By Jerry Klinger
HURLEY, Wisconsin — One thousand daffodils are blooming in front of the Iron County Historical Museum here. The daffodils were planted last fall, an effort of community and commonality by the Iron County Historical Society, the Range Master Gardeners, the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, and friends.
The daffodils, part of the Worldwide Daffodil Project, are a worldwide Living Holocaust memorial. 1.1 million daffodils have been planted to date. The shape and color of the daffodils represent the yellow stars that Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust. Yellow is the color of remembrance. Daffodils are resilient, returning with a burst of color each spring, and represent hope for the future.
The project’s goal is to plant 1.5 million Daffodils in memory of the 1.5 million Jewish children who perished in the Holocaust. Seeing the flowers anew every spring reminds us that innocent children continue to be victimized by adult hatred, ignorance, and prejudice globally.
For the past year plus, the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation has been working with the Iron County Historical Society to place a roadside marker honoring Leon Lewis. Lewis was born in Hurley. His family was Jewish. Lewis grew up to become the head of Southern California’s Anti-Defamation League in the 1930s.
To his horror, Los Angeles, where Lewis was based out of, was a seething cauldron of antisemitism and horrifying pro-Nazism. When no one in would do anything to fight the hatred, Lewis organized a secret network of American-German infiltrators to join the flourishing Southern California Nazi movement. The network uncovered conspiracies to kill prominent Jews, steal weapons from armories and set the stage for a Nazi takeover of Southern California. It was the Nazi vision to subvert and destroy America from within. Lewis used his Washington FBI contacts to stop the Nazis.
There has never been a marker to Lewis. JASHP approached Los Angeles, the ADL, the Holocaust Museum in L.A., and Hurley to gift them a marker to honor Lewis. Only Hurley, today a small town in the upper reaches of Wisconsin’s Gogebic Iron Ore Range, embraced the importance of memory and message.
A marker honoring Lewis and recognizing the contributions of the Jewish community of upper Wisconsin will be dedicated in Hurley on August 20, 2025.
JASHP has planted daffodil gardens in Maryland, Utah, and North Dakota, with more being prepared in Nevada, New York, Georgia, and California. Hurley was asked if it would like a JASHP-funded Daffodil Garden.
Hurley embraced the idea. A stone marker was sited in front of the Iron County Historical Museum, where the bulbs were planted by Hurley’s Range Master Gardeners Society. A plaque was affixed to the stone marker based on the text used by JASHP’s global Anne Frank Children’s Human Rights Memorials.
“Children are the innocent victims of adult hatred, ignorance, and bigotry. During the Holocaust, 1939-1945, 1.5 million Jewish children were murdered. No child should ever be a victim again.
“How can a person not be moved by compassion…and above all, how can anyone who remembers remain silent?” Elie Wiesel”
All that remained was to wait for the late spring. Because of the extreme northern American climate, a late-blooming bulb was selected for Hurley.
Last week, the Daffodils bloomed with an ocean of yellow flowers that graced the long frontage of the Iron County Historical Society grounds.
Kristen Kolesar, JASHP’s primary contact in Hurley, wrote to us.
“Here are a couple of photos of the museum volunteers in front of the daffodils, taken today. I’m in the yellow.
I also wanted to share that the third graders took a field trip to the museum. We were able to get a whole class photo in the daffodils. I wish I could send it, but I can’t since they are minors. It was so touching to see the children from Hurley by the daffodils planted in memory of the innocent child victims of the Holocaust. I heard wonderful feedback from the parents about the memorial stone and the meaning behind the project. It’s nice to have such great community support!”
America is once again reeling with antisemitism, shamefully seething from many of our elite liberal centers of learning and Ivy League Schools. Jews and Jewish complacency, comfort, and belief in America have moved from comfort to shock and even fear. Jews question their place as they try to confront their mistaken assumptions about who supports them and who do not.
Frequently, too frequently, a stereotyped myth misdirects the Jewish mind, that antisemitism, intolerance, hatred, ignorance, and bigotry are endemic to Fly-Over Country, small-town life, and the deep South.
It is not.
Prejudice can exist everywhere.
At the same time, hope and belief in a better America, for everyone, can and does exist, everywhere.
Little Hurley, Wisconsin, is proof.
*
Jerry Klinger is the President of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation.