Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach Awards Two Scholarships for Outstanding Research on Jewish Resistance
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach Awards Two Scholarships for Outstanding Research on Jewish Resistance
Miami Beach, FL — May 4, 2026 — The Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach is proud to announce the recipients of the Fruma and Murray Berger Scholarship in Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust, a $2,500 award given annually recognizing outstanding student research in this critical field of study.
Due to the exceptional quality of submissions this year, the Memorial has elected to award not one but two scholarships.
The 2026 recipients are:
- Katherine Kloberdanz, a graduate student at Arizona State University, whose research examines Jewish participation in the Free France Resistance Movement
- Alex Scheepens, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, for his paper “Between Vulnerability and Resistance: Jewish Women Hiding in the Nazi-Occupied Netherlands, 1940–1945”
Both papers explore underrepresented dimensions of Jewish resistance and contribute meaningfully to ongoing scholarship in Holocaust studies.
“The strength of this year’s submissions was extraordinary,” said Sheri Zvi, CEO of the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach. “Both recipients demonstrated exceptional scholarship and brought attention to important and often overlooked aspects of Jewish resistance. We are proud to support their work and their future contributions to the field.”
The Fruma and Murray Berger Scholarship was established to encourage original research that examines the many forms of Jewish resistance — spiritual, cultural, and armed — during the Holocaust. The scholarship is open to undergraduate and graduate students who submit original work, including scholarly essays, plays, or novellas.
Ralph S. Berger, co-editor of With Courage Shall We Fight, a book that contains the memoirs and poetry of his parents, Holocaust resistance fighters Frances “Fruma” Gulkowich Berger and Murray Berger, said that his parents “were adamant” about Holocaust education. “They wanted the world to know that when they could, Jews fought back, both physically and spiritually. My parents never stopped engaging in Holocaust education. With this scholarship my family and I seek to honor them and others like them and to further their mission”.
By supporting emerging scholars, the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach seeks to deepen understanding of Jewish resistance and ensure that these stories continue to be researched, documented, and shared.
For more information about the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, please visit: holocaustmemorialmiamibeach.org.