Musical Foundation refuses to pay compensation to heirs of Jewish former owner
26 January 2021 • 6:08pm
The fate of a rare and precious 18th century violin has reopened debate over modern Germany’s efforts to return property looted from its Jewish owners by the Nazis.
The violin, made in 1706 by the Italian master Guarneri, is promoted by its current owners, a Nuremberg musical foundation, as an “instrument of understanding”.
But a German government commission last week took the highly unusual step of publicly shaming the foundation after it refused to pay compensation to the heirs of the violin’s Jewish former owner.
Rare violin tests Germany s commitment to atone for its Nazi past
Felix Hildesheimers music store in Speyer, Germany. The store occupied the first floor of the building, and the Hildesheimers lived on the floors above. Via David Sand via The New York Times.
by Catherine Hickley
(NYT NEWS SERVICE)
.- No one knows why Felix Hildesheimer, a Jewish dealer in music supplies, purchased a precious violin built by the Cremonese master Giuseppe Guarneri at a shop in Stuttgart, Germany, in January 1938. His own store had lost its non-Jewish customers because of Nazi boycotts, and his two daughters fled the country shortly afterward. His grandsons say its possible that Hildesheimer was hoping he could sell the violin in Australia, where he and his wife, Helene, planned to build a new life with their younger daughter.