As we look to the future of the National Museum of American Jewish Military History, it’s useful to look back at where we started and how far we have come.
The story of the NMAJMH starts in 1951, when National Commander Paul Ginsburg spoke of a museum dedicated to Jewish participation in the US armed forces. At a meeting of JWV’s National Executive Committee at the then national headquarters on West 77th Street in New York City, Ginsburg described his vision for a permanent memorial to Jewish participation in our country’s defense. He stated that:
I should like to move the National Headquarters to Washington…. It is my desire that we, at our new National Headquarters, establish a museum which would include a depository to serve as a suitable memorial to the contribution of the American Jew to our country. This central depository in Washington will serve as a sanctuary for the many valuable records which are now in the possession of others and which we can secure to be part of an historical depository. There can be no question but that the establishment of such a depository would serve as the living memorial to the patriotism of the American Jews and his contribution in war and in peace to our country.
And so, the National Shrine to the Jewish War Dead was conceived.
The search for a suitable home for the national headquarters and Shrine began, led by Meyer Neumann (Chairman of the Building Committee) and Joseph Barr (longtime leader of Washington’s Post 58). The JWV fundraising committee had an initial goal of $50,000, but later expanded that goal to $85,000 (nearly $1 million in today’s dollars). The success of the fundraising rested on the shoulders of JWV membership, who participated in countless dinners and sales and stood up at NEC meetings to contribute to the building fund. They contributed because the National Shrine would be a legacy for deceased servicemembers, their children, grandchildren, and generations to come. It would be a place to remember the contributions of Jewish men and women to their country’s call.
As home to the National Shrine and JWV headquarters, the committee chose the Thomas M. Fraser mansion at 1712 New Hampshire Ave NW, five-story building constructed of brick and stone “with an air of permanence about it.” They purchased the building in April of 1954 and completed the move a few months later. At the opening, National Commander Harry T. Madison told the crowd that “seeing the Shrine as a living, working organism in the Nation’s Capital has given me one of the great moments of my life. It is indeed a monument not only to the brave Jewish War Dead who have paid the supreme sacrifice for a free America, but to the membership of the JWV whose efforts, devotion and unrelenting labor have made JWV’s greatest dream a living reality.”
At the same time that JWV was working to create a new home and Shrine in Washington, leadership was also considering a congressional charter for JWV. It was Joseph Barr who visited Congressman Emanuel Celler in 1958 to try to secure a Federal Charter for the JWV. Celler said that a charter for the JWV was unlikely because the organization is sectarian, leading Barr to consider obtaining a charter for the Shrine. The Congressman agreed that it was plausible because the Shrine would be a memorial to Jewish servicemen. On September 2, 1958, the Senate and House of Representatives enacted Public Law 85-903, HR 109—a charter to incorporate
the Jewish War Veterans of the USA National Memorial, Inc. and to bestow to the corporation the right to establish its own constitution and bylaws. The law said in part that the Shrine was “to maintain and conduct a National Memorial and museum dedicated to and commemorating the service and sacrifice in the Armed Forces of the United States during the period of war by Americans of the Jewish faith…” The Senators and Congressmen who worked for the passage of the bill were a who’s who of political leaders, including one man who would later become the 36th president of the United States: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Everett B. Dirksen, Emanuel Celler, and Sam Rayburn, among others. The bill was passed in the Senate by unanimous voice vote and signed by President Eisenhower. The charter and the President’s signature gave the Shrine the prestige of a National Memorial endorsed by the national government.
