Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf honors Tree of Life victims at Auschwitz

Marcy Oster
Published September 16, 2019

(JTA) — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf honored the 11 victims of the attack on the Tree of Life synagogue building while on a visit to Auschwitz.

Wolf signed the guestbook at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial on Sunday by writing the names of the victims of the shooting nearly one year ago, and under that wrote ““Pennsylvania mourns for the people who were murdered on October 27, 2018 in the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.” He also wrote  “100% tolerance; 0% hate.”

Hours later he tweeted: Thank you @AuschwitzMuseum for the opportunity to memorialize the Tree of Life victims. Pennsylvania was founded on the principle of tolerance. And we are #StrongerThanHate.”

Prior to leaving on the visit, Wolf said in a news conference that he would carry  to the Nazi camp the mezuzah that hung on the door of Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers office and which was broken in the attack.

“What I’m hoping for is that this act will bring solace, some solace to the survivors, and will remind them that we Pennsylvanians will never forget their loved ones,” Wolf said during the news conference.

Wolf this week is visiting 600 Pennsylvanians stationed with the National Guard in Lithuania and Poland and was scheduled to meet with Lithuanian government and business leaders, the Associated Press reported.

He is also scheduled to visit the Paneriai Holocaust Memorial, in the forests outside Vilnius, Lithuania later in the week.