J & Hike Cohn Schulman's wedding gift from Shaya Balaban, 1953

After the war, Shaya Balaban returned home to Odessa with only his army uniform and a piece of pumpernickel bread. He made the long awaited journey from Moscow.

When he arrived, he learned from the building superintendent, a kind man who helped him understand what had happened, that his wife and children were gone and the building had been destroyed. He literally had lost everything.

Before the war, he had always wanted to be an artist. Back in Odessa, he began creating intricate paper cuts, including the snowflakes that would become his signature work. It was theraputic and was a meaningful personal gift for someone who had nothing.