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You are here: Home / Genealogy / Of Violins, Heroism and the Holocaust

Of Violins, Heroism and the Holocaust

September 22, 2013 by Edie Jarolim 4 Comments

I was going to return to blogging with a post on rolled meat — and, don’t worry, I’ll get to that — but then Manfred Wolf, whose moving memoir I excerpted here, sent me a link to a wonderful film called the Return of the Violin. Directed by Haim Hecht, it’s a documentary that tells the story of a 1731 Stradivarius that was once owned by Bronisław Huberman, the founder of the Israeli Philharmonic, and that ended up in the hands of American virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell (pictured next to this post’s title).

Bronislaw Huberman. 1882-1947 (image from Wikimedia Commons)
Bronislaw Huberman,1882-1947 (image from Wikimedia Commons)

I’ll admit that I don’t know as much as I’d like about classical music, and that I had never heard of Huberman, who was world famous at one point. When he was 9 years old, he performed the violin concerto of Johannes Brahms in the presence of the composer, who was dubious about child prodigies, and moved him to tears. But this is also a story about a small town in Poland called Częstochowa, where Huberman was born, a town that could have been Tarnow, my family’s place of origin. It’s about great cruelty that occurred there, but also about great heroism against the Nazis. And about transcendence.

Warning: I clicked on Return of the Violin and started watching it and couldn’t stop, though it’s an hour and 5 minutes long; it’s sad in spots, but also very uplifting. It is on the site of the film’s Israeli producer, Roy Mandel, so you’ll see only Hebrew, but don’t worry.  The film is in English, Polish, and Hebrew with English subtitles.

If you’re not ready to watch the film (seriously, it’s hard to stop), here’s a story about it.

Filed Under: Genealogy Tagged With: Bronislaw Huberman, Częstochowa Poland, Joshua Bell, Stradivarius

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anna Redsand says

    September 23, 2013 at 3:59 pm

    Thank you so very much, Edie, for sharing this incredible story.
    Anna Redsand recently posted..The Power of a SmileMy Profile

    Reply
    • Edie Jarolim says

      September 24, 2013 at 2:37 pm

      You’re welcome. I thought you would enjoy it, Anna; I’m glad you wanted it.

      Reply
  2. Norah Alemán says

    November 16, 2013 at 1:33 am

    I really enjoyed the film.
    Thank you.

    Reply
  3. Maylee Robbins says

    November 28, 2022 at 2:17 pm

    I am a violinist and I listen to Joshua Bell’s songs all of the time. I never knew before that he played a Stradivarius! I’ll have to watch The Return Of The Violin!
    Maylee Robbins recently posted..CornerStone Duck Cloth Work Jacket (J763) OverviewMy Profile

    Reply

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