The Daffodil Project

Congregation Bet Haverim partnered with the Grant Park Conservancy to establish a daffodil garden as part of The Daffodil Project in 2021.  The Daffodil Project is a living Holocaust memorial seeking to plant 1.5 million daffodils in memory of the children who perished in the Holocaust and in support for children suffering in humanitarian crises in the world today.  Daffodils were chosen because they resemble the yellow stars that Jewish people had to wear during the Holocaust.

On November 14, 2021, CBH held a groundbreaking/dedication ceremony and planted 2000 daffodils at the garden site in the southwest corner of Grant Park at Erskine Fountain.  CBH Community School children in grades 4 through 7 and their families, as well as members of the broader CBH Community, participated in the planting. 

• Article in Porch Press (neighborhood paper) about initial planting

The CBH Community School children returned to the garden site on March  March 20, 2022 to celebrate the initial blooming of the daffodils.   In the Fall of 2023, CBH members planted about 1500 additional daffodils spread across the original daffodil garden location, the CBH building's front yard, and mini-daffodil gardens at members' homes. 

• Article in AJC about March 2022 event.

An additional 500 daffodil bulbs were planted on November 12, 2022, and a celebration of the second annual blooming of the daffodils was held on March 19, 2023.  In the Fall of 2023, CBH members planted about 1500 additional daffodils spread across the original garden location, the CBH building's front yard, and mini-daffodil gardens at members' homes. 

The goals/purpose for CBH's Daffodil Garden are to 1) Commemorate the children lost in the Holocaust and support children suffering in humanitarian crises in the world today; 2) Educate children and the wider community about the Holocaust, anti-semitism, and how to combat hate; 3) Create and Innovate by using the site as a springboard for further action.

Grant Park was selected as the site for the Garden because of the history of Jews in this area of Atlanta. Jews first settled in Atlanta downtown in the 1840s and in 1860 the initial lots for Jewish burial grounds were acquired at nearby Oakland Cemetery. Jews lived in Summerhill where freed African-American slaves also resided.  Georgia Avenue was a thriving commercial street with many Jewish owned businesses.  Leo Frank was arrested for the murder of Mary Phagan from his home in the Summerhill area in 1913 and was lynched in 1915 after his death sentence was commuted.  Congregation Bet Haverim is honored and excited to be part of restoring a Jewish presence to the original Jewish neighborhood of Atlanta.  It is especially meaningful that we dedicated this garden in 2021, the year that Georgia elected an African-American and a Jew from Southeast Atlanta neighborhoods to be our U.S. Senators.  

Future plans for the garden include development of interpretive signage about the Daffodil Project and the history of Jews in Southeast Atlanta, occasional plantings of additional daffodils at the site, and commemorations and educational programming, particularly when the daffodils are blooming.