When 88-year-old Willam Zachar from Daven
port thought about his eventual passing away he feared that his collection of newspaper clipping would be thrown out. Luckily, he met Holocaust Research Consultant, Sandra Milakovich who made arrangements to donate the original album to the National Czech and Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids. Milakovich said that many students will learn valuable lessons from album.
“Holocaust education has to be thought to preserve the past,” Milakovich said.
A copy of the album was given to the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities. The album contains among others articles, political cartoons, propaganda posters, unique photos of Adolph Hitler, Czech reactions, and reactions by the Jewish people. President of the federation, Alan Ross said that the album was an important gift because 1938 was the year of Hitler’s invasion. Ross’ father was a Holocaust survivor from the old Czechoslovakia.
“It’s important to read these kinds of stories, my father would have been reading,” he said.
William Zachar started his collection at the age of nineteen while living in Philadelphia. The collection was from the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin and the Daily News. The cost for a Bulletin paper was two cents per issue. Even with a historical collection, Zachar was humble.
“It is incomprehensible that we’re having a press conference because of my scrapbook,” he said. “I was destined to do something to document Hitler; I was born on American Street.”
To close the press conference, the president of the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities, Alan Ross thanked Zachar. “We thank you for what you did and that you kept it safe all these years, it will be a resource,” he said.
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