When words fail, music speaks. And a worldwide traveling exhibit of violins now in the Quad Cities reflects the power of music to heal, inspire and teach.
Violins of Hope Iowa will bring a powerful international cultural initiative to communities across the state through a unique collaborative residency featuring historic instruments connected to Jewish musicians and the Holocaust.
The Iowa residency in March and April 2026 (kicking off with a free event Tuesday night, Feb. 17 at Davenport’s Putnam Museum and Science Center) will include programming in the QC, Des Moines, Sioux City and Danville, uniting museums, performing arts organizations, schools and community partners in a shared effort to preserve memory, inspire learning and promote hope through music.
Violins of Hope is a collection of 67 violins, viola and cello that were owned and played by Jewish musicians before and during the Holocaust. Many of the instruments survived ghettos, concentration camps and hiding and now serve as living witnesses to history. Painstakingly restored by master violin makers Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein in Tel Aviv, the instruments are returned to concert stages and educational settings so their stories can continue to be told.
“This is a historic opportunity for Iowa,” said Allan Ross, executive director of the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities, who participated in a special media preview of the project Monday at the Putnam. “Bringing Violins of Hope to multiple communities across the state allows us to reach diverse audiences and create meaningful connections. This residency is about remembrance, education and hope. It is also about ensuring these stories are shared widely and thoughtfully so their lessons endure.”
Ross first heard about the program in 2019, when it was in Fort Wayne, Ind., and learned online about many programs their Jewish Federation did at the time. Ross has been working with Violins of Hope leader Avishi Weinstein over the past two and half years to organize an Iowa tour and schedule.
Third-generation Israeli violin maker Avshalom “Avishi” Weinstein was trained by his father, master violin-maker Amnon Weinstein. He began working with his father in their Tel Aviv atelier in 1998 as a violin-maker and restorer of violins, violas and cellos of the highest level.
Violins of Hope is a global project built around a private collection of 70 violins, viola and cello connected to Jewish musicians before and during the Holocaust.
Played in concerts and showcased in exhibits and educational programs worldwide, the instruments allow music to carry forward stories of resilience and remembrance for today.
These instruments were collected and lovingly restored by Israeli violin maker Amnon Weinstein. His son Avishi continues the work, restoring instruments and bringing Violins of Hope to audiences around the world.
The first Violins of Hope concert was performed in 2008 in Jerusalem. The violins have traveled to and been played in major cities in Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Mexico, England, Romania, Poland and the United States.
The Nazis used music and especially violins to humiliate and degrade Jews in ghettos and camps, the project website says.
“They confiscated many thousands of instruments from Jews all over Europe. Our concerts are the ultimate answer to their plan to annihilate a people and their culture, to destroy human lives and freedom.
“The sound of violins is often compared to the beauty of the human voice,” the site says. “When played with talent and spirit, It is known to reach out and touch hearts. This was the role of violins in the war – to touch hearts, kindle hope for better times and spread it around. Wherever there was music, there was hope.
“Our violins represent the victory of the human spirit over evil and hatred. As many as 6 million Jews were murdered in WW2, but their memory is not forgotten. It comes back to life with every concert and every act of love and celebration of the human spirit.”
Dwindling number of Holocaust survivors
“Today we have less and less survivors who can talk. When I grew up, I heard stories from my grandmother, I heard stories from other survivors,” Avishi Weinstein said Monday morning at the Putnam press conference. “This was something that impressed me because I loved history. But these were some of the people that we had in our family. And today you don't have any more survivors almost that can talk.
“The survivors who talk now, they were kids during the war, if they are still alive. Most of the people are well over 80. So for them to go and talk, especially to students, which is a very important thing, is almost impossible,” he said.
“Not everybody can go to a big Holocaust museum. And we have to make sure that we can try and bring them some kind of, I cannot really call it Holocaust education, because you cannot do Holocaust education in 50 minutes to an hour,” Weinstein said.
The instrument collection began with his grandfather Moshe, a violinist who immigrated to Palestine in 1938. He started buying instruments from members of what was then the Palestine Orchestra (today’s Israeli Philharmonic).
While Ammon’s father survived, the rest of his family, about 400 members, were among the six million Jews and 76 million people who died during the Holocaust.
After World War II, Moshe was head of the Vilna Association and welcomed surviving immigrants on their first day in Israel. Beautifully made German instruments were left untouched after the war as nobody wanted to play a German-made violin, according to the Violins of Hope site.
Musicians came to Moshe’s shop and said, “You are either going to buy this instrument from me or I will break it or burn it.” He didn’t want the instruments destroyed so he bought what he could knowing that he could not sell them again because nobody wanted to buy anything German. The instruments stayed as a collection in the violin maker’s workshop for many years.
Ammon Weinstein gave the first Violins of Hope lecture in 1999, in Dresden to German and Austrian violin makers. The collection today stands at about 100 instruments, and 67 of them will be displayed and played in the QC.
“I know some people will argue that these instruments should be in the museum, but I think different as a historian and a maker of music,” Avishi Weinstein said Monday. “Violins, violas and cellos -- these instruments can go for 500 years, give or take, quite easy.”
“We restore these instruments, we put lots of effort, money and lots of time into it, each and every one of them. And they can be played,” he said. “These are not the greatest instruments in the world. No, the really good stuff was confiscated by the Nazis.
"Like they took all the great art, they took also all the great musical instruments. But these instruments can bring us the notes, the tunes, the music those people heard in some of the most difficult hours and times in life.”
