Mr Traveler came back from his trip and told his family and showed them the pictures. Everyone was in shock. They had thought they were Levites, because of the name (which we do not know), but now they have discovered they are actually kohanim. The Holocaust interrupted their tradition, and they are only now rediscovering it.
They spent the next two years investigating the family line and history further. They even came across documentation from the town their ancestors were born in and they are listed and registered as kohanim.
They presented the findings to their local rabbi and to the posek Rav Sariel Rosenberg in Bnei Braq. After looking at the issue, both Rav Rosenberg and their local rav have affirmed that they are kohanim and expressed that people should not raise any questions or doubts about their kohanic descent. The male family members now all duchan and take the first aliya of the Torah as full kohanim. In shul this past Shabbos they had the gabbai distribute "chocolate fingers" as a celebration and to symbolize their blessing of the community for the first time with the kohanic blessings.
The shul I grew up in in Chicago had a similar story. When an older fellow got out of Russia and emigrated to Chicago, he was shocked to discover shuls - he remember praying in one as a child, but never since as they had all been shut down. He went to shul regularly after that. In the USA the kohanim only duchen on holidays. When the first holiday arrived (I think it was Pesach but I am not sure), Mr Lapushin saw the duchening and remembered his grandfather doing that. After speaking to the rabbi and undergoing some investigation, he was declared a kohen.
It also reminds me of the old joke of the fellow who wanted to be a kohen. He went to his Orthodox rabbi and asked to be made into a kohen. He offered $10,000, but the rabbi refused. He then went to the local Conservative rabbi who also refused, despite the financial temptation. He then went to the Reform rabbi who accepted the money and declared him a kohen. The Rabbi then asked why he so desperately wanted to be a kohen. The fellow responded, my father was a kohen, my grandfather was a kohen, I have to be a kohen as well!
May the newly rediscovered kohanim bless the Jews faithfully, and may we all discover more about our true heritage.
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