How is a Local Rehabilitation Center Preserving Holocaust History? | Education [Video]

UTICA, N.Y. — There were some paintings recovered from a salt mine in Vienna, Austria, that are believed to be linked to the Holocaust.

The paintings now have a home in New Hartford. 

In 1996, Sitrin Health Care Board Member Marsha Silverman went to bid on the Mower Bach Collection of paintings at Christy’s Auction House in Vienna, Austria.

The paintings are believed to be remnants from the Holocaust.

A place in history Silverman was fortunate to escape.

“My parents left in 1936, so they were sponsored by relatives that were already here in the United States. Had they not been sponsored, I might not be here,” she said. 

The Sitrin Rehabilitation Center paid the auction house $75,000 for the paintings, but Silverman says the paintings were recovered in a salt mine and were in rough shape.

“They were in pretty sad condition,” she explained. “They were dirty, and some needed work. We took them to the Hartford Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut, and had a conservatory redo them, …