Congratulations to our creative writing competition winners:

S1
Winner – Easham Manzar
Runner Up -Diarmaid Leahy

S2
Winner – Lily Collins
Runner Up -Holly Edgar

S3
Winner – Amy Harte
Runner Up – Emma Murphy

Excerpts from the winning entries:

S1 Winner

To Amy,
If I had known, known that coming into this world as a Tutsi was such a crime, then I would have wished I were never born. If I had known, Known that coming into Rwanda would cause such a war, and then I would have wished I had never came. If I would have known, known that the village where my home was would turn into a graveyard, then I would have never considered it a home. If I would have known, known that I would see my family get killed right in front of my eyes, then I would have wished that it wouldn’t have hurt as much as it did. If I had known, known that I would hear the screams of pain, then I would have wished that it wouldn’t play in my head whenever there was a silence. If I had known, known that the cause of death of millions of lives were because they were a certain race then would have wished that I could stand up for us Tutsis. If I had known, known that all this would happen then I would have wished that racism and hatred was never a thing, if only I had known,
Yours sincerely
Easham, xxx

S2 Winner

“It was 1944 in Germany, Adolf Hitler was Führer – you were only 4 or 5 years old at the time. Your father was a politician who had been arrested for being a traitor, and the soldiers continued their search for the rest of your family -simply for being Jewish. Your family -you, your mum and brother -were in hiding to avoid the terrible fate of being moved to concentration camps.

One night Nazi soldiers captured your family and were taken to a train where hundreds of German Jewish citizens were forced to board. Your mother held you and your brother so tightly and close to herself -scared to let go. When you finally reached the camp and left the train, you had your hair shaved, males and females were separated and were all given a striped uniform. The smell of burning was unforgettable and the screams and cries in the distance sent cold shivers through the new arrivals.

The group of females were surrounded by guards but there was a gap that you could just fit through without being noticed. So, your mum told you to run as far and as fast as you could – not stopping, not looking back until you reached the Red Cross and could tell them you needed a new family.”

S3 Winner

Dearest Anna,
I am writing to thank you. Thank you for the times you shared with me in that hell. Although these words may mean so much to you they mean the world to me. When I think of how you kept me alive, I cry. I cry not out of sorrow or out of hatred for what the Nazis did to us but for the love and joy I feel knowing that you, my best friend, gave me a life worth fighting for. I do not want these memories of the camp filled with horror, sorrow and disgust. I want us to remember how we found friendship in the most unlikely of places. Although we shall not be around forever, we must keep the memory alive because if we so not all that suffering will be for nothing. Pass it on through the generations. Write these letters and let the world continue to remember what awful sufferings we encountered so it will never happen again. Pass it on to the children like Miriam, my sweet Miriam, who you Anna, you saved with your kindness and sacrifice; when you starved to save my poor child although yours was gone. Keep it alive. No matter what happens we should never let these memories slip away. I’m missing you dearly but we will meet again soon,
Sending lots of love, kind wishes and gratitude from Berlin,
Isabelle and Miriam x