Child Holocaust Victims To Be Memorialized With Garden In Cherry Hill

CHERRY HILL, NJ — Organizers and officials will unveil a Cherry Hill garden Tuesday that will memorialize the 1.5 million children killed during the Holocaust, while bringing attention to modern-day antisemitism.

The unveiling ceremony will take place at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Katz Jewish Community Center (1301 Springdale Rd., Cherry Hill). Local and county officials will join representatives from Jewish and Holocaust-remembrance organizations.

The initiative began last fall with the planting of 500 daffodil bulbs, which have now bloomed, outside the Katz JCC. The garden symbolized the 1.5 million children, nearly all Jewish, who the Nazi regime killed.

"This beautiful garden will bloom each spring and each year we will be reminded of those precious and innocent lives lost during the Holocaust," said Camden County Commissioner Melinda Kane. "It will serve as a reminder that we must never repeat history. There has been an unfortunate rise in antisemitic incidents here in New Jersey which we will not stand for and memorials such as this stand firm as a symbol against bigotry and hatred."

The unveiling comes on the heels of the Anti-Defamation League's report documenting 3,697 antisemitic incidents across the nation last year — 36 higher than 2021's total and the highest count since the ADL began keeping records in 1979.

Meanwhile, several attacks and threats against Jewish people and institutions in New Jersey have made headlines, including a threat to attack synagogues from a teen influenced by the Islamic State (ISIS) and white supremacists, a suspect hurling a Molotov cocktail toward a temple, and the online circulation of a "National Day of Hate."

New Jersey is also home to one of the deadliest antisemitic attacks in recent U.S. history — the 2019 mass shooting targeting a Jewish grocery store in Jersey City. Five people were killed, including both gunmen, during the attack. The assailants also killed Det. Joseph Seals, a Jersey City police officer, at a nearby cemetery.

The Daffodil Project is a worldwide initiative aimed at building a Living Holocaust Memorial by planting 1.5 million daffodils. The flowers represent the memory of the 1.5 children killed and show support for children suffering humanitarian crises around the world today.

Tuesday's ceremony attendees will include Kane, County Commissioner Ed McDonnell, Cherry Hill Mayor Susan Shin Angulo and Cherry Hill Superintedent Dr. Joseph Meloche. The local officials will join leaders from Jewish Family and Children Services and the Esther Raab Holocaust Museum & Goodwin Education Center.