LA CROSSE, Wis. (WEAU) – Darryle Clott has spent the last 20 years bringing holocaust education to Viterbo University and surrounding schools in the La Crosse area, both through her own education and bringing in speakers who are Holocaust survivors.
Viterbo is honoring Clott’s work with a tree planting ceremony.
There are only so many of these in the world and so many in the united states.
The tree is a silver maple that was a portion of a tree that was originally planted by Jewish children in Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in 1943.
“We are being gifted one today and it’s huge because this goes directly back to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp out of Prague. It’s like a miracle that we’re being given this tree,” says Clott.
D.B. Reinhart Institute director Rick Kyte says Clott’s education has connected with many people in the area.
“Since 2005, we’ve had over 50,000 people come to the Fine Arts Center and hear direct testimony from survivors. We also wanted to have the survivors interact directly with high school and middle school teachers so that those teachers extend the testimony out to another generation,” says Kyte.
Clott says she began her Holocaust teachings because she wants everyone to understand what happens when people do not accept other people’s differences.
“We need to understand what happens if we don’t treat people equally. The Holocaust could never have happened without the bystanders. We all need to be upstanders. When we see injustice occur, we all need to step up and do something to stop it,” says Clott.
The tree was donated by Holocaust survivor Sam Harris and his wife.
According to the university, fewer than 200 of the 15,000 children incarcerated in Theresienstadt survived.