The National Shrine to the Jewish War Dead became the known as the JWV National Memorial, Inc. (NMI) and began to display a few artifacts and stories to honor those Jews who served with courage and honor in the US armed forces. One of the key artifacts from this period in our history is on display in the Museum today. A portable ark and altar, fashioned by members of many different faiths on the island of Bougainville in the Solomon Islands during World War II for Rabbi Martin M. Weitz. Chaplain Weitz used the ark and its contents at while he served in the South Pacific, taking it by truck, jeep, boat, and plane from the Northern Solomons to the New Hebrides and New Caledonia. The ark is contained in a footlocker, with its contents made from Japanese as well as American equipment. Its lid has a background of Japanese parachute silk, while its center has the Ten Commandments fashioned on Japanese aluminum. The chimes on either side of the Decalogue are carved from the 35mm shells, one Japanese and the other American, upon which are engraved Isaiah’s phrases, “swords into plowshares… spears into pruning hooks,” and to which the Chaplain added, “shells into bells.” Two servicemembers – one Protestant and one Roman Catholic – interested in the project polished and carved the chimes. The candlesticks, carved by native Northern Solomon Islanders, were set in a pair of 105mm shell caps. A Seabee made the miniature ark of plywood, and a sergeant in a salvage unit sewed the cover for the tiny scroll. The Star of David is fashioned of aluminum.
The National Memorial was composed of a Hall of Jewish Heroes, the Library and Archives, and the Memorial Chapel. Upon entering the Hall of Heroes, the visitor first viewed the colorful stained glass windows that are now housed in our Rabbi Joshua Goldberg Chapel. The left window, donated by the Elin-Unger Ladies Auxiliary 273, depicts the Torah and other Jewish symbols of faith against a muted brown and blue background. The center window, donated in memory of COL Benjamin P. Shein, pictures a purple sword over an olive branch. Next to the sword is a helmet and an American flag. Under a rainbow in the center of the window is written in Hebrew, “And they shall beat their swords into plow shares.” The rainbow extends into the right window donated by Horace W. Goldsmith, which shows a woman driving a plow in expectation of the fruits of peace.
The rest of the Hall of Jewish Heroes was dedicated to displaying the awards and medals bestowed upon Jewish servicemen like Benjamin Kaufman, whose Medal of Honor was displayed prominently. Paintings of Rabbi Alexander Goode (one of the Four Chaplains), PNC Morris Mendelsohn of the Jewish Veterans of the Wars of the Republic, and Meyer Levin (recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross during WWII) hung above the display cases.
While the Memorial held a few artifacts, it was not what you or I would think of as a museum during this period. In 1978, COL S. J. Pomrenze became the first profession staff of the Memorial when he took on the role of archivist. He created a plan to grow the collection and expand the museum. The planned growth of the
Memorial led to a need for a larger building. The building committee was able to locate a suitable home for the future Museum just a tenth of a mile from the Memorial. The National Memorial moved into our current home in 1984 and hosted a dedication on August 29, 1984. It was a large affair, with the street in front of the building shut down to provide seating to the hundreds of guests. Governor of Virginia, Charles S. Robb, provided the dedication address and then-Vice President George H. W. Bush affixed the mezuzah and gave his remarks. It was an auspicious start to this new iteration of the National Memorial.
The new home of NMI was previously home to the museum and library of the American Psychiatric Museum Association and afforded the Memorial much more exhibition and storage space than the prior building. The first large exhibition at NMI opened in 1988. Lives Under Fire: A Comparative Examination of Jewish Contributions to World War One and the Vietnam Conflict juxtaposed the experiences of Jewish servicemembers from WWI with those of Jewish servicemembers during Vietnam. This exhibit was followed in 1990 by Perspectives of Patriotism: Selections from the Jewish War Veterans National Museum and Archives and a traveling exhibition, Salute to Jewish Military Chaplains: From the Civil War to Operation Desert Storm. In 1991, our longest running exhibition — Major General Julius Klein: His Life and Work – opened. The final exhibition under the Jewish War Veterans National Memorial Inc. moniker opened in 1992. Candid Moments in the Military: Snapshots from 1914 to 1991 was the last exhibit before NMI adopted our current name.
In 1992, the National Memorial became known as the National Museum of American Jewish Military History. A motion was passed at the NMI Board of Directors meeting to officially change the name to “encourage notoriety and increase membership from both within [JWV] and the general public at large.”