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What happened to the Decoration of Service?
Dr. Malka Ben-Pashat, who is writing an article on Shamir Brothers for my book, asked me to scan some documents from the file prepared by Gabriel Shamir.
In a letter from the Government Coins and Medals Corporation (12/15/81) the company's Deputy Director General Israel Zdaka wrote:
"Our new Company Catalog is on the printing press. The Israel Police and the Prisons Service have given us their approval to include the Service Decoration designed by you in the published catalog. We would appreciate it if you would send us a detailed explanation about the significance of the Decoration. We shall, of course, indicate in the catalog with pride that the Decoration was designed by you."
I checked the 1982 catalog (page 288) - it stated that all police medals were designed by Nathan Karp. I searched through the Police web-site and found the same information. I contacted the police history department - there was no answer. I contacted the Medals Company (it's new name) - and their immediate response was: "The information we have is what is written in the 1982 catalog."
I told Haim Keller, a longtime friend, about the mystery. He replied: "I knew Nathan Karp. His mother played cards with my aunt. Nathan died a few years ago."
It is hard to believe that I shall be able to locate Israel Zdaka or hope that he would remember.
Another mystery that will probably remain unsolved.
August 2015
The internal auditor of the Ministry of Internal Security informed me on 15/12/2015 that a search by the Police and the Prisons Service did not discover any information on this medal. The auditor's team checked files and reports and ever checked with retirees, but found nothing.