Joshua Bell. Photo by David Bazemore.
The Violins of Hope, you may know, are instruments stolen from Jews as they entered concentration camps, priceless objects that survived the Shoah and have been lovingly restored to their former glory.
The project has been, for years, the work of master luthier Amnon Weinstein, who passed away on March 4, 2024.
Precisely one year later –March 4, 2025– eight of the violins he restored will add their voices to the recording of Jim Papoulis‘ musical score for A Train Near Magdeburg.
They’ll be in the talented hands of the string section of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. One of them will be played by world-famous violinist Joshua Bell.
The work of Violins of Hope is now in the capable hands of Amnon’s son Avshi Weinstein.
Mike Edwards, director of A Train Near Magdeburg, said “I sent a message to Avshi saying that we will dedicate Tuesday to his father’s honor and memory and that we are so grateful for his vision to bring these violins back to life so that the world can hear them.”
The eight violins that will become part of our recording were on exhibition in Knoxville, Tennessee. Edwards drove there from Columbus, Ohio to pick them up personally and to carefully transport them to the concert hall.
In Amnon’s workshop, April 2023.
L-R: Matthew Rozell, Amnon Weinstein, Mike Edwards.
The violin in this photo is featured
in our opening titles.
We’ve spoken before of our friend Varda Weisskopf, whose father survived Bergen-Belsen and was liberated from the train. Once he had made a home in Israel, he raised a family in Kibbutz Yavne and was the “family doctor” for the community. One of the families he cared for was the Ashers — Hanna, Naftali, and their children.
While preparing for the recording session, we learned that one of these violins, one that has made the journey through the Shoah — to Violins of Hope — to international touring — to the concert hall in Columbus … originally belonged to the Ashers.
So when we get to the moment in our film where we meet Varda Weisskopf, the background music may include — by a fantastic twist of fate — a violin owned, decades earlier, by one of her neighbors.