JULY 28 • 2022 | 61

son of the late Brenda and 
the late Samuel Small. 
Contributions may be 
made to National Holocaust 
Museum, 100 Raoul 
Wallenberg Place, S.W., 
Washington, D.C., 20024; 
Jewish Family Service, 
6555 W. Maple Road, West 
Bloomfield, MI 48322; 
Hebrew Free Loan, 6735 
Telegraph Road, Suite 
300, Bloomfield Hills, MI 
48301; Jewish Hospice 
and Chaplaincy Network, 
6555 W. Maple Road, West 
Bloomfield, MI 48322. A 
graveside service was held 
at Machpelah Cemetery in 
Ferndale. Arrangements by 
Hebrew Memorial Chapel.

GWENDOLYN 
TAFFEL, 87, of 
Livonia, died 
July 15, 2022. 
She is 
survived by 
her sons and daughters-
in-law, Steven and Hiroko 
Taffel, Larry and Jackie 
Taffel; grandchildren, Adam 
(Michelle) Taffel, Joshua 
Taffel (fiancee, Samantha), 
Julian Taffel and Sara Taffel; 
many other loving family 
members and friends.
Mrs. Taffel was the 
beloved wife of the late 
Philip Taffel; the sister 
of the late Mel (the late 
Lorriane) Wilner.
Interment took place at 
Adat Shalom Memorial 
Park Cemetery in Livonia. 
Contributions may be made 
to a charity of one’s choice. 
Arrangements by Dorfman 
Chapel.

JANICE 
MARLENE 
TILCHEN, of 
Boynton Beach, 
Fla., died June 
12, 2022.
She danced into hearts 
on Feb. 26, 1947. A proud 
Detroit resident for over 60 
years, Jan loved Motown, 
musicals at the Fisher and 
Tigers games. 
Jan was the Bloomfield 
Hills PTO president, an 
avid tennis player, golfer 
and dancer. She moved to 
Delray Beach, Fla., later in 
life, and within two days, 
bonded with even more 
friends, colleagues and 
continued her mitzvahs, 
volunteering at Hadassah 
and ORT. 
She was a feminist 
who treated everyone 
with love, laughter and 
humor. Jan was one of 
the first Camp Walden 
campers and was given the 
name Bubbles; her three 
daughters followed in her 
footsteps, enjoying Camp 
Walden for many years. 
Now her grandchildren 
are continuing the Walden 
tradition.
Jan is survived by her 
three daughters, Nicole 
Tilchen Nespeca (Marc), 
Melanie Tilchen Alexander 
(Jamie) and Lindsay 
Tilchen Johnson (Randy); 
her four grandchildren; JJ, 
Madelyn, Myles and Laila 
Grace who loved calling her 
Granny Janny. Janice is also 
survived by her ex-husband 
of 36 years, Alan Tilchen, 
and a myriad of nieces, 
nephews, cousins and dear 
friends. 

Jan was predeceased 
by Wally and Irene 
Friedman, Alex and Regina 
Friedman, Phil and Mary 
Tilchen, Richard and 
Audrie Friedman, Marley 
Chudnow, and Dr. Woody 
Friedman (Beverly).
Her family requests 
contributions in her 
memory be made to the 
Alzheimer’s Association, 
alz.org; or by planting a tree 
in Israel at shiva.com.

DR. JOEL 
ZAHLER, 77, of 
Bloomfield 
Hills, died July 
15, 2022.
Dr. Zahler is 
survived by his wife of 51 
years, Julianne Zahler. He is 
also survived by his sister, 
sisters-in-law and brothers-
in-law, and many loving 
nieces and nephews. 
Contributions may be 
made to a charity of one’s 
choice. Arrangements by Ira 
Kaufman Chapel.

OBITUARY 
CHARGES

The processing fee for 
obituaries is: $125 for up 
to 100 words; $1 per word 
thereafter. A photo counts as 
15 words. There is no charge 
for a Holocaust survivor icon.
The JN reserves the right 
to edit wording to conform to 
its style considerations. For 
information, have your funeral 
director call the JN or you 
may call Sy Manello, editorial 
assistant, at (248) 351-5147 
or email him at smanello@
thejewishnews.com.

René Slotkin, 
‘Mengele Twin,’ 
Dies at 84

JTA 
As a physical education teach-
er at an Orthodox boys school 
in New York City, René Slotkin 
frequently wore short-sleeved 
shirts — leaving the numbers 
tattooed into his arm visible to 
anyone who saw him.
His story of Holocaust sur-
vival was remarkable: Slotkin 
and his sister were among just 
200 sets of twins to survive 
gruesome experimentation by 
the infamous Nazi physician 
Josef Mengele at Auschwitz, 
then were reunited six years 
after being separated.
Slotkin’s story, which he told 
and retold, including in a film 
about his family, was never far 
from the minds of his fellow 
congregants at Congregation 
Ohab Zedek, the Upper West 
Side synagogue down the 
block from his home where he 
studied Talmud every morning 
well into his 80s.
René was only 4 years old 
when he and his twin sis-
ter Irene were deported to 
Theresienstadt with their 
mother, Ita, in 1942. (Their 
father, Herbert, was taken to 
Auschwitz in 1941 and died 
there.) Two years later, they 
were moved to Auschwitz, 
where their mother was killed, 
and the twins were separated 
and subjected to medical abuse 
by the infamous Josef Mengele.
It took Slotkin and his sister 
nearly four decades before 
they started speaking openly 
about their experiences during 
the Holocaust. In 1985, they 
went to Yad Vashem, Israel’s 
Holocaust memorial, in 
Jerusalem to take part in 
a mock trial of Josef Mengele 
focused on his abuse of 
twins. 

