This Week
Insight
Auluio
edaiiieS
A.
3:
Each Piece A Story
HARRY KI RS BAUM
Staff Writer
A
1980
Shimon Peres, leader of Israel's
opposition labor Party, was admit-
ted to the hospital, complaining of
chest and abdominal pains.
our close ones," he said. "I
felt this was the best way to
memorialize. I started speak-
ing at German clubs, and
mold Shay is not
2,- collected and showed the
your ordinary col-
Hitler stamps from begin-
lector. He can
.- ning to end. They called
weave a story out
[the stamp collection] the
of just about every artifact he
rise and fall of the Third
owns, all 7,000 of them.
Reich."
Recognized by the U.S.
The collection didn't end
Holocaust Museum in
there.
Washington, D.C., as holder
In 1946, Shay bought a
of the largest, most authentic,
whole collection of German
private collection of concen-
press-release pictures from a
tration camp memorabilia in
Nazi. One shows a com-
the world, Shay has it all —
pletely bombed-out city
from Nazi-era European cur-
labeled "Detroit" by the
rency collections and printed
Nazi propaganda machine.
money of each Jewish ghetto,
He has the complete pho-
to official Nazi and Allied
tographic collection taken
documents and photographs.
by the American Fifth Army
Shay has allowed parts of his
that liberated Germany.
collection to be exhibited
"Every picture the official
around the country since John
photographer gave to the
F. Kennedy was president.
press, he kept for himself,"
He will make a slide presen-
he said. "I have all of them,
tation on "The Paper Money
including ones that weren't
of the Holocaust" for the
published."
Israel Numismatic Society of
Shay also has hundreds of
Michigan 8 p.m. Tuesday,
Nazi documents, including
Sept. 26, at the Jimmy Prentis
those from the most infa-
Morris Building of the Jewish
mous death camp.
Arnold Shay with pieces of his collection, including cloth
Community Center in Oak
"There was a part of
Jewish stars, Warsaw Ghetto currency and shoe inserts
Park.
Auschwitz that didn't belong
made from Torah scrolls.
Shay, 78, of Farmington
to Auschwitz at all. It
Hills and Boca Raton, Fla.,
belonged to I.G. Farben [the
was able to survive Auschwitz,
large
German
industrial
company],"
he said. "They had
Oranienburg, Sachsenhausen and several German Nazi
their own SS [the Nazi Storm Troopers], and it was under
sub-camps with his skill as an interpreter (he speaks eight
their own jurisdiction. I have mail from them, documents
languages). He was liberated from concentration camp
that I.G. Farben built Auschwitz, and they promised to
Dachau in Germany.
pay for everything."
When an American soldier took a photograph of Shay,
Besides collecting all of the Nazi-era currencies, includ-
clad in his prison uniform — No. 135584, which matches
ing those used in the ghettos and labor camps, he also col-
the number tattooed on his arm — at Dachau's front gate
lected counterfeit British pounds and Palestine dollars,
the day after his liberation, Shay made sure he got a copy
made in Sachsenhausen, where Shay was a prisoner. The
of it, and his collection began.
pounds were made to crush the English economically. The
Why would a Holocaust survivor want to collect items
dollars were given to [German field marshal Erwin]
that remind him of the atrocities he endured? Shay's
Rommel's commanders [in north Africa] to use after they
answer is simple.
captured Palestine, but he never got that far. [Rommel,
"When we were liberated, we all tried to memorialize
34
From the pages of the Jewish News
for this week 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50
years ago.
1990
Coors Brewing Company has gone
kosher, marking the first time
American malt beverages have
received certification from the
Union of Orthodox Jewish
Congregations of America.
Harris Barton, offensive right
guard of the San Francisco 49ers, is
the only Jewish player in the NFL
starting lineups.
Collector of Holocaust memorabilia
to speak at Israel Numismatic Society.
9/22
2000
Remember
When • •
1970
Fifty-four hijacked airline passen-
gers being held hostage in Jordan
are regarded as prisoners of war
because their governments allegedly
sided with Israel.
Acting Israeli Premier Yigal Allon
announced that the government
will establish five more settlements
in administered areas.
1960
A Jewish merchant and two others
were injured when terrorists tossed
a hand grenade into a Jewish-
owned jewelry store in Algiers.
Former Highland Park Judge
James I. Ellmann was honored by
the Michigan State Bar
Association for 50 years of active
law practice in Michigan.
Diane Shapiro was named assistant
director of the Michigan Regional
B'nai B'rith Youth Organization.
1950
The Israeli flag was flown for the first
time over the Dail (parliament)
building in Dublin, Ireland, in honor
of the Israeli delegation attending the
Interparliamentary Union.
Samuel S. Simmer, chairman of the
Jewish Theological Seminary cam-
paign committee of the Northwest
Hebrew Congregation, received a
citation for distinguished service to
American Jewry from the seminary
— Compiled by Sy Manello,
editorial assistant