CAANFINITI
HISTORY page 12
Of Farmington Hills
INFINITI OF FARMINGTON HILLS IS RANKED NUMBER 1
NATIONALLY FOR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN SALES & SERVICE
1996 130
1997 J30
$
Automatic, Leather, Moonroof, Power Windows, Locks,
Tilt, Cruise, Dual Air Bags, ABS, Security System, Remote
Entry, Allow Wheels, 21OHP V-6.
Auto, Air, Dual Airbags, ABS, Power Windows, Locks,
Cruise, CD/Cassette, Alloy Wheels, Dual Power
Seats, Remote Entry, 190 HP V-6. Leather, Moonroof
and Security system..
278HP V-6, Leather, Automatic, Sunroof, Power Windows,
Locks, Tilt, Cruise, Security System, Memory Seat.
Stk. #6681
$5
36 Months
Auto, Air, ABS, Alarm, Dual Air Bags, Power Windows & Locks,
Power Mirrors, Tilt, Cruise, Alloy Wheels, AM/FM CD, Floor
Mats.
36 Months
FREE SERVICE LOANER, FREE PICK UP AND DELIVERY
INFINITI
Of Farmington Hills
OPEN SATURDAYS, SALES AND SERVICE
24355 HAGGERTY ROAD • (810) 471.2220 • BETWEEN 10 MILE & GRAND RIVER
• Closed end leases. 130 24 months, G20, J30, Z45 36 months. Due at inception: $599 down on 130, $1,500 down on G20, $2.500 down on
J30. 1st month pymt, doc, acq. fee, title, license, ref. sec. dep., and applicable taxes. 12,000 miles per year allowed, 12c pr mile over on
G20, J30, Q45, 15c on 130. Lessee has option but is not obligated to purchase at lease end. leases subject to credit approval, factory pro-
grams & vehicle availability. Standard gap protection included. Total of pymts. equals pymt x term.** Plus applicable taxes, title, license,
& fees. Plus destination Stk#6681 Q45. Excludes prior sales and leases.
fkt,AAT
t' • • • 4
=T NA'AMAT/USA
Greater Detroit Council
SPIRITUAL ADOPTION LUNCHEON
THE DET RO IT J EWI SH NEWS
ON BEHALF OF ISRAEL'S NEEDIEST CHILDREN
14
CHARLOTTE EDELHEIT
Chairperson of the Day
PEARLENA BODZIN
Honoree
Thursday, August 1st 11:45 a.m.
Luncheon: S20.00 Minimum Contribution: $36.00
3 Month Scholarship: $90.00 • 6 Month Scholarship: $180 • 1 Year Scholarship: $360
ADAT SHALOM SYNAGOGUE • 29901 Middlebelt • Farmington Hills
Evelyn Noveck, President
R.S.V.P. by July 26th - Reservations: Na'Amat USA office 810-967-4750
Then he met Atilla Aczel.
Mr. Aczel set about building
Ferenc Kecskes' career. Under
Mr. Aczel's management, Mr.
Kecskes was painting landscapes
and portraits and doing quite
well. Then two members of Mu-
nich's Jewish community offered
the artist a commission for a
work that would reveal Hitler's
evil to the world.
The Germans put down
$3,000, an extraordinary amount
in those post-war years. They left
with a promise to return with an-
other $3,000. But the artist and
his manager never saw the men
again.
Although Ferenc Kecskes did
not speak often of the Angel of
Death painting, he did tell his
son that it was unlikely anyone
would ever know it was his. For
he had not signed his name to his
masterpiece. He was about to
wed at the time and, as he would
later explain to Frank, he was
"afraid Nazi sympathizers would
come after him." So he signed the
last name of his friend, Atilla
Aczel, instead.
Mr. Kecskes married, had two
sons, and in 1952 immigrated to
the United States, where the
family settled outside Los Ange-
les.
"My father always had hopes
that he would come up with an
invention that would provide us
with financial security," Frank
Kecskes said. "He had some re-
ally good ideas, too, but he didn't
know how to promote them."
Ferenc found work with an ad-
vertising agency. First he
scraped the paint off old bill-
boards. Later, his talents were
discovered, and he began work-
ing as head artist for the agency.
He struggled throughout the
rest of his life with English,
which he always spoke with a
heavy accent. In 1966, his wife
Ursula had an emotional col-
lapse, with subsequent illnesses
in the following years.
Ferenc found solace on week-
ends drawing poi tiaits and land-
scapes. They were pleasant,
skillful works, but nothing to
match the Angel of Death. He
would craft an easel from two
2x4s bound together with a few
pegs. The family always lived in
homes with just a few rooms, so
once it was the living room, an-
other time his own bedroom that
would become Ferenc's studio.
Frank would sit and watch his
father for hours, which is how he,
too, eventually learned to paint.
Ferenc's despair increased as
his wife grew sicker and his lone-
liness grew more desperate. "He
had no family here," Frank said.
`There was no one he could turn
to for help."
Ferenc Kecskes died of heart
failure in 1976. He was 56.
Today, Frank Kecskes — who
is in many ways like his father
— continues painting, mostly
seascapes and landscapes.
"They're drawn from my imagi-
nation, but everyone comments
on how realistic they are."
When he first saw the Angel
of Death work in a photograph,
which Ms. Sapir sent to him, it
was a revelation.
"My father had told me a little
about the painting, just a gener-
al description," he said. "He told
me it showed Hitler coming out
of the clouds, but he never talked
about the bodies.
"So when I was young I envi-
sioned a painting of Hitler in a
glorified light, which is why I
thought he was afraid to sign his
name.
"It was such a strange, haunt-
ing feeling," he said. "Finally I
was reunited with an image my
father had created, but I had nev-
er even seen it."
THE IMMENSE WORK that
inspired Bara Sapir's odyssey re-
mains at Reuven Prager's
Jerusalem home, though plans
are under way to exhibit it at Yad
Vashem or another appropriate
location Ms. Sapir believes a mu-
seum would be its best home.
"That way, it could be used as a
teaching tool."
Ms. Sapir continues to re-
search the lives of Ferenc
Kecskes, Atilla Aczel and the
Klugers. She has begun work on
a documentary and a book.
Someday, she would like to bring
both Mr. Kecskes and Mr. Aczel
to Israel, so they can see the
painting in person. She is writ-
ing stories for newspapers, plan-
ning radio interviews.
"I feel I understand the paint-
ing a little more; I know it bet-
ter," she said. "But there's still a
lot to do. I've got about one-third
done — just the beginning." She
wants to learn more about the
meaning behind the work and
about the history and surround-
ings of Atilla Aczel and Ferenc
Kecskes, especially considering
the fact that neither is Jewish.
She hopes, too, to solve what
remains the greatest mystery:
How did the painting really come
to the Klugers. And who was the
ailing artist who lived in their
back-yard shack, if such a per-
son existed at all?
The research is meticulous.
The traveling demanding. The
search for money unending. But
the project has been something
of a miracle from the start, Ms.
Sapir said.
"It has been just an unbeliev-
able search, a researcher's
dream," she said. "And to think,
it all began by chance with a
group of people whose lives con-
nected one day in 1945." ❑
Tax-deductible donations
may be made to the Aczel Tes-
tament Project, History of Art
Department, UniVersity of
Michigan, 519 S. State St.,
Ann Arbor, MI 48109, account
#304291, attn: Jane Nye.
cr =(
\_ \‘.