Handcrafted commemorative coin medallion created for a US crew member on an illegal immigrant ship

Handcrafted commemorative coin medallion created for a US crew member on an illegal immigrant ship 

Handcrafted commemorative coin medallion created for a US crew member on an illegal immigrant ship 

overall: Height: 0.875 inches (2.223 cm) | Width: 0.750 inches (1.905 cm) | Depth: 0.120 inches (0.305 cm) 

Small medal commissioned by Paul Kaye to memorialize the imprisonment of the crew and passengers of the illegal immigrant ship, Hatikvah, on May 18, 1947, after their capture at sea by the British on May 17 during a voyage to Palestine. It was carrying nearly 1500 Jewish refugees, mostly Holocaust survivors. The medal was made from a hand flattened Cyprian piaster coin by an artist, name unknown, that Paul met in the internment camp on Cyprus. It is etched with the names, Hatikvah and Cyprus, an image of the ship, and an image of the detention camp; the initials of Paul’s nephew, Joseph Rosenthal, are on the reverse. Paul was a 21 year old American recruited as a crew member for the Mossad L’Aliyah Bet which organized the illegal immigration of Jews into British controlled Palestine which had very strict immigration quotas. After being held on Cyprus and in a prison in Palestine, Paul escaped and continued his mission. Similar commemorative medallions made from coins were also created other refugee artists, such as Albert Dov Sigal, during their imprisonment in Cyprus.