On Tuesday, June 23, the Charles Gottlieb Prize ceremony was held at the Department Hotel in Nice. Secondary school students, teachers and elected officials gathered around this duty of remembrance.
A prize with a fundamental role
The Charles Gottlieb prize bears the name of an Auschwitz survivor who dedicated his life to bearing witness to young people. For 12 years, he accompanied numerous memorial trips, leaving a profound mark on generations of secondary school students. Before his death in 2015, he expressed the wish that this mission of transmission would continue.
It is in this context that since 2003, the Memorial Plan allows eighth-grade students to discover the camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek and Sobibor in Poland, as well as Verdun, the beaches of the Normandy landings and the Caen Memorial.
This year again, 560 students made these trips.
Natacha Chicot, rector of the Nice academy, recalled the urgency of this approach in the current context: “Going to Auschwitz, to the Verdun Ossuary or to the beaches of the Normandy landings is to understand, as a citizen, that democracy and its values are never permanently acquired.“
A prize ceremony under emotion
In a solemn setting, the Charles Gottlieb Prize was presented around 5 p.m. The objective was to reward the best restitutions from the memorial trips organized by the Department of Alpes-Maritimes. An evening filled with emotion carried by young people deeply involved.
Charles Ange Ginésy, President of the Department, opened the ceremony by greeting all participants, including the students.
Alongside him, Gaëlle Frontoni, Vice-President in charge of remembrance, and Joëlle Arini, Vice-President in charge of education, presented the awards throughout the evening.
Winners of the Words of History, Words of Hope Prize
To enhance the work produced following the trips, the department also created the “Words of History, Words of Hope” prize, which recognizes the most remarkable restitutions, from films to websites.
Third prize went to Emile Roux secondary school, for a website retracing a trip, enriched with archives and family testimonies. Second prize was awarded to L’Archet secondary school for its film “A Day’s Memory, A Memory Forever,” dedicated to the Berlin trip. “Our hearts were extremely moved by the personal stories you retraced,” praised a jury member.
First prize went to Notre-Dame de la Tramontane secondary school, for its three-panel fresco inspired by the Normandy trip: the first, dark, evokes the Occupation, the second, resistance until Liberation, the third, white, is dedicated to regained freedom. “It is a true painting, a beautiful work that deserves to continue to exist,” commented the jury.
The Grand Charles Gottlieb Prize
Third prize was dedicated to Jean Rostand secondary school for a slideshow “Auschwitz, A Journey in Images,” in the form of a journal, while second prize went to Gérard Philippe secondary school for its slideshows “Bearers of Memory, Journeys to Auschwitz.”
The grand prize of the evening was awarded to André Capron secondary school in Cannes for an interactive website created in tribute to the victims of the Holocaust. Combining written testimonies, poems, drawings, engravings and video, the website is organized around a map whose colors symbolize the emotions felt at each visited location.
The students wanted to thank their accompanying teachers: “We wanted to create this project in tribute to all the victims of the Holocaust who were deported and to the horrors they experienced.“
The ceremony concluded with a group photo bringing together all the awarded secondary schools and jury members, an image that speaks to the commitment of young people, standing, bearers of a history that must never die.
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