On Thursday, September 25, Seton Hill University and the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education hosted a dedication and blessing ceremony for the Anne Frank tree on campus.

“We are honored to have a tree here on Seton Hill's campus that represents our university's dedication to Holocaust education and Catholic-Jewish relations,” says Dr. Mary Finger, President of Seton Hill University.

“We are honored to have a tree here on Seton Hill's campus that represents our university's dedication to Holocaust education and Catholic-Jewish relations,” says Dr. Mary Finger, President of Seton Hill University.

The tree was propagated from the original horse chestnut tree that Anne Frank gazed upon from her attic window in Amsterdam. It was donated by the Anne Frank Center USA as part of The Sapling Project. This project is dedicated to preserving the hope that the original tree represented and to celebrating the life of the girl who admired it. The sapling on Seton Hill University’s campus was planted in May outside of DeChantal Hall.

Representatives from the Anne Frank Center USA attended the event, underscoring the Center’s unique role as the only organization in the world that continues to propagate and share new generations of Anne Frank’s beloved tree.

Dr. James Paharik is the director of the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education. “Once the Anne Frank House realized the tree was declining, they collected seedlings and a number of saplings from the tree and we’re fortunate to have gotten one of them,” he said in an interview with WPXI Channel 11.

With the planting, Seton Hill joined a distinguished list of sites that have received saplings from the Center over the past 15 years. Other sites include the U.S. Capitol and United Nations headquarters.