Of the six million Jewish people killed in the Holocaust, there are many whose names are still unknown. But one survivor living in New York City was able to help fill in some of the blanks — thanks to a stranger who works for Google.
She was robbed of her childhood, and most of the memories associated with it. Her mother and siblings were killed by the Nazis, but 86-year-old Blanche Fixler survived the Holocaust.
Then, a few months ago, a stranger called.
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Daniel Patt, a software engineer for Google, runs a project called From Numbers to Names, which uses artificial intelligence to identify faces in a collection of 500,000 photos from museums like Yad Vashem in Israel and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C.
When he uploaded a photo he found on Twitter, he discovered two matches of Blanche that she had never seen before. Not only was this news to her, but it was a different kind of first for Patt as well.
"Blanche is the first survivor we had a match for, where the survivor is still with us," said Patt.
So, he flew across the country and hand-delivered them to her home in Kew Gardens, Queens.
"It brings back a lot of memories," said Fixler, as she was able to see the faces of relatives, friends and loved ones she hasn't seen in decades. "My aunt, Rabbi Minsh, Rutka and Moshe."
Through the photos, she was able to have a reunion of sorts — 80 years in the making.
"When he brought this, I said oh my gosh, how do you have picture like this?" Fixler said.
"I think, in the moment, Blanche was just kind of going back in time in a way," said Patt. "I'd say it was a little bit of a time travel experience."
After hiding from the Nazis in Poland, Fixler managed to escape.
"That little girl went through hell," she said. "We could not step out of the house or else we were hit with a bullet right away."
She eventually landed at a French orphanage, where some of the photos were taken. Fixler was able to identify half a dozen people who were previously unknown.
The photos sparked a memory of a song she used to sing as a child, which was music to Patt's ears: His grandparents are survivors too. The project is deeply personal for him, as he tries to put names to faces — even as memories of the horrors of the Holocaust quickly fade from living memory.
"A picture is a real thing…if something is real, you can not deny it," said Fixler.
