DETROIT

Nazi War Souvenirs
Donated To The HMC

STEVE HARTZ

Staff Writer

Several Nazi war
souvenirs were do-
nated recently to the

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16

FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 1990

Holocaust Memorial Center
in West Bloomfield. The
items — a whip from
Buchenwald, a Nazi SA
dagger, Nazi publications
from the 1930s and 1940s, a
hand-sewn swastika arm
band, a ceremonial Nazi
dagger and two German
Army belt buckles — were
donated by Michael W. R.
Davis of Royal Oak.
Davis, the executive direc-
tor of the Detroit Historical
Society, received the items
from members of his family
in 1946.
"I was a teen-ager, and
kids that age were all inter-
ested in getting war
souvenirs," said Davis. "I
was always into history."
The whip from Buchen-
wald, 25.5 inches long with a
wooden handle and seven
leather thongs, was given to
Davis by his cousin Joseph
B. Adams Jr. then a 19-
year-old Irish-American in-
fantry sergeant in the U.S.
87th Division.
"I believe his unit was one
of the rescue groups," said
Davis of his cousin who died
in 1978. "He had been
drafted out of Harvard Uni-
versity in the summer of
1944, was wounded in the
Battle of the Bulge and after
the war earned a chemical
engineering degree at New
York University. When I
contacted his widow and
their sons (about donating
the whip), they were pleased
it could be put to educational
purposes."
"There are still blood
stains on the whip, which is
most unusual," said Rabbi
Charles Rosenzveig, founder
and executive vice president
of the Holocaust Memorial
Center.
Davis' brother-in-law,
Steven J. Skubik, gave him
the Nazi SA dagger, 14.5 in-
ches long with a brown scab-
bard. Skubik was a U.S.
Army sergeant in the
Counter Intelligence Corps,
whose mission was arresting
Nazi leaders.
The publications, given to
Davis by Skubik, included:
Der Grossdeutsche Freiheit-
skampf, Red-en Adolf Hitler;
Das Gesicht Der Demokratie;
Warum Kreig mit Stalin?;
Walt-Krieg im Pazifik, USA
gegen Japan; Unfere Saar;

Volkischer Beobachter; Der
Angriff and Kurhessische
Landeszeitung.
Skubik also brought Davis
a 16-inch long ceremonial
Nazi dagger — with a tassel,
bone handle and swastika on
the hilt — and the hand-sewn
arm band.
"It was probably owned by
an early party member; the
arm band dates back to the
late 1920s," Davis said.
Davis' mother, who was a
nurse in the U.S. Army dur-
ing World War. I, gave him a
Wehrmacht (German Army)
belt buckle. Another cousin
brought him a German
Army belt buckle from
WWII.
"Ironically, both buckles
carried the inscription Gott
Mit Uns (God is with us),"
Davis said. "The one from
World War II has the Nazi
party symbol swastika. The
Nazis were superb at
creating what we now call
`corporate identity,' which

"There are still
blood stains on
the whip, which is
most unusual."
- Rabbi Charles
Rosenzveig

was part of their mind con-
trol of the German
populace."
Rabbi Rosenzveig said the
Holocaust Memorial Center
receives each year about a
dozen Holocaust-related
items and monetary dona-
tions from close to 4,000
families.
"A number of items that
Davis donated are rare.
They are probably worth
close to a thousand dollars,"
Rabbi Rosenzveig said. "It's
very difficult to put a value
on them because they are
items that you can't go out
and purchase." Davis, an
Episcopalian of Irish des-
cent, said he learned about
the Holocaust Memorial
Center from a friend at the
Jewish Historical Society of
Michigan, but had never
visited it.
"I went to see it last year.
There were only a few ar-
tifacts," Davis said. "I was
tremendously impressed
with the integrity of the mu-
seum and its powerful mes-
sages about stereotyping
and demagoguery which
moved me to donate these
artifacts I've had for the past
45 years." ❑