A visit to an abandoned Polish Jewish cemetery in 1993 launches Dan Oren’s twenty-year search to solve the mystery of "Who is buried in Sarah's tomb?" A visit with a cousin unearths a breathtaking photograph of a Berlin family wedding from 1926 and leads to discovering their unimaginable post-wedding lives. An archivist in Prague discovers a secret uncle whose celebrity-filled life takes the reader from the halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the treasures of the Vatican. Finding and linking hitherto unknown family—from as ordinary any of us to as internationally-recognized as Philip Roth—this collection of gripping investigative accounts transforms genealogy into a world of exciting historical adventures. When a bishop, a minister, and a rabbi meet in a cemetery, it is not the set-up for a joke. Rather, The Wedding Photo becomes a dramatic and meaningful encounter of Christians and Jews with the darkest and the brightest sides of humanity.

Introduction

Chapter 1-A Tale of a Tombstone

Chapter 2-Two Horses in Lublin

Chapter 3-Patrimony

Chapter 4-Laocoön and his Sons

Chapter 5-The Wedding Photo

Chapter 6-The Boy in the Sailor Suit

Chapter 7-The Gaon of Markuszów

Chapter 8-Final Resting Place

Appendix 1-The Wedding Photo (Additional People)

Appendix 2-Jewish Genealogical Tools

Endnotes

Photo Credits

Acknowledgments