Stringed Instruments At War

[Randall The Restorer]

Dear Friends,

Remembrance Day, or Veteran’s Day in USA, is approaching.

Please share photos, writings, and ideas about violins, cellos, guitars, etc. that were played and made by service men and women during wartime.

 I am personally interested in folding trench cellos, ration box guitars, and POW luthiers.

NOTE: Instruments seized by invaders or smuggled to safety are a different topic.

Thanks in advance.

Lest We Forget.

Sincerely,

Randy O’Malley

Edited November 7 by Randall The Restorer
Title and content

[MANFIO]

A Hungarian friend told me that the nazis took all the good instruments. The communists took the rest of them.

Maurizio Tadioli's grandfather's story, but in Italian

https://milano.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/16_febbraio_22/violino-dono-guerra-che-uni-prigioniero-suo-carceriere-cremona-pizzamiglio-nuova-zelanda-b84b7f8e-d8e2-11e5-842d-faa039f37e46.shtml

https://www.instagram.com/mauritadi67/p/C3junbroRcg/

[jacobsaunders]

40 minutes ago, MANFIO said:

A Hungarian friend told me that the nazis took all the good instruments. The communists took the rest of them.

 

That is hardly true. Before the fall of the “Iron curtain” legions of Hungarians regularly brought violins to Austria (and further) for “Deutsche Mark”. After the fall of the “Iron curtain” they practically had nothing left, and violins were almost more expensive in Hungary than they are here in Austria

[Shelbow]

Instruments went in many directions in the years leading up to, during and after the war. With varying people / factions involved.

I recommend reading this book as a first overview into some of the things which went on at the time.

Sonderstab Musik -Music Confiscations by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg under the Nazi Occupation of Western Europe

by Willem de Vries     https://www.deslegte.com/sonderstab-musik-2315445/

My undergraduate dissertation was on musical instrument lost or destroyed during the Second World War.

[nrlewis]

I enjoyed this film that came out a few years ago, about how a POW made a violin during WWII. https://www.byutv.org/instrument-of-war

[Randall The Restorer]

21 hours ago, jacobsaunders said:

That is hardly true. Before the fall of the “Iron curtain” legions of Hungarians regularly brought violins to Austria (and further) for “Deutsche Mark”. After the fall of the “Iron curtain” they practically had nothing left, and violins were almost more expensive in Hungary than they are here in Austria

I am currently reading the Second World War memoirs of a 19 year-old Wiener in the Nazi Wehrmacht. In one letter dated summer 1943 he writes to his mutti that in Romania every kind of item is available for purchase on the open market to the extent that it doesn't look or feel like there is a war going on. Several months later he writes from Kiev with a much different story.

Did Hungarian luthiers ever use paprika as a coloring agent?

[M Alpert]

The Harry Wahl collection in Viipuri, Finland (also known as Vyborg, nowadays Russia) is a very interesting story. One of the greatest private collections in Europe at the time, apparently - Strads, Amatis and more. The best of them were smuggled out to Sweden then NYC at the dawn of the Finnish winter war 1939. There they were conveniently sold off for a fortune, which Wahl's family apparently did not get to enjoy.

There is a good book about it, with pictures, by his granddaughter, if I remember correctly.

Heimo Haitto was 13 in 1939 when he left for the US to tour as a young virtuoso, under the guidance of Boris Sirpo, who had led the Viipuri conservatory and been close with Harry Wahl. Haitto took one of Wahl's Strads with him, apparently. Another colorful story!

[David Burgess]

Carla Shapreau, an attorney, has studied, lectured and written quite a lot about property "changing hands" during the second world war. I can't find the book she wrote about that right now.
https://www.carlashapreau.com/shapreau-bio
I probably wouldn't know anything about her, except that she's made some really nice fiddles, and has studied fiddlestuff with some really good people.

She and I were also involved together in a group wood cutting trip in Oregon. She was a kick-ass physical worker.

[Randall The Restorer]

9 hours ago, M Alpert said:

The Harry Wahl collection in Viipuri, Finland (also known as Vyborg, nowadays Russia) is a very interesting story. One of the greatest private collections in Europe at the time, apparently - Strads, Amatis and more. The best of them were smuggled out to Sweden then NYC at the dawn of the Finnish winter war 1939. There they were conveniently sold off for a fortune, which Wahl's family apparently did not get to enjoy.

There is a good book about it, with pictures, by his granddaughter, if I remember correctly.

Heimo Haitto was 13 in 1939 when he left for the US to tour as a young virtuoso, under the guidance of Boris Sirpo, who had led the Viipuri conservatory and been close with Harry Wahl. Haitto took one of Wahl's Strads with him, apparently. Another colorful story!

Thank you for this.

What I had in mind when I posted this topic was instruments that were actually played or made by armed forces personnel in a combat zone or POW camp.

[Brad Dorsey]

9 hours ago, Randall The Restorer said:

… in a combat zone or POW camp.

If you’re interested in music played in concentration camps, look for the book “Playing for Time” about the women’s orchestra in Auschwitz.

[TimRobinson]

The Australian War Memorial has a very good website.  For example, these are the results of a search for "violin": 

https://www.awm.gov.au/advanced-search?query=violin&collection=true&facet_type=Photograph

Regards,

Tim

[Randall The Restorer]

1 hour ago, TimRobinson said:

The Australian War Memorial has a very good website.  

As does The Canadian War Museum.
It displays photos of instruments and performers; including a group portrait of a First World War Canadian Army Corps String Orchestra/Band near the front holding violins, mandolins and guitars and a banjo - no cellos or double basses since they don’t fit into foxholes.