in the Ghettos
RESEARCH: Describe the goals and obstacles to one specific form of Jewish resistance in the ghettos. Explain how that method was used by one Jewish person or group.
REFLECTION: Consider the Kansas City Holocaust memorial and Nathan Rapoport’s Memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. After researching several types of resistance, why do you think that memorialization disproportionately focuses on armed resistance? How might you elevate forms of non-armed resistance in memorialization efforts.
Note that the word allowance changed during the 2023-24 contest year. 2022-2023 contestants worked within a 1,200-word limit for essays and a 500-word limit for process papers. The time restraints on documentaries have not changed.
Lower Division Essay Winner: Sylvie Idol
Upper Division Essay Winner: Makenzie Brantner
Upper Division Documentary Winner: Braden Thompson — Documentary and Process Paper
This research contest is named in honor of the White Rose resistance movement of German university students. Hans and Sophie Scholl, Christoph Probst, other friends, and their professor were arrested and executed for distributing leaflets denouncing the policies of the Nazi regime. May memories of these brave young people inspire us to reflect upon our own responsibilities as citizens in a democratic nation.
Photo at Left: Knowing she had been spotted by a custodian, Sophie Scholl threw the remaining anti-Nazi leaflets in her possession from the balcony of this atrium at Munich University. This incident led to her arrest.
Photo at Top: Replicas of White Rose leaflets on the cobblestones at Munich University.
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