Franciszek Kempa’s violin.
In Tuesday’s (4/29) CBS News reports, “During World War II, within the walls of the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, 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. ‘Trial instrument, made under difficult conditions with no tools and materials,’ the worn note read. ‘Dachau. Anno 1941, Franciszek Kempa.’ The origins of the violin, built in 1941 by Franciszek ‘Franz’ Kempa while imprisoned by the Nazis at Dachau in southern Germany, remained unnoticed for decades. It wasn’t until art dealers in Hungary sent the instrument out for repairs … that its history came to light…. A professional disassembled the violin, revealing Kempa’s hidden note—an apparent explanation, even an apology, from a master violin maker forced … to build an instrument … Dachau, located near Munich, was the first concentration camp established by the Nazis… It initially housed political prisoners but later [imprisoned] Jews, Roma, clergy, homosexuals, and others … All known instruments that survived Dachau are believed to have been brought in by prisoners. Kempa’s ‘violin of hope,’ as it has come to be called, is the only known instrument actually built inside the camp.”
