The Garden of the Righteous Gentiles

The Garden of the Righteous Gentiles. . This Garden of the Righteous Gentiles was the first of its kind in North America to honor Christians who saved the lives of Jewish men, women, and children, during the Holocaust. Christians honored here are among the many heroes of human history. They risked their lives and the lives of their loved ones to save Jews from certain death. By their actions, these unsung heroes proved that love and decency could flourish amidst unthinkable brutality. By paying homage to those whose morality transcended the evil of genocide, we restore our faith in humankind for future generations.

The concept for this Garden in Delaware originated with the late Halina Wind Preston. As a young woman barely in her twenties, Halina Wind (Preston) was hidden from the Nazis for 14 months in a sewer in Lvov, Poland, by two Catholic sewer workers, Leopold Socha and Stefen Wroblewski. Until her death at age 60, in 1982, Halina dedicated her life, after the war, to keeping alive the memory of the Six Million Jews slaughtered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust. After Mrs. Preston's death, the Holocaust Education Committee she founded was renamed in her honor. The Committee's first task was to formally dedicate this Garden of the Righteous Gentiles.

"The trees, planted in honor or memory of those valiant Christians who saved Jewish lives during the Nazi era, will remain - we trust-an eternal symbol of unity between Jew and Gentile, then, now and for all time." -Halina Wind Preston, 1981

The tree planting ceremony was held on November 16, 1981. Individual bronze plaques embedded alongside the base of the trees, bear the names of rescuers, nine of whom saved Jews who later came to reside in Delaware. One Christian couple, Ger and Gerard van Raan, honored in the Garden for their heroic efforts in Holland, also immigrated to Delaware.

Wilmington garden designer Robert Grenfell was chosen to design the original Garden and did so pro bono. Grenfell designed the original entry paving and planting as the spot to proclaim the Garden's purpose and to create a transition from the busy environment surrounding the Garden's interior. Grenfell and stone mason Gabriel Gonzales subsequently created the semi-circular entrance backed by a low, serpentine wall bearing the message, "THIS GARDEN HONORS RIGHTEOUS GENTILES WHO SAVED JEWISH LIVES DURING THE NAZI HOLOCAUST 1933 1945. The same lettering from the original monument was saved, refinished, and reinstalled on the new entry in 1983. Robert Grenfell dedicated his efforts in creating the new entrance to the memories of dear friends and extraordinary women Doris Morris and Harriet Wolfson.

The Garden was publicly dedicated on December 11, 1983. Methodist theologian and Holocaust scholar, Dr. Franklin H. Littell was the featured speaker and the refurbished entrance was unveiled.

On April 7, 2013, a ceremony was held, and two new trees were planted. One tree was to pay tribute to the Artis Amsterdam Zoo where Holocaust survivor, Francisca Verdoner Kan, was hidden. The other was for Andrée and Suzanne Romain, who saved the life of Charles Rojer.

At the center of the Garden, now stands the 6-foot tall bronze sculpture that features a figure holding a child standing next to a shorter figure, representing the child victims of the Holocaust. The sculpture was created by Israeli artist Aharon Bezalel and was cast from two of thirteen figures comprising his work The Last Kaddish that stands at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem (The World Holocaust Remembrance Center). The idea of a memorial to the estimated 1.5 million child victims of the Holocaust originated with Wilmington resident Dorothy Krause Finger, herself a child survivor of the Holocaust.