By: Kim Killebrew
I read this article today. Maybe you saw it, too. Israeli violin maker Amnon Weinstein of Tel Aviv lost 380 relatives to the Holocaust. He has spent the last decade scouring the globe for violins that were played in Nazi ghettos, work camps, and death camps. He has collected 18 instruments that will now be on display at The University of North Carolina, Charlotte: College of Arts and Architecture.
I did not realize that music was even a part of the Nazi reign of terror. Reportedly, prisoners were forced to play during the inmates roll call, marching time, work time, and even to showcase executions.
“Weinstein likes to tell of the violin he was working on one day in his shop in his native Israel. He found himself scraping away black gunk until he realized what it was. The violin had been played by an inmate in the orchestra at Auschwitz, a short walk from the gas chambers and chimneys. It was ashes.”
Naturally, many survivors wanted nothing to do with these instruments of death. So the violins were discarded and lost. However, Weinstein has searched them out, restored them to working condition, and now displays them in an exhibit called “Violins of Hope.”
Ladies, does that sound familiar? God designed us to be life-givers. Sin caused us to be life-takers. Christ’s redemption, the life he has given us, has restored our life-giving capabilities. Just like the violins. We were once instruments of death, but today we live to play another song. Will we?
I am challenged to see life through a new set of eyes. I can choose to gripe and complain and point fingers - tearing down the lives around me, celebrating the death of this world we live in. Or I can choose to pray, and wait, and deny myself, and encourage, and convey a message of hope for the future. Oh God, give us the strength to play a new song!