One violin to be played at the Feb. 17 concert was owned by Zvi Haftel, the first concertmaster of the Palestine Orchestra, later to become the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, a French instrument from around 1870.
It’s been said that “Nazis couldn't do a damn thing without music. Literally that,” Weinstein noted. “The Nazis encouraged to have music in the concentration camps everywhere. They used it and abused it in many ways. Musicians had usually to play in the morning when they would go out to work, and in the evening when they return to come back.
“They had to play in parties for the Nazis. They had to play for whatever reason the Nazis thought about,” Weinstein said. One survivor in Florida came to a concert and told him it was torture to hear that violin.
“He said for him this was a torture because the camp that he was in, the Nazis made them stand for hours on Sundays to hear this or that music,” Weinstein recalled. “Seventy years later, listening to music was still a torture. There were musicians playing on the way to the gas chambers, musicians who played where the trains arrived. There was all the time music.”
Music also helped people survive the camps.
“We cannot imagine the conditions those people lived in. And anything that could give you a small taste of freedom, a small taste of home, a small taste of something different was very much appreciated,” Weinstein said. “They wanted music. They wanted something to take them away from where they were, to try and hope and dream from other places, kind of normal life again.”
One of the first violins Weinstein’s grandfather bought was made in Germany in 1774, which is part of the exhibit, as well as one his grandfather played. The instruments were all made between 100 and 250-plus years ago.
A statewide partnership
Allan Ross of the Jewish Federation coordinated organizations in the QC, Des Moines and Sioux City for them to host the instruments as well.
“We're just excited that all the other communities, we're sharing information,” he said. “We all try to work as a, I guess you could say as a community, as a family.”
The residency connects the history of the Holocaust with present-day conversations about tolerance, empathy and human dignity. Through music and education, the project invites audiences of all ages to reflect on the past while building a more informed and compassionate future.
Violins of Hope Iowa will include performances by professional and student musicians, public exhibitions, school based educational programs and community events designed to reach audiences across generations and backgrounds.
An opening event is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17 at the Putnam, 1717 W. 12th St., Davenport. The event includes performances by the Quad City Symphony Youth Ensemble playing violins from the collection and dance by Ballet Quad Cities. The event is free and open to the public with limited seating in the theater.
“The educational aspect is a big deal. Well, first, my father is a Holocaust survivor, so it's very personal to me,” Ross said. “Just looking at some of the studies recently, the lack of knowledge of Holocaust education, especially amongst our young adults, it's shocking what has happened. So it's really important to bring these type of programs where you learn not just the history of what happened, but the lessons learned. That's huge.”
So many students today are bullied and discriminated against, he said, noting prevention and raising awareness are key.
“So bullying, not accepting other people, other ethnic groups, other religions is so hugely important in today's world, especially amongst the students who are going to be our future leaders and young adults,” Ross said. “That's what we're really hoping. This project brings a lot of education.”
It’s impossible to grasp the enormity of six million Jews slaughtered in the Holocaust, as well as millions more gypsies and homosexuals killed by the Nazis, but Ross said personalizing stories through the instruments makes a difference.
“When you know, somebody played that violin, he was in a camp, whether he survived or not, that's a real personal connection,” he said. “So we hope as many students as possible get to hear and play these instruments because most of them are playable.
“We're really excited that the Figge, the Putnam, the German American Heritage Center are also going to have these instruments there and other programs with it. It's very, very important,” Ross said, noting the state of Iowa just passed a law on social studies that requires Holocaust education in schools.
“Now, the students who are going to be learning have to be learning about the Holocaust,” he said. “A lot of them do learn already, but the fact that now it's in law, you have to do it. So it's going to be a great opportunity for them to come to the various places, hear the concerts, see the instruments and people talking about it.”
The QCSO is going to at least eight schools on both sides of the river to play the instruments. “So it's a great opportunity to reach as many young adults and students as possible,” Ross said.
Violins of Hope will include major exhibits at the Putnam, the Figge, and German American Heritage Center and Museum, as well as performances by the QCSO (both Up Close chamber and full Masterworks programs), Ballet Quad Cities, and others.
QC partners in the project are ATLYS, Ballet Quad Cities, Eastern Iowa Community Colleges, Figge Art Museum, German American Heritage Center, Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities, Putnam Museum and Science Center, and the QCSO. WVIK is a media partner for the Violins of Hope Iowa residency.
The QC events will culminate on Sunday, April 19, 2026 with the Yom Hashoah - 45th Annual Holocaust Remembrance, at 7 p.m. at the Rogalski Center, St. Ambrose University, Davenport.
“Each violin carries a story of resilience, survival and the enduring power of music,” said Brian Baxter, executive director of the QCSO. “These instruments were silenced by history, and now they sing again. When they are played, they honor those who were lost, celebrate those who endured and remind us of our responsibility to remember.
“With rising antisemitism and other forms of hate worldwide, the message of resistance, resilience and hope that these instruments bring is relevant for today and is the reason the QCSO feels so passionately about bringing this experience to Iowa communities,” he said.
For a complete schedule of events and more information about Violins of Hope Iowa, visit violinsofhopeiowa.com.
This story was produced by WVIK, Quad Cities NPR. We rely on financial support from our listeners and readers to provide coverage of the issues that matter to the Quad Cities region and beyond. As someone who values the content created by WVIK's news department, please consider making a financial contribution to support our work.
