13-02-26 Results of the student short film (Video) competition on the theme “The Holocaust in the Collective Memory of the Greeks”, School Year 2025–2026

Following the completion of the evaluation process by the competent committee, the results of the student short film (video) competition on the theme “The Holocaust in the Collective Memory of the Greeks” for the 2025–2026 school year were announced.

The winners and honorees in the competition, which is being held for the 12th consecutive year by the General Secretariat for Religious Affairs of the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, in collaboration with the Jewish Museum of Greece, will participate in a special educational program of the Jewish Museum of Greece, which includes an educational visit to the “Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum” in Poland. For the 2025–2026 school year, the student short film competition was held, for the second time, simultaneously in Cyprus, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth of Cyprus, based on the Memorandum of February 27, 2024 between the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports (General Secretariat for Religious Affairs) of the Hellenic Republic, the Church of Greece, the Central Jewish Council in Greece, the Jewish Museum of Greece, the Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth of the Republic of Cyprus, and the Church of Cyprus.

For schools in Greece, five (5) Awards and twenty-one (21) Honorary Mentions are awarded, as follows:

AWARDS

1. 4th General High School of Karditsa-“Karditsa That Did Not Betray”
2. 1st General High School of Pylaia-“Sam Koen”
3. 2nd General High School of Thermaikos-“Never again: a journey of memory”
4. 2nd Model General High School of Thessaloniki-White Tower-“ Traces of memory: Discovering Jewish Thessaloniki”
5. 2nd General High School of Thermaikos-“The Empty Desk”

HONORARY MENTIONS

1. Mantoulides Schools-“My existence marked for life”
2. 6th General High School of Glyfada-“Rena The Greek: The Weight of Identity”
3. 4th Experimental General High School of Trikala - Alexandros Papadiamantis-“Testimonies of a Silent Homeland”
4. Magoulas General High School-“Hidden to Survive”
5. 2nd General High School of Pylaia-“Ena, the little girl they called Rina”
6. Mantoulides Schools-“On the lost train”
7. 5th General High School of Halandri-“Don’t get on the train”
8. 7th General High School of Thessaloniki-“So we may remember”
9. 2nd General High School of Thermaikos-“Buried memories”
10. 6th General High School of Glyfada-“Selection of Life”
11. 5th General High School of Halandri-“A memory that never fades”
12. 6th General High School of Glyfada-“They call me Rinet”
13. 2nd General High School of Argyroupoli-“A journey with no return”
14. 7th General High School of Thessaloniki-“Trains with no return”
15. 7th General High School of Thessaloniki-“The city that forgets to remember”
16. 28th General High School of Thessaloniki-“From glory to ruin. The Jews of Thessaloniki and Krakow”
17. 2nd General High School of Thermaikos-“When silence becomes complicity’
18. 2nd General High School of Argyroupoli-“Life in the camp”
19. General High School of Magoula-“Like a frayed fabric”
20. 5th General High School of Halandri-“Shadows and Hope”
21. 6th General High School of Glyfada-“Life between fear and hope”

During the 2025–2026 school year, forty-one (41) valid entries were submitted by seventeen (17) schools, from the Regional Directorates of Education of Attica, Central Macedonia, Central Greece, and Thessaly, specifically, from the Secondary Education Directorates of B’ Athens, D’ Athens, East Attica, West Attica, East Thessaloniki, Phthiotis, Karditsa, and Trikala.

For schools in Cyprus, the results of the competition are as follows:

AWARD (1^st prize is awarded equally to the following videos)

1. Kykkos High School II (Nicosia)-“A story of the Holocaust”
2. Xenion High School (Famagusta)-“Unfading memory-Burdened Ashes”

HONORARY MENTIONS

1. Vergina High School (Larnaca)-“The Holocaust: Indelible Memories”
2. Apeiteio Junior High School of Agros (Limassol)-“The Holocaust of the Jews. The Silent Horror of History”
3. Agios Spyridonas High School (Limassol)-“Final Stop”

The General Secretariat for Religious Affairs would like to warmly thank and congratulate all participants for the remarkable and interesting projects they presented and to emphasize that everyone’s efforts are commendable.