For many years, German native Dr. Isaac Barr wanted nothing to do with his home country. Barr, a Southfield-based cardiologist, had a tough relationship with his native Germany. Born in the town of Euskirchen in 1935, Barr and his family — whose original last name is Breschinsky — were forced to flee the growing Nazi regime in 1938 and emigrate to Haifa, then Palestine.
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| The stolpersteine, stumbling blocks in front of the parents’ house |
Today, Barr is considered the “last Jewish resident of Euskirchen.” However, at the age of 90, it was finally time to make amends with the past. In honor of the physician’s milestone birthday, 17 family members joined him on a journey to Euskirchen to discover Barr’s long-forgotten roots.
Stepping Back in Time
Barr and relatives traveled to Euskirchen earlier this summer for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The physician is the last living Jewish Eurkirchener in addition to his sister, 92-year-old Ruth, who was unable to make the trip due to age but stayed connected via video chat on her iPad.
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| Group photo in front of the former home of the Jewish Breschinsky family at Wilhelmstrasse 33 |
It had been 86 years since he last saw the three-story building, which once housed his family’s leather goods shop and has since become a fitness storefront on a busy shopping street. Like many Jewish businesses, it was quickly Aryanized as Nazis constricted Jewish life in Germany.
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| The Breschinsky home, at Wilhelmstrasse 33, Euskirchen, Germany around 1934 |
Barr, born Isel Breschinsky, fled Euskirchen just a few weeks before Kristallnacht. His family of four, including sister Ruth and parents, Max and Maria, were saved from impending deportation.
The Breschinsky family, which had Polish origins, was set to be expelled from Germany alongside 17,000 other Euskirchen Polish Jews as part of the Polenaktion (Polish Action).
Their story, while similar to many Jewish fates during the Holocaust, is strikingly different.
Max Breschinsky wasn’t the typical Jewish refugee. Instead, he was arrested in Poland at the age of 14 during World War I and forcibly deported to the German Reich.
Yet in 1938, the Polish parliament passed a law stating Polish citizens who have lived abroad more than five years were prohibited from returning to Poland. By emigrating to Palestine, the Breschinsky (the later Barr) family survived the horrors to come and built a new life overseas.
Where Past Meets Present
For the Barr family, the trip helped heal old wounds while paying tribute to their history.
Family members from Israel, Canada and the U.S. gathered in Euskirchen for an extensive program highlighting the Breschinsky family and the Jewish history of the German town.
The Barr family visited the Stadtmuseum Euskirchen im Kulturhof, a cultural museum that happened to sit directly across from their family home. They also witnessed the stolpersteine or stumbling blocks embedded in the pavement outside former residences of Holocaust victims.
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| On the site of the former synagogue of Euskirchen |
As Barr stood outside his former residence, he looked down at the names beneath his feet: Max, Maria, Ruth and Isel, their stumbling stones inscribed with their 1938 flight to Palestine.
The Barr family also paid tribute to the site of the former synagogue in Euskirchen, which was destroyed during Kristallnacht. Most of the town’s Jewish population perished in the Holocaust.
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| Dr. Isaac Barr (Isel Breschinsky) and the mayor of Euskirchen, Sascha Reichelt. |
Now, however, the Barr trip was the largest Jewish visitor group to Euskirchen in decades, paving the way for the German town to continue its efforts in preserving and sharing the past.
While in Euskirchen, Barr was also able to see his parents’ original engagement announcement from 1932, his father’s ID card in occupied Euskirchen from 1921 and old family photos.
Photographer Paul Koulogeorge and historian Hans-Dieter Arntz documented the entire trip, the latter of whom has long studied, researched and kept in contact with the Barr family.
“Everyone enjoyed it very much,” Arntz recalls. “The entire ‘mishpachah’ [family] arrived in good spirits and with great interest.”
Weiterführende LINKS zum Treffen mit der jüdischen Familie Breschinsky/Barr am 2. Juli 2025 in Euskirchen
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2. Juli 2025: Euskirchen empfängt den "letzten jüdischen Öskerchener"
Euskirchen empfing den "letzten jüdischen Öskerchener" - haGalil (Tel Aviv/München, 17. September 2025)