Bara Zetter

t was unusually quiet inside the
small shack. As she had for the past six months, ever since the mysterious
man moved into the shack in March 1946, the maid brought a meal and left it
outside the door. This time, no one came to take the food. What caused the
man's death was no surprise: He was infected with tuberculosis. But what
he left behind continues to haunt everyone who comes in contact with it. What
he left was a massive painting showing a sinewy, semi-nude Adolph Hitler

as the Angel of Death. Hold-
ing a scythe, as if harvesting,
he hovers above a field of
corpses. Their ribs poke out;
their eyes are dark and
fierce. The scythe is covered
with the artist's own blood.
The painting was created
in Germany. Then it traveled
to Boston. It spent 31 years
in a couple's bedroom in Mi-
ami. Its current owner,
Reuven Prager, plans to put
it on display in a new muse-
um to open later this year in
Israel.
Meanwhile, the painting
sits behind a black silk cov-
ering in Mr. Prager's Jeru-
salem home. That's where
University of Michigan stu-

dent Bara Zetter first saw it.
One look was all she needed.
Today, Ms. Zetter is re-
searching the curious story
of the artist she believes is
named Derso Aczel. Her in-
vestigation has taken her
around the United States
and brought her in corre-
spondence with artists and
historians throughout the
world.
What she has been able to
find so far is limited. But that
hasn't diminished her fervor
for the painting and her de-
termination to unravel the
mystery of Derso Aczel.
"The first time I saw the
painting, I felt its power," she
says. "It is unlike any other

Holocaust artwork. It is so
immense and engaging. I
have a passion for art as it is
— then when I see something
like this ...

D

erso Aczel was
born March 25,
1893 in Hun-
gary. The few
known facts about him are
these:
He was interned in
Auschwitz during World War
II. Historians told Ms. Zetter
they believe Aczel may have
worked sorting bodies at the
death camp. They base their
suggestion on the meticulous
detailing of the corpses in the
painting. Perhaps, they say,

