by Steffanie Lindgren ’10

Bethel freshman Sam Kampa

Bethel student Samuel Kampa received the top award from the national Holocaust Remembrance Project. His essay about why personal stories and firsthand encounters with the few remaining Holocaust survivors are important earned the $10,000 grand-prize Herman Chasnow Memorial Scholarship.

Kampa, a freshman from Cokato, Minn., described the scholarship as a blessing. Without the scholarship, organized by Holland and Knight law firm, it would have been difficult to afford college, said Kampa, who was a postsecondary student at Bethel during the 2008-09 school year.

Kampa’s award also included an all-expense-paid trip to the new Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Chicago. There, he met with nine other essay finalists; Holocaust survivors; Mark Hanis of the Genocide Intervention Network; Ava Schieber, a Holocaust survivor and painter; survivors of the Rwandan Genocide; politicians; and many more.

Kampa was 11 years old at the time of his first personal encounter with the Holocaust. He went with his parents to an interfaith Seder dinner at Temple Israel in Minneapolis and was immediately befriended by two elderly Jewish women. They got to know each other over a bowl of Matzah ball soup. Kampa and his parents soon discovered that they were sitting across the table from a Holocaust survivor.

“I met an authentic, tangible face from the Holocaust. I listened as she reiterated her experience firsthand, and I saw the tattoo that bore witness to her inconceivable oppression…I discovered that the Holocaust was not a distant, abstract occurrence that merely comprised yet another chapter in world history. Rather, the Holocaust forever transformed the actual lives of men, women, and children,” wrote Kampa in his essay.

In an interview, Kampa emphasized that the Holocaust and genocide are not just a 60-year-old concept. Genocide continued after the Holocaust and continues today in places like Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia, Turkey, and Darfur.

“Stories enhance our ability to prevent the spread of genocide, be it through overarching educational reforms or individual advocacy,” said Kampa.

On June 17, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., read excerpts of Kampa’s essay on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. She commented on Kampa’s essay:

“He reminds us of the need to continuously remember the tragedy and the events that led up to the disaster that ended the lives of millions of individuals and impacted so many more. I want to commend Mr. Kampa not only for his impressive accomplishment, but for his insightful thoughts into how our world can avoid another monumental catastrophe, such as the Holocaust.”