Brandenburg students shine with innovative projects on Jewish culture!

Brandenburg students shine with innovative projects on Jewish culture!

Rendsburg, Deutschland - On June 17, 2025, the student prices of the Leo Trepp Foundation were awarded, and the achievements of young talents from Brandenburg testify to an impressive commitment to Jewish history and culture. At a ceremony in the Jewish Museum in Rendsburg, the winners proudly accepted their awards. Among the participants were students of the Leonardo da Vinci Campus Nauen, who performed excellently for their creative projects on the subject of "Jewish pop culture".

Sophie Krause, Charis Opitz, Natalie Firoozan and Maya Elliger took first place with their game "Jewish cultural trip". This project aims to convey knowledge about Judaism in a playful way. The players: Inside, learning about Jewish symbols, films and the music of Leonard Cohen, which takes up the topic in a living and appealing way. Kai Ried, Felix Michel and Loreena Leimbach won second place with a media case about the composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold, whose works were largely ignored in the Third Reich despite their quality.

important contributions to the culture of remembrance

A total of four out of 32 submitted work came from Brandenburg, which underlines the excellent educational offers in the region. In his speech, Education Minister Steffen Freiberg emphasized the importance of memory of the crimes of National Socialism and emphasized that such competitions are necessary to sensitize young people to this important topic.

The Leo Trepp Foundation, founded in 2019, has set itself the task of promoting knowledge of Jewish life in Germany. Leo Trepp, who was a state rabbi in Oldenburg and was deported to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1938, was committed to the culture of remembrance throughout his life and advocated acting against anti -Semitism and human hatred. The student competition - a central element of the foundation - is aimed at pupils in grades 9 to 12 and offers a platform for creative projects that deal with Jewish history and culture.

a competition with perspective

The competition was launched on September 15, 2024, and the submissions are possible until February 28, 2025. Pupils can submit their projects in various formats, including podcasts, videos or comic books. You will receive support from the foundation, the aids and contacts to Israel. Patron Dr. H.C. Charlotte Knobloch and patron Dr. Felix Klein support this valuable contribution to education about Jewish life.

In a larger social context, it is necessary to critically question the perception of Jews in the German media. The discussion about stereotypical representations and clichés in reporting is more current than ever. Jews are often presented in stereotypical pictures, while the real diversity of their realities of life hardly comes into its own. The influence of German history on this perception cannot be denied and asks us all to reflect on our own language use and reporting. It is therefore encouraging that competitions such as the Leo Trepp School Prize are promoted to aware of these topics and that younger generations are encouraged to deal with Jewish culture.

For all interested parties, more information about the Leo Trepf Foundation and on future competitions on their [website] (https://www.bildung.sachsen.de/leo-trepp-schuelerpreis-2025-zum-thema-jued- popculture-4677.html) can be found. It is worth being there and becoming active yourself!