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The Annual Irena Sendler Award----applications are now being accepted.
Please scroll to the bottom of this page.
Andrew Beiter Recieves the Irena Sendler Award,
a Prestigious International Award
 Springville, New York eighth grade teacher Andrew Beiter has been chosen as the one American teacher to receive the Irena Sendler Award for outstanding Holocaust education. The award was presented in a school assembly March 27th, highlighting the Kansas students who wrote and appear in the drama Life In A Jar, playing in Buffalo, New York. The play portrays the work of Polish-Catholic Irena Sendler, recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for smuggling 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust, hiding their identities on slips of paper buried in a glass jar. Norman Conard, the teacher/director of the students he originally set on the task of re-discovering her story after four decades of media obscurity, conferred the $10,000 award in front of Mr. Beiter’s students, past and present, gathered for an hour of interaction with the Life in a Jar cast. The Irena Sendler Award is given annually to one teacher in Poland and one in the United States whose innovative and inspirational teaching of the Holocaust exemplifies Irena Sendler’s respect for all people regardless of background. The Polish award was presented on April 30, 2008.
A native of Buffalo, Andrew Beiter attended St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute and earned a B.A. in Political Philosophy at Michigan State University in 1983. He spent several years as a United States Park Ranger in Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks before returning to Western New York to receive his teaching certificate from the University of Buffalo and an M.A. in Education from SUNY Fredonia. He began his teaching career at St.Bonaventure School in West Seneca in 1995, teaching Social Studies, English and Spanish. He taught 7th and 8th grade Social Studies in Panama, NY, before assuming his present position teaching 8th grade Social Studies at Springville Middle School in 2000. He and his wife Mary live in Hamburg with their two children, Mitchell (10) and Margaret (6).
Mr. Beiter has been very active in the Buffalo, New York, Holocaust Resource Center. His teaching in the Springville Middle School has been an example of presenting the idea of making a difference. He has held summer institutes dealing with Dafur, Holocaust studies, and other genocides. His life has been dedicated to 'repairing the world' and he continues to present creative and innovative methods in education. His students have taken to heart the story of Irena Sendler and Life in a Jar. Drew Beiter is 'touching the future.'
The Irena Sendler Award is presented by the Life in a Jar Foundation, and funding for the award is through the Goldrich Family Foundation in California, with the assistance of Metuka Benjamin of Stephen S. Wise Temple in Los Angeles. Life in a a Jar is a non-profit foundation which creates exciting history and social studies projects with teachers around the world.
The Association of "Children of the Holocaust" in Poland
http://www.dzieciholocaustu.org.pl
23 and 24 March, 2006
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The ceremony of presenting the Irena Sendler Award to the winners from Poland and the USA took place 23 and 24 of March 2006.
In 2006 there was an exception, it was Irena Sendler herself who chose the award-winners. As of 2007, two boards of judges, one in Poland and one in the USA, will give the award to the teachers.
Robert Szuchta (at left) and Norman Conard after receiving the Award from Irena Sendler. Irena asked them to be unremitting in their efforts: humanity still hasn't learned the lessons of the Holocaust. We still have wars: tribal, racial, and national. The spectre of xenophobia is still a menace. |
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In the ceremonial rooms of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the director Pawel Dobrowoski directed the honors. |
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Present were the official guests, representatives of embassies, Jewish circles, journalists, and friends of the award-winners. Irena Sendler is talking from the screen to those present. She says that even today repairing the world is hard work. |
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Minister Anna Fotyga, underlines two strands in Irena Sendler's life: she thought not only about saving life, but also about saving the identity of Ghetto children, and moreover she ascribes a great importance to upbringing, because hatred of others is a constant companion even in our time. |
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The chair of the Association, Elzbieta Ficowska, reminds the audience about the origins of the Award, and presents the award-winners and their work. |
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"I started to teach, and so I touched the future", says the award-winner from the USA, Norman Conard, quoting the American saying. He says that he is lucky to work in the most wonderful of all occupations. And the more he visits Poland, the more he learns to love this country and the more he can appreciate Irena Sendler: "A Polish Catholic, who saved Jewish children, and my American Protestants are telling about her!" |
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The Polish award-winner, Robert Szuchta, tells about his work with young people. The dominant theme of his speech was, however, something else: one of the participants of a recent project of the Association "Children of the Holocaust", a teacher of the Polish language from Bialystok, was viciously attacked on a neo-fascist internet page. "This woman teaches young people with the utmost dedication about the multicultural heritage of Poland. And she is persecuted for the same thing that you are giving me the award for today. Many people protested. Voices of indignation were heard from the outside world. I feel bad about this - it upsets me. I often remind my pupils of the idea of Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, that a person who is passive in the face of evil is its co-perpetrator." |
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Marek Edelman, came for today's ceremony directly from Irena Sendler. She is sad. She said to him: "The ghosts are returning. There is so much hatred and xenophobia about. What can we do?" He answered: "Teach and educate in the first place, but also shout loudly. And fight. Do not allow cowards, who are hiding in the corners today, to acquire strength. Force the authorities on every level to prosecute and punish these criminals. I dream that the winner of the Irena Sendler Award next year will be none other than this persecuted teacher from Bialystok." |
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Renata Skotnicka - Zajdman read the congratulatory letter from the chair of the World Federation of Associations "Children of the Holocaust", Stefania Seltzer: "You are the new generation of the Righteous Among the Nations - you are our brothers and sisters." |
Criteria:
**teacher in the country of the award
**innovative and educational practices in teaching Holocaust education
**must teach in the 'spirit' of Irena Sendler- respecting all peoples, regardless of race, religion or creed.
**must be exceptionally skilled, dedicated, and an inspiration to students of all backgrounds.
**must have at least five years in a teaching career
**must plan to continue in an active teaching status
**for the U.S. award, must be an elementary or secondary teacher
**must send in two letters of reference
**must send in no more than two pages detailing work in teaching the Holocaust
The application deadline for the 2009 award is September 1, 2008.
Irena Sendler Award for Holocaust Education
Name_________________________________________________
Title___________________________________
School______________________________________________________
Address____________________________________________________________
Telephone (____)__________________ Email_________________________________
Home Address
__________________________________________________________________
Home Telephone (____)_________________ FAX (____)_________________
E-mail ______________________________
Signature___________________________________________________________ Date ____________________
Name of Nominator______________________________________________________
(or yourself is self nominated)
Address ___________________________________________________________________________________________
Telephone (____)__________________ FAX (____)__________________ E-mail _________________________________
Relationship to Nominee ______________________________________________________________________________
(no signature required if self nominated) Signature_________________________________________________________________ Date ____________________
Send your original application and supporting materials with two (2) copies to:
Life in a Jar Foundation
The Irena Sendler Award
610 Meadow Lane
Fort Scott, KS 66701
Completed applications must be received by February 1, 2009.
Questions? Please visit our website at www.irenasendler.org
or e-mail nconard@terraworld.net
A $10,000 cash award will be given to a teacher in the United States and a teacher in Poland.
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