Tree-mendous! 80 oaks to mark 80th anniversary of Jewish refugee organisation’s founding

The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) will plant 80 oak trees to commemorate the 80th anniversary of its existence.

Twenty-five trees will be planted on Holocaust Memorial Day itself with a further forty planted throughout the week to honour the thousands of Jewish refugees who escaped Nazi persecution.

The AJR – which provides social and welfare services to Holocaust refugees and survivors – hopes that the “80 Trees for 80 Years Campaign” will highlight the “enormous contribution” Jewish refugees have made to British society.

Michael Rosenstock, son of AJR’s founding secretary Werner Rosenstock is funding a tree in Hyde Park to be planted on Holocaust Memorial Day. He has said:  “My father, who was General Secretary of the AJR for the first 42 years of its existence, would be amazed and humbled if he knew that the organisation was still going strong at the age of 80, with plenty to keep it occupied.”

The locations selected for tree planting – which include Bradford, Hull, and Swansea, are all historically significant to the Jewish refugees who fled Nazism.

Michael Newman OBE said: “As well as helping to mark the heritage of our members and a place of historic interest associated with them, the planting of this tree enables the AJR to give back to and create a living legacy within the country that became home to the Jewish refugees.”

“Britain’s native oak trees are in decline and new trees are desperately needed. We hope these 80 special trees will be appreciated by future generations and provide natural habitats for other native species for many decades to come.”