Menorah made from gun & cartridge cases • Imperial War Museum

This powerful treasure is a menorah made from part of a Sten Gun, nine .303 cartridge cases and scrap metal, mounted on a long octagonal-shaped wood plinth. It comes from the collection of the Imperial War Museum. Extraordinarily, it was made by a soldier from the British Army’s Jewish Brigade with parts from his rifle so that the 83 child survivors in Bergen-Belsen could celebrate their first Hanukkah after Liberation. It was donated to the museum by a former member of the Jewish Relief Unit (affiliated with the British Army) who was in charge of the Children’s House in Bergen-Belsen after liberation.

Hanukkah is Judaism’s festival of light, held in December to commemorate the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem and the relighting of the Menorah when the Maccabean Jews regained control of the city during their revolt against the Seleucid Empire.

We love this treasure for its ingenuity, symbolism and practical use.

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