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Dorothea Lange.1942.

Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartimeby Kenneth Helphand

"Studying the intersection of gardens and war yields great rewards of understanding about humanity and about nature. Life, home, work, hope, and beauty are five attributes that lie dormant in all gardens, awaiting the catalyst that propels them to germinate and allowing us to recognize them as defiant gardens. These gardens can be of any scale, their life spans vary from that of a window box to a valley, and they may be real or imagined."

"Today we find gardens in the Jewish ghettos of World War II an amazing proposition. How were they possible? "

"Another organization that continued its prewar mission and activities was the Toporol (Towarzystwo Popierania Rolnictwa, Society to Encourage Agriculture among Jews), which since its 1933 founding had trained Jewish agricultural workers in Poland. "

"They gave away seeds, planted vegetables and trees, and made small parks. The bylaws of CENTOS expressed the part of the group’s mission that went beyond alimentary sustenance: “We are to instill in the children an aesthetic appreciation of their surroundings. . . direct their attention to growing plants that might bring them closer to nature and provide them with aesthetic experiences.”"

to dwell is to garden.