Malibu High students inspired by Hungarian survivor’s story

Sarah Stipanowich, Jacob Kagon and Aaron Kagon, eighth-grade students at Malibu High School, were named the winners of Friedensmahnmal-Preis — which means Peace Memorial Award in German — an international Holocaust essay contest inspired by the story of Sandor Vandor, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor.

The students each won 100 euros for their essays, “A Glimmer of Hope,” “Making the World a Better Place One Person at a Time” and “The Ultimate Form of Tzedakah,” respectively.

Before submitting their essays, the students read “St. Anna Revisited,” an online book about Vandor’s life, following Vandor’s experience in forced labor camps in Austria and his 2005 reunion with a non-Jewish woman who, living in small Austrian village during the war, helped save Vandor’s life.