"Statue of Liberty" Chanukah menorah, one of 52 made in first casting. Statuettes were cast from a figurine.
Place of origin: United States of America
Audio transcript:
As you can see in this display, Chanukah menorahs come in all kinds of shapes. This one was made by a Jewish immigrant artist named Manfred Anson to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty.
Anson was born in Germany before World War II and escaped the Holocaust through a project by the Jewish Welfare Guardian Society of Australia. While Manfred Anson was serving in the Australian army, his family was sent to death camps. His brother was killed but his parents and sister survived. Anson’s sister immigrated to the United States and she was eventually able to contact him in Australia. He moved to America to join her and began collecting memorabilia from his new home.
This menorah was cast in brass from souvenir models of the Statue of Liberty. The middle branch is engraved “1886-1986” to commemorate 100 years of the Statue of Liberty guiding travelers into the bay. Each of the other branches marks an important event in Jewish history. The branches on the right remember history from thousands of years ago, like the Maccabean victory that inspired Chanukah. The branches on the left memorialize more recent events, like Israel's declaration of independence in 1948.