Violin that survived Holocaust to be played in Salisbury

Dr. Racelle Weiman

By Mark Wineka

mwineka@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — This spring the Violins of Hope — 18 violins recovered from the Holocaust — will be exhibited played for the first time in North America when they come to Charlotte.

But on April 7, the Saturday before Easter, one of the Violins of Hope will be brought to Salisbury and played at a free concert at Catawba College’s Omwake-Dearborn Chapel.

Playing the violin and music from “Schindler’s List,” will be David Russell, currently the Anne R. Belk Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

In addition, master luthier Amnon Weinstein, who collected and restored these violins connected to the Holocaust, will be speaking at the 7:30 p.m. concert in Salisbury.

Some of the Violins of Hope were played by Jewish prisoners in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Others belonged to the Klezmer musical culture, which was all but destroyed by the Holocaust.

“I think for Salisbury this is unbelievable,” says Tom Wolpert, president of the Salisbury-Rowan Symphony Guild. “You know, if you live in Chicago, you’re not going to see them.”

Wolpert says the Russell concert and lecture by Weinstein are the symphony guild’s gift back, in appreciation for all of the community support through the years.

“It’s happening in Salisbury — that’s the thing,” Wolpert says. “It’s monumental.”

It was largely made possible through the behind-the-scenes work and connections of Salisbury architect Karen Alexander, a UNCC graduate and member of the school’s board of trustees.

The UNCC College of Arts and Architecture has spearheaded the project, which in Charlotte will include a series of performances, exhibitions, film screenings and educational programs.

The 18 Violins of Hope will be on display and open to the public at the UNCC Center City Building Gallery from April 15-22.

The Salisbury-Rowan Symphony Guild also is organizing an opening night performance bus trip to “Restoring Hope: Amnon Weinstein and the Violins of Hope,” April 15 at Knight Theater, Levine Center for the Arts in Charlotte.

There’s even more happening in connection with the Violins of Hope in Salisbury.

On March 1, the Salisbury-Rowan Symphony Guild has arranged for the appearance of Dr. Racelle Weiman, whose luncheon lecture at First United Methodist Church will be “Forbidden Music: Nazi Suppression of Art and Culture.”

Weiman is a noted Holocaust educator. Matt Brown will play examples of music to which Weiman will be referring.

“It should be absolutely fantastic to have her here,” Wolpert says.

According to literature released by UNCC’s College of Arts and Architecture, the Violins of Hope “are precious artifacts from one of the greatest tragedies in human history. ... The stories of these violins, and their rebirth in the hands of Amnon Weinstein, bear witness to the power of memory and art to transform anguish into hope.”

The number “18” is important because in Hebrew, it is a word that also spells “chai,” or “life.”

Weinstein began collecting and restoring the violins in 1996, and they were first played publicly September 2008 in Jerusalem.

Last year, they were shown and played in Switzerland. Charlotte is the third place.

“The Violins of Hope demonstrate the redemptive and healing power of art,” UNCC literature says. “While the instruments themselves tell stories of great pain and suffering, their restoration and exhibition, and the opportunity to bring them to life in performance, pays tribute to the indomitable spirit and enduring creativity that transcended the horrific events of the Holocaust.”

In the concentration camps, Nazis established camp orchestras whose members were ordered to play as people were getting off the arriving death trains — as a way to calm their fears.

The violins possibly saved the lives of people who played them and provided moments of relief.

Weinstein operates a third generation luthier shop in Tel Aviv, Israel, that builds and restores violins.

Almost 20 years ago, he first shared a dream with his close friend, Maestro Shlomo Mintz, to locate and repair the violins of Jewish musicians murdered by the Nazis.

Weinstein lost close to 200 relatives in the Jewish Holocaust.

Over time, Holocaust-connected violins would arrive at Weinstein’s shop as descendants brought them forward. Or Weinstein searched for musical instruments from the Holocaust in flea markets and antique markets, as he traveled internationally.

Many of the Holocaust instruments came to his shop in horrible repair, but Weinstein painstakingly restored each one to concert quality.

Some of the instruments bore the Star of David, a symbol of the onetime owner’s Jewish faith.

By bringing the Violins of Hope to Charlotte, UNCC, Weinstein also hopes to discover other instruments with connections to the Holocaust.

Wolpert can’t hide his enthusiasm for Salisbury’s link to the Violins of Hope project.

“We’ve gone back and forth over many things,” he says. “A week ago, we finally got the final commitments.”

Because of the power of what the violins represent, Wolpert says, the Salisbury concert and lecture are not something for which people should be charged.

In promoting the events, Wolpert plans to design a poster around a Peruvian painting of a violinist that’s part of his personal collection.

The cost of bringing the Violins of Hope to Charlotte, building the exhibit and providing all the performances and programming is roughly $500,000.

Weiman, the speaker March 1 at First United Methodist Church, is an international speaker and activist on genocide prevention and promotion of human rights and democratic values.

Background supplied on Weiman says she will share through words and music the “the startling range and the insidious and racist nature of the Nazi attempt to control, regulate and punish artistic freedom and control all free access to music, musicians and musical compositions and imagination.”

Before his appointment as the Anne Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Music, Russell belonged to the violin faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music for 24 years.

Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263.

Violins of Hope, the Salisbury Connection:

Here are events in Salisbury linked to the 18 Violins of Hope, coming this spring to Charlotte and presented by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s College of Arts and Architecture. The Salisbury programs are sponsored by the Salisbury-Rowan Symphony Guild:

• March 1, noon, luncheon, First United Methodist Church. Speaker, Dr. Racelle Weiman, Holocaust educator and Temple University professor. Topic: “Forbidden Music: Nazi Suppression of Art and Culture.”

• April 7, 7:30 p.m., Omwake-Dearborn Chapel, Catawba College. David Russell will be playing one of the Violins of Hope, and master luthier Amnon Weinstein, who recovered violins from the Holocaust and restored them, will be speaking.

• April 15, bus trip from Salisbury to Charlotte for the opening night performance of Violins of Hope, Knight Theater, Charlotte’s Levine Center for the Arts.

Over coming weeks, tickets and information related to the Salisbury events are available by calling the Salisbury Symphony office at 704-637-4314, Guild President Tom Wolpert at 704-637-2389, or by visiting salisburysymphony. org.