Holocaust Audio Tour 12: The Violin

Move to the violin on exhibit to learn Robert Kahn’s history. Mr. Kahn recounted his experience in a letter: “59 years ago on November 9, 1938, a teenager 15 years old, experienced the most violent, barbaric display of anti-Semitic acts ever recorded in history. I was that teenager! The day began by witnessing the purposeful destruction of the only Jewish school in the area, while people cheered and applauded. It was my school. Then, as I hurried home on my bike, I arrived to see a mob of Nazis, in brown and black uniforms throwing our furniture and other belongings through windows which had been smashed, and off the balcony. In the yard below, a huge bonfire consumed everything that was dear to us, while the Nazi hoards and mob of onlookers sang and shouted insults at us, the Jews. While our apartment was being destroyed and ransacked, mother was locked up in one room, crying loudly. My father was being beaten up in the hallway, begging for mercy. When I told them to stop, they took me into my room, threw my violin at me, took me to the balcony and ordered me to play happy German songs. I was scared, crying, in agony but play I did to the amusement of the crowd. My father was taken to Dachau concentration camps. Our two beautiful synagogues were destroyed. Before I fled Germany, and eventual freedom in America, I hid the violin in the attic of our apartment. When I returned from military service in the U.S. Army and the war was won over Hitler, I wrote to the janitor of our apartment in Mannheim, Germany. He found the hidden violin and sent it to me in America. This is the violin which shares all the memories of the past with me. At one time it could vibrate to imitate the happy flight of song birds; today it is only a reminder of a once dehumanized and terrified Jewish boy.” - Signed, Robert Kahn, September 15, 1997