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Schuldiner, Aaron "Max" Holocaust Essay Award

This award, originally established in 2012 and revised in February 2017, was established in memory of Aaron "Max" Schuldiner, a holocaust survivor.  Max was born in Poland in 1920.  In 1939, when the Nazis invaded Poland, he, his parents and siblings were among the Jews who fled eastward, across the border to Russia.  From there they were shipped to western Siberia, where Max worked in a labor camp.  

While in Russia, Max met another Jewish refugee, Toby Bier, who became his wife.  After the war, the couple returned westward to Germany, where Max worked as a guard in a displaced persons camp, and they welcomed two sons, Michael and Stanley.  In 1950, Max and his family came to the United States, where another son, Philip, was born.  Max Schuldiner died in 2008.  This award is given in memory of the many gifts his life gave to those who loved him.  The Aaron "Max" Schuldiner Holocaust Essay Award honors those who did not survive the Holocaust.

The Aaron "Max" Schuldiner Holocaust Essay Award will award $300 per year to a full-time University of Akron student who submits the winning essay about the Holocaust.  Submissions will be judged annually in March and April by a panel of three judges: two University of Akron English Department faculty members selected by the donor, and one member of ÐãÉ«¶ÌÊÓƵ Hillel Organization.  

In the absence of the donor, the two English Department judges will be selected by the individual(s) teaching Jewish Literature in the English Department at the University.  The due date for submissions will be as prescribed by the English Department for Departmental awards.  The award will be presented at the English Department's annual awards reception.  This award may be used by the student for any purpose he/she chooses.  If the judges deem no submission worthy of the award, an award will not be given that year.

At the discretion and approval of the donor, an additional $300 honorarium may be given to a Holocaust survivor or Holocaust scholar to come to ÐãÉ«¶ÌÊÓƵ and present a lecture.