A secret note hidden in Dachau-built 'Violin of Hope' tells a tale of survival and craftsmanship

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — During World War II, within the walls of the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, a Jewish prisoner secretly penned a short note and hid it inside a violin he had crafted under harrowing circumstances — a message to the future that would remain undiscovered for more than 80 years.

“Trial instrument, made under difficult conditions with no tools and materials,” the worn note read. “Dachau. Anno 1941, Franciszek Kempa.”

The origins of the violin, built in 1941 by Franciszek “Franz” Kempa while imprisoned by the Nazis at Dachau in southern Germany, remained unnoticed for decades. It wasn’t until art dealers in Hungary sent the instrument out for repairs — after having stored it for years among a set of purchased furniture — that its history came to light.

Although the instrument’s craftsmanship pointed clearly to a skilled maker, the professional repairing it was puzzled by the poor quality of the wood and the crude tools used to create it, which didn’t match the evident skill involved.

-more-

https://apnews.com/article/hungary-dachau-nazi-violin-note-franciszek-kempa-62782ac2443386b7194901c3c4d47ea0

[ret5hd]

1. wow. just wow. i hope there is some indication...

as to the fate of this man. none is given in the linked page.

[ultralite001]

5. "It is unknown how the violin left Dachau

and ultimately made its way to Hungary. But Kempa, according to documents provided to the Hungarian art dealers by the museum at the Dachau memorial site, survived the war and returned to his native Poland to continue making instruments before dying in 1953."

[ret5hd]

6. thank you.

[mopinko]

2. i posted this today, but

it’s a vid from a show called the repair shop, about a painting smuggled out of ukraine during ww2.

i saw an episode recently where a woman brought it a violin in pieces. it had belonged to her grandmother, irrc, who had survived auchwitz by playing it in the women’s orchestra. i’ll see if i can find it.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/114322364

[mopinko]

4. here-

the stories r as interesting as the repairs.

[byronius]

9. Very powerful video. Wow.

Thanks!

[Demovictory9]

7. amazing

[electric_blue68]

8. Wow. Ty!