HISTORY page 10 Jewish Life Moves In The Fast Lane. Can You Spare A Few Minutes? Subscribe To The Jewish News. How Can You Mori' d Not To? 3UST A FEW MINUTES A WEEK GIVE YOU ALL THE IMPORTANT LOCAL INFORMATIOk AND NEWS DELIVERED TO YOUR MAILBOX ONCE A WEEK. DETROIT} THE JEWISH NEWS r AMA WX1101 SUM MMM WAM AMM!.C; AMA AMA AAA MOM Yes, I'd like my own subscription to The Jewish News. ❑ Please bill me. ❑ Payment enclosed. ❑ Charge to my ❑ MasterCard ❑ Visa Address City Signature (required) City Phone State Zip Phone My Name Gift Card Message My Address I I ❑ I'd like to send a subscription as a gift to: Name Exp. Card # I NAM VAIM MaMi MIA AMA Save 30% off the newsstand price by res Receive 52 issues of The Jewish News plus five issues of Style magazine for only $46 ($63 out-of-state). State Zip New subcribers only Please send all payments along with this coupon to: The Jewish News, P.O. Box 2267, Southfield, MI 48037-2267. Allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. For faster service cal 810-354-6620 and charge it to your Visa or MasterCard between the hours of 8:30 an and 5:00 pm awn man mom ,mn mmg MMM AffM MAW u. tea, MWM OM,PA His name was Atilla Aczel. Ms. Sapir was intrigued. "I ran to the U-M library to look at the phone book and I saw, in Toronto, Aczel's Antiques and Interiors," she said. She dialed the number. Their first conversation was cordial, but she didn't push. "I knew I had the right person because I hadn't volunteered de- tails about the painting, yet he knew all about it. He said, 'Are you talking about the painting of Hitler with the burning clouds?"' They continued to speak reg- ularly. There was a lot of small talk about the weather, then fi- nally Ms. Sapir would ask ques- tions about the Angel of Death painting. Although he never identified himself as the artist, Mr. Aczel told her, "Pm the one you're look- ing for." The two met for the first time last December, when Ms. Sapir traveled to Toronto. Slowly, Mr. Aczel began to reveal his life sto- ry. Born to an affluent family in a small Hungarian town, Atilla Aczel was the son of a Jewish fa- ther and a Catholic mother. He was 3 when his father died. Atil- la's mother, having no money, placed the boy in a Budapest or- phanage. He stayed there until he was drafted into the Hungar- ian army. Mr. Aczel serve as an engineer on the Russian front during World War II, then was captured by American forces while in Ger- many. After the war he was re- leased, but he remained in Germany, where in 1945 he made the acquaintance of a man named Ferenc Kecskes. Mr. Kecskes, also a native of Hungary, was an artist whose talent quickly impressed his new friend. Mr. Aczel helped Mr. Kecskes secure a studio, where Mr. Kecskes' career as a painter flourished. He made portraits — many of them the wives and girl- friends of Allied soldiers. Some- times, he painted the soldiers themselves. Among his subjects were two American generals, Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton. After the war, the two friends split up. Atilla Aczel went to Canada, Ferenc Kecskes to the United States. Mr. Aczel then made a confes- sion. He was not the man who had painted the picture Ms. Sapir was investigating. But he could tell her the name of the artist. It was his friend, he said. Fer- enc Kecskes. PARA SAPIR had one hint, just AD31/ 1 sa one, as to how to find the elusive artist. California. Mr. Aczel seemed to remem- ber his friend had settled there, perhaps near Los Angeles. Ms. Sapir went back to the li- brary, to the phone books. "I found a lot of Kecskeses," she said. She called them all. None was the one she wanted. "But one did say, 'You know, we recently went to a gallery in Ventura and we saw an artist with our same last name.' " Ms. Sapir called Ventura in- formation and found the number for a Frank Kecskes. In a turn of almost inexplicably good fortune, she got the number right away. It was odd, she said, because days before she phoned, Frank Kecskes had requested an un- listed number. The man who an- swered realized right away that the artist for whom Ms. Sapir was searching was his father, Ferenc. He himself knew only scant information about the painting, but there could be no question it was the one. Based on what he had learned from his fa- ther, Frank described the work to Ms. Sapir. The two made plans to meet in California, where Ms. Sapir fi- nally learned the whole story. Ferenc Kecskes was born in a small village in Hungary. As a child, he was "always fas- cinated by mechanical things," his son remembered. He de- Could this be the artist, or mere coincidence? signed wondrous inventions — from wind-powered carts to vio- lins — which he constructed with odd scraps and parts. At 16, Ferenc rode his bicycle 72 miles to Budapest, where he found work in a textile factory. Evenings he spent walking the streets, fascinated by the gal- leries and museums. He began drawing on his own. It was clear from the start that Ferenc Kecskes had talent. He didn't even have to complete all the required exams before he was admitted to the Budapest Acad- emy of Art. But one week before classes were to begin, he was drafted into the Hungarian army. Twice, Ferenc was captured by Allied forces — first by the So- viets, and-later the British, who were so impressed by his artistic skill that he was given food in ex- change for portraits. After the war, Ferenc stayed in Germany, continuing to paint, but with minimal financial suc- cess. "My father was a real Renais- sance man," his son said. "The one thing he was not was a busi- nessman." HISTORY page 14 c: