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violins of hope

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Bethel Park High School teachers Leigh Totty and Chelsea Casagranda incorporate the study of the Holocaust in their curriculums.

“Learning about the Holocaust is an integral part of understanding humanity, understanding history and the challenges facing our world today,” said Totty.

A part of that history will be heard as students play violins rescued from the Holocaust at a concert at 7 p.m. Nov. 13 at Upper St. Clair High School. Attendance at “Hope in the South Hills – Student Readings and Performances” is free.

Bethel Park musicians will perform “Sleep My Child,” a song by Larry Clark, and join students from Mt. Lebanon and Upper St. Clair to play a song together.

“For the students to be connected with these artifacts is definitely a community event,” said Totty. “Music enriches the soul.”

Violins of Hope is a collection of more than 100 string instruments that have been rescued and restored by violin makers Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein. Over more than two decades, the father and son have been devoted to locating the violins as a tribute to those who were lost, including their relatives.

The instruments are being played in concert halls, exhibited in museums and used to educate people of all faiths worldwide.

The Clarion Quartet — formed in 2015 by Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra members Marta Krechkovsky, Jennifer Orchard, Tatjana Mead Chamis and Bronwyn Banerdt — also will take the stage at Upper St. Clair. The quartet began playing works that were banned by the Nazi regime and performs works by composers whose abuses during the Holocaust ranged from exile to execution.

Long embedded in Jewish culture before World War II, the violin took on a new meaning and significance after the Holocaust. For some, the ability to play spared their lives in concentration camps and ghettos or helped their families escape Nazi tyranny. For others, music provided comfort amid loss and suffering.

The Warsaw ghetto will be the focus of a reading by Quinlan Reynolds, a junior at Bethel Park, the night of the concert. He has been researching music from the Holocaust.

Riley Smith, a sophomore, will read a piece she wrote about music in the Holocaust.

“People in the ghetto had minimal food, and they were kept in small spaces,” Reynolds said. “Music is diverse, and it’s complex. It served two roles for these people. One was to give them some normalcy and the second to maintain their identity.”

Three Bethel Park students will play the violin, and there will be a student on bass, one on viola and another on cello. The instruments are such an important thread of hope, said Clara McGough, a senior.

“We will definitely treat these instruments with care, and we will tell their stories,” she said.

One story is of a man who in 1942 was sent on a cattle train to a concentration camp. He heard voices of workers on the railways and said to them, “In the place where I now go, I don’t need a violin. Here, take my violin so it may live.”

He tossed the instrument to a worker whose children, when he died, took the instrument to a French violin maker who knew Amnon Weinstein and donated it to the collection.

Another story is about inmate Abraham Davidowitz, who fled from Poland to Russia to post-war Germany to help displaced Jews. He played in the men’s orchestra at the concentration camp in Auschwitz — and survived. A man paid him $50 for the violin so his son could play. That son donated the instrument to Violins of Hope.

A third story tells of Feivel Wininger of Romania, a gifted violinist who was deported with his family to the Ukrainian ghetto of Shargorod. He was given an Italian violin that his daughter donated to Violins of Hope.

Some of the instruments are displayed at the Posner Center at Carnegie Mellon University in Oakland through Nov. 21.

South Hills Interfaith Movement in Bethel Park has been working with Violins of Hope Pittsburgh, the Jewish Community Center of Pittsburgh’s Center for Loving Kindness, and other partners to help bring this event to the South Hills.

“It perfectly aligns with our interfaith roots and current vision of fostering an inclusive community where all can thrive,” said Seth Dubin, South Hills Interfaith Movement’s director of development and communications. “The enduring lessons from the Holocaust emphasize the importance of hope, resilience, and unity within our South Hills community, still so relevant today”

The instruments gave the people who played them an escape from what was happening around them, said Joshua Lubawy, a Bethel Park senior. They meant so much to the Jewish musicians that it will be so powerful to play them, he said.

Violins of Hope is about honoring these musicians and can be used as a way to unify people, said Lily Spence, a senior.

“What an amazing opportunity to pass on historical value to generations and honor their spirit,” said Cameron Wallace, a junior.

No matter how many instruments they have played or will play, these will be unlike playing any other instrument because of their heartbreaking stories, according to junior Katelyn Wolf.

Katie Peterson, a senior, will also be playing one of the string instruments.

“This performance is about combining the past with the present,” said Casagranda. “It’s about teaching the culture and sharing the message.”

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