The Oak Józef Honoured

Redakcja, 1 April 2017
The tree served as a hiding place for Jews during the Holocaust. On 21st March 2017, during an award presentation ceremony in Brussels, the Oak Józef was honoured with the title of "2017 European Tree of the Year"!

Last month, we wrote here about an opinion poll conducted which resulted in Poland's representative, the Oak Józef of Wiśniowa in the Podkarpacie Province, a 650 year old tree with a rich history, being chosen as the 2017 European Tree of the Year.

The oak stand in the park on the Mycielski estate in Wiśniowa. It is 30 m high and has a circumference of 675 cm. It is a natural with an historical importance, often used as a subject by painters and photographers. In the 1930's, it was painted by Józef Mehoffer and even features on today's 100 złoty banknote.

During World War II, two Jews, surname Hymi, hid inside a cavity of the tree. They had escaped from the forced labour camp or ghettgo in Frysztak.

Read more about the Jews hiding in the Oak Józef

Last year, the oak took first place in a Poland-wide Tree of the Year competition, organised by Klub Gaja.The result of the public opinion to select the 2017 European Tree of the Year was announced recently. There were sixteen candidates.

Among the 125,568 who voted on the Internet from throughout Europe, the Oak Józef won with 17,597 votes. In second place was the Oak Brimmons of Wales with more than 16,000 votes and a lime tree in the Czech Republic with close to 15,000 votes.

The award ceremony took place in Brussels on 21st March 2017. Click HERE for the European Tree of the Year website.