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A mysterious note found inside a violin constructed in Dachau has been found 80 years later

"Remember me, remember us."

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Art of an Older Man Playing Violin.

In the face of the darkest of tragedies, there can be kernels of hope and moments of unimaginable light. For many oppressed people throughout time, music is one of those kernels. That was certainly the case for some Jewish people faced with unthinkable horrors during the Holocaust—a time when the morality of humanity itself was challenged to its core.

The Violins of Hope Project was founded by Avshalom Weinstein and his son Amnon. over the life of the project, they have amassed a collection of stringed instruments with connections to the Holocaust which they then restore for musicians around the world to play. In a video posted to Today's YouTube, NBC's Jesse Kirsh reports, "It harnesses powerful music with a special collection of violins and other string instruments originally owned by victims of the Holocaust and honors their legacy by keeping their music alive."

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

On the Philharmonic Society's website, they share, "All instruments have a common denominator: they are symbols of hope and a way to say, 'Remember me, remember us. Life is good, celebrate it for those who perished, for those who survived. For all people.'"

Sadly, Amnon passed in 2024, but "his extraordinary legacy lives on through this collection, ensuring that the memories and music of those who suffered are never forgotten. Each instrument tells a story, and serves as a symbol of hope and remembrance."

Now, something extraordinary has been found inside of a violin, reported to have been built inside the Dachau concentration camp. According to an article by Associated Press reporter Justin Spike, "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."

The note read: "Trial instrument, made under difficult conditions with no tools or materials. Dachau, Anno 1941, Franciszek Kempa."

The article relays that the wooden violin was built by Franciszek "Franz" Kempa in 1941 while a prisoner in the Nazi camp in Germany. "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." He later adds, "It is the only known instrument actually built inside the camp."

Franz, an expert violin-maker, survived Dachau and, "according to documents provided to the Hungarian art dealers by the museum at the Dachau memorial site…returned to his native Poland to continue making instruments before dying in 1953."

His instrument-making expertise might have been the very thing that spared him from death. One of the art dealers, Tamás Tálosi, beautifully states, "We named it the ‘violin of hope’ because if someone ends up in a difficult situation, having a task or a challenge helps them get through a lot of things."

This miraculous violin surviving maddening conditions can perhaps be seen as a symbol not just of hope, but of perseverance. Alongside other instruments, it can sing through its strings what is impossible to speak in words. And it can hopefully inspire a better world where our memories of history prevent us from repeating it.


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Germany to pay Holocaust survivors over $1 billion in reparations. Here's where the money will go.

Over 128,000 people will receive some form of compensation.

via Stroop Report/Wikimedia Commons

Polish Jews captured by Germans during the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

The youngest Holocaust survivors are now in their late ‘70s, and the challenges that come with aging mean their needs have never been greater. That’s why the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany has agreed with the German Federal Ministry of Finance to provide $1.4 billion in direct compensation and social welfare services for survivors across the globe.

The agreement will bring the overall compensation that Germany has paid in Holocaust reparations to over $81 billion.

More than 128,000 Holocaust survivors will receive annual payments for the next 4 years of $1,370 per person for 2024, $1,424 for 2025, $1,479 for 2026 and $1,534 for 2027. The agreement also provides tens of millions for Holocaust education.

As the number of people who witnessed the Holocaust first-hand goes down every year, the greater the need to keep their memories alive to prevent it from happening again.

The beneficiaries of these payments are primarily survivors from the former Soviet Union who escaped the clutches of the Einsatzgruppen, the mobile execution squads of the Nazis tasked with annihilating whole Jewish populations. These units killed over 1 million Jewish people, mainly through mass shootings of hundreds and sometimes thousands of people at a time.

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Claims Conference Delegation for negotiations with the German government

via Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany

Nearly $105.2 million in compensation will go to home care programs to address survivors’ increased needs through 300 social welfare programs in 83 countries. These agencies will provide in-home care, food packages, medical needs and transportation for survivors in need.

“Every year, these negotiations become more and more critical as this last generation of Holocaust survivors age and their needs increase,” Greg Schneider, Executive Vice President of the Claims Conference, said in a press release. “Being able to ensure direct payments to survivors in addition to the expansions to the social welfare services we are able to fund is essential in making sure every Holocaust survivor is taken care of for as long as it is required, addressing each individual need.”

The reparations agreed upon by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany and the German Federal Ministry of Finance are a continuation of 71 years of the historic Luxembourg Agreements. The agreements were the first time in history that a defeated power compensated civilians for loss and suffering.

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Train tracks leading to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

via Dieglop/Wikimedia Commons

The atrocities of the Holocaust are beyond any measure of compensation, but the agreements highlight Germany’s commitment to take responsibility for Nazi atrocities.

“I am inspired that, as shown by the extraordinary results we have achieved this year, so many decades after the end of World War II, far from waning, the German government and its people continue to feel a deep responsibility to provide additional care to Holocaust survivors,” Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, Special Negotiator for the Claims Conference Negotiations Delegation, said in a press release.

“It has been nearly 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz and the need to negotiate for survivor care and compensation is more urgent than ever,” Eizenstat continued. “Every negotiation is a near-last opportunity to ensure survivors of the Holocaust are receiving some measure of justice and a chance at the dignity that was taken from them in their youth. It will never be enough until the last survivor has taken their last breath.”

