Violins of Hope: Holocaust Musical Memorials and Issues of Representation

• In Event: Music during and after the Holocaust

Abstract

In recent years American communities have embraced the redemptive memorial project Violins of Hope, a collection of violins that, according to its Israeli owners, were played in various camps and ghettos during the Holocaust. Israeli luthiers Amnon and Avshi Weinstein offer these restored violins to various community organizations for hire. The sponsoring organizations then craft their own Holocaust narratives in performances that feature the violins, often resulting in a recasting of all cultural production during the Holocaust as an act of resistance—a problematic reading that overlooks the Nazis’ use of music to control and dehumanize prisoners. The accompanying exhibits, associated community-wide programs, and the performances themselves embody aspects of Americanized Holocaust memory and representation through selected musical repertoire (e.g., selections from Schindler’s List); cathartic, uplifting concert experiences that potentially induce a sense of closure to Holocaust trauma; and, in some cases, feature a staged spectacle with costumed actors that attempts to reenact the Holocaust. Accompanying community-wide initiatives (exhibits, pedagogical programs for all ages, and interfaith dialogues) present universalized lessons from the Holocaust to promote tolerance and diversity.

This paper surveys Violins of Hope memorial projects in the United States and shows how musical representations of the Holocaust have become Americanized much like other cultural objects. Through a critical examination of the Violins of Hope phenomenon in the United States I raise the following questions: Do these musical memorial projects advance audiences’ understandings of the Holocaust? How are the violins employed to present universalized lessons from the Holocaust and what is ultimately at stake in doing so? Through an analysis of Violins of Hope projects in cities throughout the United States I uncover and trace the varied ways Americans continue to reckon with the Holocaust through these musical memorial projects and explore the accompanying issues of memory and representation.

Author

• Catherine Greer, University of Vermont