ENTERTAINMENT
Artist Harry Weinsaft has painted the world
— without a brush.
ADRIEN CHANDLER
Special to The Jewish News
rt and life go hand-in-
hand for Harry
Weinsaft. For him, art-
work is a way to translate
stories and experiences into
color and pictures. And he
should know. Weinsaft, 66, a
colorful character himself, is
a man who has done a lot of
living — as a participant, not
a spectator.
A native of Vienna, Austria,
Weinsaft has left his hand-
print on some of the events
that shaped world and Jewish
history. He is also handy with
an artist's paintbrush and ex-
tremely knowledgeable about
art, since he was a Detroit
area art dealer and auc-
tioneer for many years.
Weinsaft is known as one of
the original crew members of
the Exodus, a battered
American excursion boat well
past its prime, purchased by
the Haganah, or Jewish
underground, after World
War II to smuggle Jews into
Palestine.
The story of the Exodus
from the book by Leon Uris,
was later translated to the
screen as a movie.
But Weinsaft lived the ex-
perience as the ship's securi-
ty officer. "It was the same
kind of boat as the Boblo
boat," Weinsaft says. "We
bought it off the scrap heap.
It was no Love Boat, I
guarantee — horrible condi-
tions. Fifty-five hundred peo-
ple were packed on a ship
meant for considerably fewer
than than."
In 1947, the Exodus tried to
run the British blockade of
Palestine, as did many other
ships. "My crew and myself,
we sought to get to Israel safe-
ly. But the British caught us."
Weinsaft was taken back to
Europe on a British prison
ship. The Exodus achieved
notoriety because, at the time,
it was the largest of the
blockade-running ships carry-
ing the largest human cargo
of Nazi concentration camp
victims. Despite the failed
run, it focused world atten-
tion on the plight of the
Jewish refugees and the need
for a Jewish homeland.
Weinsaft's story starts
much earlier than this. He
recalls not feeling particular-
ly Jewish growing up in Vien-
na. His family lived comfor-
tably and seemed to be well
integrated into Austrian
society. But in 1938, as
Hitler's shadow spread over
Austria, so did the anti-
Semitic violence. They lost
their status, their belongings,
their home.
It became evident to the
Weinsafts that they had to
leave. But where could they
go? Harry's father
remembered he had a distant
relative living in Kansas Ci-
ty, Missouri. Through the
American Embassy in Vien-
na, they obtained their
relative's address and wrote a
letter asking for help.
Soon the proper papers ar-
rived in the mail, enabling
16-year-old Harry to leave,
the younger Weinsaft's visa
signed by then Senator Harry
GOING PLACES
WEEK OF
JAN.19-25
JEWISH EVENTS
JEWISH COMMUNITY
CENTER
6600 W. Maple Road,
West Bloomfield, Joseph
and the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat,
through Jan. 27,
admission, 661-1000.
HILL STREET
CINEMA
B'nai B'rith Foundation,
1429 Hill Street, Ann
Arbor, Dead Poets Society,
7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Jan.
20; Generation, 7 p.m. and
8:45 p.m.; Summer of
Aviya, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25,
admission, 769-0500.
COMEDY
MISS KITTY'S
595 N. Lapeer, Oxford, C.
Wayne Owens, Jan.
19-20, admission,
628-6500.
THEATER
FISHER
Detroit, The Unsinkable
Molly Brown, Jan. 23
through Feb. 18,
admission, 872-1000.
ATTIC THEATER
2990 W. Grand
Boulevard, Detroit, The
Meeting, through Jan. 21,
admission, 875-8284.
VILLAGE PLAYERS
Birmingham, The Trip to
Bountiful, Jan. 26
through Feb. 4,
admission, 644-2075.
RIDGEDALE
PLAYERS
205 W. Long Lake, Troy,
Greater Tuna, through
Jan. 28, admission,
644-8328.
DETROIT
REPERTORY
13103 Woodrow Wilson,
Detroit, Fences, through
March 18, admission,
868-1347.
MEADOW BROOK
Oakland University,
Rochester, Dial M for
Murder, through Jan. 28,
admission, 370-3300.
SOUTHFIELD
PERFORMING ARTS
Days Hotel, 17017 W.
Nine Mile, I Do, I Do,
through Jan. 27,
admission, 557-4800.
BIRMINGHAM
211 S. Woodward, Oh
Continued on Page 75
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
65
t kA
S. Truman. Weinsaft, now a
refugee, fled Europe in 1938
on board the Bremen, where
he met Olympic great Jesse
Owens. His family later made
it out safely on the last
refugee boat to leave
Germany.
When he was old enough,
Weinsaft enlisted in the
American Army, where he
was part of the ski troops
fighting in Italy. At the end of
the war, Weinsaft helped
liberate some of the concen-
tration camps, and it was
then that his consciousness
was really raised. "When I
got a whiff of the first concen-
tration camp, it made me a
Jew," Weinsaft says.
As a former refugee
himself, Weinsaft felt com-
pelled to do something about
the plight of European Jews.
He joined the Joint Distribu-
tion Committee, helping to
administer one of the displac-
ed persons camps outside of
Vienna. It was through this
work that he was recruited by
the Haganah. Not only did
Weinsaft risk his life on board
the Exodus, but he continued
to fight for Israel's existence,
including running guns and
ammunition.
"We broke every law in the
world to bring Jews to
Palestine. We traveled like
pirates on the sea. We flew no
flags. And if we did, they were
illegal."
In 1953, after living in
Israel and New York, Wein-
saft moved to Detroit where
he married, and five years
later, he found himself in the
art business. For Weinsaft,
who always wanted to be an
auctioneer, it seemed a
natural move. His work al-
lowed him to travel extensive-
ly. He -returned often to his
native Europe and also travel-
ed to South American to find
artwork to sell.
"People were anxious after
the war, in the '50s and '60s,
to have big homes. But most
people didn't know a thing
about art. So, I was their
curator. I catered to people's
tastes. I was able to bring
them art they enjoyed. It was
instant culture.
"Americans are so decora-
tion-oriented. They would
come into my gallery (at the
Kingsley Inn in Bloomfield
Hills) and ask, 'Have you got
something that goes with my
walls, my furniture, my cur-
tains?' I would get goose
pimples. You don't select art
because it matches your
drapes; you select art because
it does something for your
soul. Art is not supposed to
match your decor. Every art-
work has to have a message
by itself . . . has to have a
meaning to you."