A work of remembrance, a work of love, members of the Senior Class from Saint Joseph High School planted crocus bulbs in the St. Joseph Memorial Garden as a perpetual memorial to the children who died during the Holocaust. Coordinated by Mr. David Widenhofer and Mrs. Anne Schratz, the crocus bulbs were donated by The Crocus Project to actively remember and creatively memorialize the Holocaust.
The project was inspired by the Holocaust Education Trust Ireland and the Holocaust Memorial Garden at Temple Emanuel in Mt. Lebanon, started by Pittsburgh area Holocaust survivor Marga Silbermann Randall (1930-2005). By planting crocus bulbs, students connect with Marga’s story and create something living to help others in their school and community connect with survivor stories. This project began in Ireland and has extended throughout the European Union. Given an invitation by the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh to apply, the school is among the first schools in the United States to be part of this project.
A memorial bulb was placed for each senior at Saint Joseph High School. The students have received four years of Holocaust education in Theology, English and History classes. The students watched a brief documentary about the remembrance garden created by Randall. They participated in planting the crocus bulbs in a location chosen by Maintenance Director David Pakulski.
The bulbs symbolize the Jewish children murdered in the Holocaust. All the bulbs are yellow, a reminder of the yellow badges that Jews were required to wear under Nazi persecution. Additional components of the project include a speaker, whose father was a Holocaust Survivor, to talk at the school in early April. The students will also complete a reflection project once the bulbs bloom in the spring.