On a brisk and sunny morning last November, about 20 students gathered at the Hillel House on Hilyard Street. Hillel is an international organization that supports Jewish students across college campuses. Disney musical songs blasted from a speaker as students removed debris and weeds from the ground by the millrace. The students were preparing the land for the following day’s planting of 250 daffodils. While the planting beautified the plot of land, it had a greater purpose: to commemorate the loss of 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust.
The planting on Hilyard Street was part of an international initiative — the Daffodil Project. This project aims to create a living memorial by planting 1.5 million daffodils around the world. To date, 861,000 daffodils have been planted in 469 locations.
“I think there’s something really amazing that a group of students took a day off their weekend to come and clear out the land so that flowers can be planted in honor of Holocaust victims,” Lili Azen, a member of Hillel, said.
The project was founded by Andrea Videlefsky in 2010. She wanted to educate young people about the Holocaust because she believes children are often the most vulnerable when disasters occur and require the most support.
“I was looking for a project to involve the younger generation,” Videlefsky said. “I really wanted to try and inspire the next generation.”
Videlefsky was contemplating how to best accomplish her goal. As she explored different ideas, she came across the daffodil. Its shape and color reminded her of the yellow star of David forced upon the Jewish people during the Holocaust. Videlefsky said daffodils are also a representation of resilience. They survive harsh winters and bloom again each spring. The daffodil became the inspiration for the project.
“They usually just bloom for a short period of time, kind of like the life of the children,” Videlefsky said. “Very short, but also very beautiful.”
Hillel is one of four locations in Oregon that joined the Daffodil Project this year. Ronda Dietrick, a Eugene resident, was researching daffodils on the internet when she stumbled across the Daffodil Project. She was inspired to join the initiative and was amazed that no planting events had occurred in Oregon.
Dietrick, a fifth generation Oregonian, is not Jewish herself. She spent many years working as a nurse and volunteered in Kenya in 1998 where she saw the consequences of the AIDS epidemic. Seeing the devastation children face around the world is a particular reason for why she wanted to work on initiatives such as the Daffodil Project.
“I see the impact it has on children, and it just really gets to my heart,” Dietrick said. “We need to straighten up and start getting our act together and be kinder to one another.”
With an Anti-Defamation League study finding that about 85% of Americans believe in at least one antisemitic trope, a rise of 24% from 2019, projects such as the Daffodil Project may be more important than ever. Through learning from the past people can recognize dangerous patterns and warning signs which may help to prevent the Holocaust from repeating itself.
The Daffodil Project provides interested organizations with 250 bulbs and a plaque detailing the project’s mission. Participants agree to plant the bulbs, and an additional 250 bulbs the following year. The additional bulbs and planting supplies are not provided by the Daffodil Project. In Oregon, Dietrick covered these additional costs in hopes of making organizations more likely to join.
Dietrick felt it wouldn’t be right to bring the project to Oregon without having the Jewish community involved. For this particular reason, she collaborated with Oregon Hillel. However, she also sees meaning in cross-cultural work. Beyond Hillel, she partnered with the Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene, North Eugene High School and Inspiration Garden in Independence, Oregon.
“The flowers are all the same, but everyone’s thoughts, principles and thinking would be all for good causes, but different causes,” Dietrick said.
The Unitarian Church in Eugene includes people from a variety of faiths. Sigrid Reinhardt, a member of the church, said talking to people from differing beliefs can have a positive impact. She felt a responsibility to be involved in the project to ensure the Holocaust is not forgotten.
“They say it can’t happen again, but I think it could because people are even more divided than ever here in our own nation,” Reinhardt said. “And it just seems like, ‘Haven’t we learned anything yet?’”
The church decided to bridge its planting event with its Trans Day of Remembrance event. Children attending Sunday school spent the morning learning about the trans community and the afternoon planting daffodils. Reinhardt said bridging the two events would symbolize that every child, no matter their race, religion or identity is deserving of life and dignity.
“One thing that’s a big focus right now is educating ourselves as white people,” Reinhardt said. “To try to… find our place in the world and understand our place.”
After being approached by Dietrick, the National Honor Society at North Eugene High School also joined the Daffodil Project. It was part of the students’ community service initiative. In the process, they faced several hurdles, the biggest of which was finding the right location.
Several students wanted to plant the flowers at their new campus, opening next year. Due to construction this was not a possibility. Students also wanted to bring the project to Emerald Park, however the park declined.
After several months, Kelly Middle School approved to house the project. While this was not their original plan, Marques Perez and Zoey Nye, two of the student directors of NHS, were delighted to have the flowers planted at their old middle school. Nye felt that it is a teaching opportunity for younger students.
“It’s [a] memorial. It’s remembrance. And it’s appreciating where we have come,” Nye said. “And I think that’s the most important thing, to show the lives that were affected.”
Jewish people make up about 2% of the population in the United States, according to Pew Research Center. They cannot, alone, fight against antisemitism. They require the support of others.
“[The Daffodil Project is] not just about Jews dying again. It’s not just about genocide,” Andy Gitelson, executive director at Oregon Hillel, said. “[It’s] a reminder as to why this is an important lesson for all communities to understand…especially at a time when there’s a heightened sense of nationalism that’s happening broadly around the world.”
By commemorating those who perished, the Daffodil Project aims to educate the community.
Jonah Kaplan, a member of Hillel believes that memory is a core aspect of Judaism. They say that it is important to remember tragedies and the events that led up to them.
“Other cultures don’t have the same insistence on memory that ours does,” Kaplan said. “And we have that insistence for a reason. We have that insistence because it helps us remember the lessons of our past.”
The Daffodil Project doesn’t only commemorate those who perished but supports Holocaust survivors and includes works to aid children facing humanitarian crises. Through various programming and fundraisers, the project provided relief for children in South Sudan and Rwanda and Ukrainian refugees.
“This really is a collective effort,” Videlefsky said. “[It] unites us and each side to participate and teach our kids common sense in action.”
For Gitelson, this bridging of backgrounds toward a common goal is inspiring. He was delighted to hear about the project from a non-Jewish member in the community.
“This is really special, in that [Dietrick] and her husband really saw the value of this and saw an opportunity to engage the Jewish community in this,” Gitelson said.
The involvement of Dietrick, Reinhardt and the students from North Eugene High School may be a sign of hope — that people from different backgrounds and beliefs can come together for a common goal. The 1,000 daffodils planted in Oregon this year commemorate 1,000 of the children who died in the Holocaust. They also represent resilience and a communal effort to work towards a better society.
“I want [the Daffodil Project] to bring the importance of Jewish history more to the forefront of people’s minds,” Azen said. “When you walk by and you see all these blooming flowers, you maybe take a moment to stand in solidarity with the lives lost.”
