The Violins of Hope travel the world from Israel where they have been lovingly restored and cared for. Violins of Hope hosted by JCC Chicago and other partner organizations is in Chicagoland and surrounding areas across Illinois from April through September 2023. The collection of 70 string instruments played by Jewish musicians before and during the Holocaust, many of which were discovered in the concentration camps after the war and whose owners did not survive. They have been painstakingly restored and are now coming to our area for cultural exhibitions, performances, and community education with a message of hope, resistance, resilience, and unity. We brought 4 of these instruments to Anshe Emet Synagogue for Yom Hashoah and assembled a quartet to play them. The musicians chose period pieces to perform, some of which we know were played at Terezinstadt.
Our program consisted of a brief memorial service with candle lighting by children of survivors, overview of the Yellow Candle Program and the Violins of Hope by Men's Club Past President and program organizer Barry Balik, additional background from a representative of the JCCs who read a passage from Elie Weisel's Night about a prisoner playing his violin, music performed by our string quartet (2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello), and songs performed by our cantors and volunteer choir Shirenu. The musicians also told the stories behind each of the 4 instruments. Program ran just under 2 hours.