Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/772020
Trust and experience are the most important factors when hiring a Realtor. Five local Rabbis have trusted us with their real estate transactions. We offer two generations and 20 years of experience, having sold over 1,000 homes. JEFF & MATT BARKER Record 85 Homes Sold in 2016 Top 1% of Realtors Nationally 248.425.6000 jeff@jeffbarkerhomes.com www.jeffbarkerhomes.com 275 S. Old Woodward Ave, Birmingham, MI 48009 January 12 • 2017 13 jn Woods and Shelly of Ann Arbor. PHOTOS REDISCOVERED Many years later, Wojtek Mazan, a young man interested in the his- tory of his hometown of Ostrowiec, found some old photos stamped on the back with "Rembrandt," the name of Muszkies' studio. He never knew the name of the man behind the photos until a few years ago. In January 2015, on the 70th anni- versary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Mazan found a photo of child pris- oners, including three girls from Ostrowiec. One was identified as Ruth Webber, nee Muszkies. Mazan remembered a small photo he had found in an abandoned house that was stamped on the back, "Master Photographer's Studio, Sz. Muszkies, Ostrowiec, Ilzecka 16." He found a long interview with Webber from the 1990s about her Holocaust experiences, and realized her father was the "Rembrandt" of the photos he'd been collecting. That small photo from the abandoned house was the only one he found with the photographer's name. It had probably been made before Muszkies adopted "Rembrandt" for his studio. Through a Polish colleague, Mazan connected online with Webber's daughter Susan and Marcia Spilberg, a cousin from Brazil, who were part of a Facebook group, Descendants of Ostrowiec. Together they began a relationship of discovery about the Rembrandt photographs and the Muszkies family's history in Ostrowiec. Mazan later met Webber's sister, Helen Mueller, in Toronto, where she lives. Through Susan Webber and Mueller, he was able to learn more about Muszkies and also to obtain copies of family photographs, which had been sent to relatives who left Poland for Brazil before the war. Mazan placed ads in local papers looking for copies of photos with the "Rembrandt" stamp, and talked to the town's oldest residents. "Elderly residents remem- ber 'Rembrandt' was a Jew, but none of my interlocutors knew the name," said Mazan in his introduction to the book he created from the photographs showing a por- trait of Ostrowiec's residents in the 1930s. He collected 150 photos, most of which are presented in the book. Where he's been able to identify the people or organizations pictured, he also provides their stories. There are no photos of Jews or Jewish events, except for those Mazan got from Muszkies' family. Ostrowiec held an event to launch Mazan's book on Oct. 29. Webber attended with her three daughters, two cousins from Brazil, a niece and nephew from Israel and her sister-in- law Rae Nachbar of Southfield. Webber described her wartime experiences at the book launch, speak- ing in English with a Polish translator. "The room was packed, and there was dead silence when she spoke," said her daughter Elaine Webber. "By the end, the audience was in tears." Webber has mixed feelings about the trip. She's happy her father's legacy is being preserved, but she didn't enjoy returning to Poland. She didn't want to stay in Ostrowiec, so the group didn't spend even one night there. They arrived in Poland through Krakow, where they visited her husband's parents' graves and saw the building that housed the orphan- age where Webber lived after her lib- eration from Auschwitz. Elaine Webber, who teaches nursing at the University of Detroit Mercy, said the trip gave her mother an opportu- nity to open up about her story, which was helpful. She also said the publica- tion of Mazan's book was important for the local residents. "The people should know the his- tory of the town and of the Jews who lived there," she said. "The photos show what a great cross-section of people lived there." • ABOVE: Ruth Webber, nee Muszkies, at her liberation from Auschwitz in 1945 — she is highlighted by a circle.