Sapling from ‘Anne Frank Tree’ planted to honor Holocaust educator 
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Sapling from ‘Anne Frank Tree’ planted to honor Holocaust educator 

June 12, 2025, 9:13 am Edit
Toby Rosenthal, the daughter of the late Gail Hirsch Rosenthal, shovels dirt onto a tree sapling planted at Stockton University. (Bernard DeLury/Stockton University)
Toby Rosenthal, the daughter of the late Gail Hirsch Rosenthal, shovels dirt onto a tree sapling planted at Stockton University. (Bernard DeLury/Stockton University)

Stockton University recently honored the legacy of Anne Frank and Gail Hirsch Rosenthal. Ms. Rosenthal was the director of the university’s Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center; she held the position from 1991 until her death in 2023.

The sapling was a descendant of a tree grown from the horse chestnut tree that was in front of Anne Frank’s secret annex in Amsterdam. During the Holocaust, Anne and her family hid in the annex for more than two years.

The Sapling Project began in 2009 as an effort to preserve the original tree in Amsterdam by gathering and germinating chestnuts and donating the saplings to organizations dedicated to Frank’s memory. Earlier this year, Anne Frank Center USA approved Stockton as the 18th location of a sapling in the United States, and the tree was planted in a courtyard on campus during a May 20 ceremony.

The tree at Stockton will be the centerpiece of a proposed new outside courtyard for students to gather to study or take a break from classes.

“We plant this tree with a hope that it will also inspire students, faculty, staff, visitors and all members of the Stockton community to believe in Anne’s message that mankind is inherently good in the face of adversity and especially the horrors of the Holocaust,” Leo Schoffer said. He is a former member of Stockton’s board of trustees and the son of Holocaust survivors Sara and Sam Schoffer.

Stockton President Joe Bertolino praised Ms. Rosenthal’s visionary leadership as she grew the center from modest beginnings into a globally recognized institution.

“This tree, rooted now in Stockton’s soil, will serve as a living tribute,” he said. “It will stand as a reminder of the enduring human spirit, of hope in the face of unimaginable adversity, and of the urgent responsibility we all share to remember the past and build a more just and compassionate future.”

Holocaust scholar Michael Berenbaum spoke about how Gail Rosenthal built the center “with grace, with determination, with commitment and 24/7 dedication.”

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