- Brief Narrative
- Nazi propaganda leaflet resembling a US dollar bill given to US Army Colonel Lewis H. Weinstein in Paris on the day of liberation, August 25, 1944. His jeep was surrounded by thousands of grateful Parisians near the Montparnasse railroad station. An emaciated man with a Star of David badge pushed his way forward and asked him if he was Jewish. Weinstein said yes and the man blurted out: “ I’m the last of my family. The rest went to Drancy.” He tore off his badge and handed it and an envelope with the leaflet to Weinstein, and disappeared. These leaflets were dropped from planes over Paris in late 1943, as part of a German propaganda campaign to raise suspicions against the United States and its part in the worldwide Jewish conspiracy. The streets would appear to be littered with real dollar bills, and after picking one up, a person would discover that it was fake and see antisemitic rant. Weinstein entered Paris with General de Gaulle and US troops on August 25, 1944, the day of its liberation by Allied Forces. He served in the US Army on General Eisenhower's staff and was Eisenhower's liaison to General De Gaulle. Weinstein was so persistent in his efforts to get Eisenhower to personally visit Ohrdruf, the first concentration camp liberated by US troops on April 4, 1945, that he was kicked out of his office. Weinstein had to get him there by a ruse, but afterwards, Eisenhower thanked him for being so insistent, telling him: “…you were right. I would never have believed that this was possible.”
- Date
-
received:
1944 August 25
- Geography
-
received:
Gare de Montparnasse;
Paris (France)
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Lewis H. Weinstein
- Markings
- front, top border, white on black background : ONE SILVER CERTIFICATE ONE
front, below border : D THIS CERTIFIES THAT THERE IS ON DEPOSIT IN THE TREASURY OF / THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
front, each corner, black ink : 1
front, bottom border : ONE DOLLAR / IN SILVER PAYABLE TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND
front, over denomination on left : THIS CERTIFICATE IS LEGAL TENDER / FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
serial number, front, lower left corner, blue ink : Y91033384 A ; front, lower left : W.A. Julian / Treasurer of the United States ; lower right : SERIES 1935A ; Henry Morgenthau Jr. / Secretary of the Treasury
inside left : Le Ministre du Tresor des États-Unis est le Juif MORGENTHAU junior,/apparenté aux grands requins de la Finance internationale./Tous les attributs juifs figurent sur ce dollar:/L'Aigle d'Israël/-Le Triangle-/L'OEil de Jéhovah/13/lettres de la Devise/étoiles de l'Auréole/flèches/rameauz d'olivier/marches de la Pyramide inachevée/Cet Argent est bien Juif! [The Minister of Finance of the United States is the Jew Morgenthau Jr., related to the great sharks of international finance. All of the Jewish attributes figure on this dollar. The Israel Eagle; The Triangle; The Jehovah's eye; 13; the letter of slogan; the stars of success; arrows; olive branches; the steps of the unfinished Pyramids.]
center, yellow Star of David with printed message in center : Ce dollar ne veut que s'il est signé MORGENTHAU. [This dollar is worth nothing if it is signed Morgenthau.]
inside, on left and right sides, black ink : CE DOLLAR A PAYÉ LA GUERRA E JUIVE / Seul message que les Anglo-Américains sont en état de nous adresser, / suffira-t-il à nous dédommager des malheurs que nous vaut / ----- LA GUERRE JUIVE? ----- / L’Argent n’a pas d’odeur... / MAIS LE JUIF EN A UNE! [This money is certainly Jewish! This dollar has paid for the Jewish war. The only message that the Anglo-Americans are able to address to us is: Will this dollar be enough to compensate us for the sorrows caused by the Jewish war? Money has no smell...but the Jew has one!]
- Contributor
-
Subject:
Lewis H. Weinstein
- Biography
-
Lewis H. Weinstein was born on April 10, 1905, to Jacob Menehem and Kuna Romanow Weinstein in Arany, Lithuania. His parents emigrated to the United States the next year. He had a brother and a sister and was raised in Portland, Maine. Weinstein worked as a reporter for a local newspaper and taught Hebrew school before moving to Boston in 1921. He graduated from Harvard College magna cum laude in 1927 and Harvard Law School in 1930, and then joined a prominent law firm in Boston. On September 2, 1932, he married Selma Yeslawssy and they had two children.
He enlisted in the United States Army and, in 1944, was on General Eisenhower's staff as liaison to General Charles de Gaulle. After the Normandy landings in June 1944, he served as liaison officer from General Eisenhower to Generals DeGaulle and Koenig. He entered Paris with them on August 25, 1944, the day of liberation and was present during the signing of the instrument of surrender by the Germans.
Weinstein was so persistent in his efforts to get Eisenhower to personally visit Ohrdruf, the first concentration camp liberated by US troops on April 4, 1945, that he was kicked out of his office. Weinstein had to get him there by a ruse, but afterwards, Eisenhower thanked him for being so insistent, telling him: “…you were right. I would never have believed that this was possible.” During 1945, Weinstein was chief of the liaison section of the European theater of operations. He achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was awarded several military honors: Legion of Merit, Bronze Star with clusters, Legion of Honor, Croix de Guerre avec Palme, and a Papal Military Medal.
After the war, he returned to his law practice in Boston. He had a distinguished career with a special interest in housing issues on a local and national level. Weinstein was a litigator and also taught at Harvard and MIT.
Weinstein was an advocate for Jewish postwar concerns and served as chairman of several national Jewish agencies, including the American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry, which he helped found in 1968. He was active in many local, state, and national organizations and was president of Hebrew College in Boston from 1946-1953. Weinstein died on October 23, 1996, age 91 years.
