Anne Frank Tree
Planted in the Peace Garden at the Seattle Center
Here in the United States, the Sapling Project brought eleven precious trees to specially selected locations across the country. The Holocaust Center for Humanity is honored to have been selected to receive one of these saplings.
After years of special care from Seattle Parks and Recreation, the Anne Frank Tree was planted in the Seattle Center Peace Garden and dedicated to the city of Seattle on May 1, 2016.
“Our chestnut tree is in full bloom. It’s covered in leaves and is even more beautiful than last year.”
– Anne Frank, May 13, 1944
Planting the Tree
May 1, 2016
During the two years Anne Frank spent in the Secret Annex, the solace she found in her chestnut tree provided a powerful contrast to the Holocaust unfolding beyond her attic window. And as war narrowed in on Anne and her family, her tree became a vivid reminder that a better world was possible.
Anne’s tree would outlive its namesake by more than 50 years, before being weakened by disease and succumbing to a windstorm in 2010. But today, thanks to dozens of saplings propagated in the months before its death, Anne’s tree lives on in cities and towns around the world.
“The two of us looked at the blue sky, the bare chestnut tree glistening with dew, the seagulls and other birds glinting with silver as they swooped through the air, and we were so moved and entranced that we couldn’t speak.”
– Anne Frank, February 23, 1944