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Holocaust survivor uses banknote clue to find the family of 'kind' soldier who liberated her

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In 1945, Lily Ebert, now 90, was liberated from a German munitions factory where she worked as slave labor after being transferred from the Auschwitz death camp.

A few weeks after being liberated, an American soldier shared some words of positivity with her, "The start to a new life. Good luck and happiness," he wrote on a German banknote.

The simple gesture was life-changing for Ebert and the banknote became one of her most treasured keepsakes.

"This soldier was the first human being who was kind to us," she told NBC News. "It was the first time after this terrible life that somebody was kind and I knew that somebody wants to help."


Lily Ebert is the woman with the soldier's arm around her.via Dov Forman / Twitter

Ebert's mother, brother, and sister were all killed at Auschwitz. Her two younger sisters were liberated with her at the munitions factory. She believes that she survived the ordeal due to her responsibility to take care of her sisters.

"I promised myself that if I survived by some miracle, I would tell the world what happened there," Ebert said. "The next generation and next generations should know the story so that something like that should not be repeated to any human being ever."

Ebert kept the banknote in a photo album at her home in London where it was discovered by her great-grandson, 16-year-old Dov Forman. Forman had taken it upon himself to start documenting his great-grandmother's stories as a survivor so they would never be forgotten.

"My great-grandma obviously isn't going to be around forever and her story will eventually become my whole family's responsibility to carry on," Forman said.

Intrigued by the transcription on the banknote, Foreman tweeted out a photo of the bill along with photographs of the unknown soldier and Ebert taken a few days after liberation.

The only clue to the man's identity was an inscription on the banknote that reads: "Assistant to Chaplain Schacter."

The "Chaplain Schacter" eluded to on the bill was Chaplain Herschel Schacter, an American Orthodox rabbi who served as a chaplain in the Third Army's VIII Corps. Schacter participated in the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp and helped relocate survivors, including Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel.

The tweet went viral and Forman received responses from all over the world. Eventually, he learned the identity of the solider, Private Hyman Shulman from New Jersey.

In late 1944, Shulman was removed from the front lines after being injured in the Battle of the Bulge and assigned to to serve as Assistant to the Jewish Chaplain to the US Army, Rabbi Herschel Schachter.

Unfortunately, Shulman died seven years ago at the age of 91.

However, Forman was able to locate and contact Schulman's children in New York and bring the families together digitally through Zoom. "It was really special. It felt like we were family, we just clicked," Forman said.

Image: Lilly Ebert and Dov Forman (right) hold a Zoom call with Arlene and Jason Schulman, descendants of the American GI that liberated Lilly during the war, along with Lilly's daughter and husband Bilha and Julian Weider.via Dov Foreman

"I know that this soldier told his family, he wrote to his family every day the stories that he saw," Ebert said. "With that, I feel some connection to them."

Shulman wrote over 1100 letters home during the war. Some of them are archived at POBA.

The families re planning another Zoom call soon and have discussed meeting in person when coronavirus travel restrictions are lifted.

"I hope one day that I will meet them personally, I would very much like to have that," Ebert said.

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Actual Holocaust survivors have a hopeful message about America's new president-elect.

The other night as the votes rolled in, I started to get really upset my parents were seeing what was happening.

It sounds weird, but those were my first thoughts. And they’ve been sticking with me. It’s partly my own damaged psyche, but I feel ashamed this happened.

My dad survived the Holocaust, lost his entire family, fought with the partisans, and is a full-fledged hero. My mom survived Kristallnacht 78 years ago. She escaped to a children’s home in France and eventually made her way to America, where she’s been working to help educate people and end prejudice against all types of people for her entire adult life.

They endured the absolute worst life could offer. They saw the worst in their fellow citizens right down to their next-door neighbors. Imagine bad — it was worse.

But somehow, they’re not angry people. They’re not hateful.

They are good, smart, deeply aware of international issues, and news junkies. They’ve never looked away from the world, no matter how bleak the view.

After all they’ve encountered, it pained me that they were home watching the same results as I was. I thought maybe their experiences could help put this election into perspective —  and maybe even make me feel a little better.

I called my dad, who's seen it all. He’s experienced loss; he crawled on his hands and knees from his town to the Polish forest where he survived alone for months; he fought back; he came to America with nothing; he made himself into a remarkably successful real estate developer and philanthropist.

After we shared our common disbelief at the choice Americans made, he told me he didn't understand how people could have voted for Trump.

I called my mom.

Her message was clear: “Yes, it’s a bummer, but the real message here is that we all need to become activists. Today.”

She thought back to her experiences as a child. “You know, maybe if we had organized and fought back against Hitler’s rise right from the beginning, we could have prevented what happened. We could have made it more difficult for him to do what he did if we hadn’t waited and just assumed that ‘this too shall pass.’”

I’m not arguing that Trump is Hitler. He’s not. I hate the constant comparisons and feel they are counterproductive. Trump deserves a chance to lead. But he can do a lot of damage to progressive values and important democratic institutions in a short time.

We can look forward to 2018 and 2020, but in the meantime, we should all become activists and make it as difficult as possible for him to enact policies counter to our values.

If we don’t, this too shall not pass.

At the end of the conversation, my mom said, “Sorry, I don’t think I did a very good job of cheering you up.”

Pretty amazing, right? She thought it was her job to cheer me up.

Don’t underestimate the resilience of good people. Don’t underestimate your own power to make things better.

And don’t forget to take my mom’s advice. She’s almost always right. It runs in the family.

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