Paul Kahane, the designer of the 2010 American-Israel Numismatic Association medal, writes “As a first-time visitor to Israel in my late years of life - I accomplished a promise I had made many, many times at prayer: ‘next year in Jerusalem.’ The promise fulfilled - Israel itself and the cities themselves all exuded an aura never to be forgotten by me. But the heart, soul and passion of a people was found by me to be at Yad Vashem. In memory of this meeting with the spirit of 6 million souls, I felt a compulsion to design the medal even though it is impossible for flesh to be embodied in metal.”

The medal pictures the hands of a Concentration Camp’s inmate clutching a barbed-wire fence, with a group of his fellow sufferers in the background. Inscribed above is “we remember,” with “Yad Vashen” below. The initials of the designer “PRK” and the date of issue “2010” also appear. Just 1,000 30mm. prooflike brass medals were produced by the Highland Mint. The reverse of the medal features the AINA logo, designed by Nat Sobel, who himself is a child survivor of the Holocaust.

Significantly, 2010 marks the 65th anniversary of the Allied liberation of the Concentration Camps. More than three million Jews died in them, usually in gas chambers, although many were killed in mass shootings and by other means. Aside from the most infamous camps--such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, and Theresienstadt--the Jewish Virtual Library indicates that it is “estimated that the Nazis established 15,000 camps in the occupied countries.”

The “Yad Vashem” medal will be sent free to every AINA member who has paid dues for 2010 ($18/year or $34/2 years for U.S./Canada, $25/year or $48/2 years overseas). Medals are also offered to-non-members for $5 each postpaid.  Dues or medal orders can be sent to AINA, P.O. Box 20255, Fountain Hills, AZ 85269.