THE JEWISH NEWS
UP FRONT
This Week', T o p Stories
Strokes Of History
A U-M student unravels the story behind a mysterious painting.
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR
A
\ n
t first glance, Bara
Sapir would appear to
have little in common
with anyone at Scot-
land Yard:
But the University of
Michigan graduate recently
unraveled a mystery that
would have befuddled Sher-
lock Holmes himself.
Four years ago, Ms. Sapir
chanced to see a painting at the
home of a friend in Jerusalem.
It was immense, filling an en-
tire wail. But even more com-
pelling was the subject.
The painting shows Hitler
as the Angel of Death, held
midair by delicate wings. In
his hand is a scythe dripping
Above: Ferenc Kecskes in 1974,
dark, heavy blood. And below lie
two years before his death.
corpse atop corpse with empty, fluid
eyes, a mountain of bodies in a sea of
death.
It was signed Aczel. But that's
Right: The strange painting
about all anyone knew of the paint-
fills an entire wall.
ing's history.
Ms. Sapir became consumed with
knowing the story behind the work:
Who painted it and why?
"It is unlike any other Holo-
caust art," she explained. "It is so
immense and engaging. The first
time I saw the painting, I felt its
power."
And so began a journey that
took Ms. Sapir through Israel,
the United States, Europe and
Canada, where she met with art
dealers, researched long-forgot-
JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR AND DAVID ZEMAN STAFF WRITERS
ten files, and visited tiny villages
with desolate Jewish cemeteries,
whose lonely graves lie cradled
he Jewish Federation of — including the local day
in the sharp, dry arms of weeds.
Metropolitan Detroit schools and the Agency for Jew-
Like any great detective, Ms.
maintained
its approach ish Education --- received the
Sapir faced numerous hurdles.
in allocating funds from largest gain, $553,907 over last
On more than one occasion, what
the 1996 Allied Jewish Cam- yeafs allocation of $2,127,409.
appeared to be the key to the door
paign when it announced Tues-
Community services, which
turned out to be a dead end.
range
from the newly created
day
that
it
was
pouring
more
And then came a handful of
into education and the local com- Commission on Jewish Eldercare
chance connections, a lucky break
munity and less into national Services to the century-old He-
with a phone call and a meeting
and international concerns. brew Free Loan Association, also
with an artist in California, and
However,
national and overseas received a net increase of
at last the mystery was solved.
groups received $13.4 million $223,236 fora total of $3,402,735.
Cultural and group services,
while local needs were given
MS. SAPIR was working on a
with the exception of the Jewish
$9.5 million.
master's degree in art history at
The allocations followed a Community Center, also re-
U-M when she took the trip to Is-
record-setting
peacetime Cam- ceived a larger amount, which
rael and visited her friend,
paign, which collected a total of was spread over such organiza-
Reuven Prager.
$27.6 million in pledges and tions as the B'nai B'rith Youth
Like Ms. Sapir, Mr. Prager
Organization and campus Hil-
grants.
loves art. Before making aliyah,
The
1996-97
allocations
re-
lels.
while still in his native Miami,
port issued by Federation
But while the categorical in-
Fla., he purchased a great deal
showed that Jewish education creases were evident, the indi-
of Judaica — not menorahs or
A Larger Slice
Most local agencies receive a bigger piece of the
Federation pie with the 1996-97 allocations.
I
HISTORY page 10
vidual supplements were some-
what uneven, favoring some or-
ganizations over others;
Iffichigan State University's Hil-
lel, for example, received a larg-
er increase (about 25 percent)
than both the Metro Detroit (3
percent) and the University of
Michigan (less than 1 percent)
branches. MSU will not have a
permanent full-time director un-
til next month but has plans for
some capital improvements to
its facility.
"They have some things in
the works," said Miriam Stark-
man, Metro Detroit's director,
who has served as the interim
director of MSU's program for
the past year. She declined to
say how much her group re-
quested.
Others received little more of
a boost than a cost-of-living in-
crease. Jewish Family Service,
for example, received $1.36 mil-
lion for 1996-97, a 4 percent rise
over the current year, or slight-
ly more than the rate of infla-
tion.
"It certainly doesn't allow you
to expand any programs," said
JFS comptroller Jim Miller. He
said the JFS board will meet lat-
er in the summer to decide how
to distribute the Federation
money.
"It is what we have to live
with, and we have to decide how
to handle it," Mr. Miller said. He
declined to say how much JFS
requested from Federation.
And some organizations
joined the budget list for the first
time. Local agencies Michi-
gan/Israel Connection, Michi-
gan Jewish Conference and the
Neighborhood Project were
funded in the past by an annu-
al grant to Federation from
United Jewish Foundation
(UJF) endowment funds; the
1996-97 Campaign allocation
amounts to about $500,000.
"For the first time, all fund-
ing for ongoing programs has
been consolidated under the an-
nual Campaign," said Howard
Neistein, director of planning for
Federation.
Israeli emissary Jeff Kaye,
who heads the Michigan/Israel
Connection, said the grant
proves that Federation officials
believe in the group's mission.
FEDERATION page 15