Once buried in Europe, a Hitler puppet stashed in Frank Oz's Oakland attic tells his family's Holocaust story

(J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) - Long before Frank Oz gained fame as the puppet master behind such iconic characters as Miss Piggy and Yoda, he was Frank Oznowicz, an Oakland kid who attended Tech High, ate burgers at Kwik Way and watched movies at the Grand Lake Theater.

And from time to time, he'd rummage through the attic of his home. One day he came across something that would prove to be extraordinary: a set of wooden marionettes, carved in the 1930s by his Jewish father, Isadore "Mike" Oznowicz, a Holocaust refugee from Antwerp, Belgium.

The costumes were handmade by...