Violins of Hope at The Hemmens Cultural Center

This is an international project being brought to the Chicagoland area by the Jewish Community Center of Chicago that showcases a collection of 70 restored violins owned and played by musicians in concentration camps during the Holocaust.

Violins of Hope is not only a memorial to lost culture and people, but it is also an educational program that reaches young students and adults of all faiths and backgrounds. In recent years orchestras around the world have held Violins of Hope concerts. They tell the history of some of the instruments – such as the violin which was thrown out of a cattle train on the way from France to Auschwitz; the violin that was buried under the snow in Holland to save it; the violin that saved lives of people who played in camp orchestras and survived, and many more stories.

Violins of Hope aims to bring awareness and insight by telling the stories of resilience, resistance, and unity through the power of a musical experience. Rather than Holocaust statistics that, in their enormity, can be difficult to fathom, Violins of Hope uses the violins and the music to explain the sufferings and hope of Jewish people.

Join us for a pre-concert chat at 6:30 PM with Dr. James A. Grymes, musicologist and author of the book Violins of Hope.