Violin Of Hope Analysis

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Throughout World War II, Jewish people and minority groups were being slaughtered in many European regions subjugated by Adolf Hitler backed by the Nazi party. The tragedy of the genocide of the Jewish people is known as the Holocaust. During this period of affliction, individuals either actively or passively resisted the oppression. The people who were determined to actively resist chose to use violent actions to escape the shame and humiliation for not doing anything; though, the population that prefered to passively resist desired to stay alive by not using violent acts. In different texts including “The Diary of Anne Frank”, “Violins of Hope” and “Resistance During the Holocaust”, passive resistance is utilized by certain individuals …show more content…

In the article “Violins of Hope”, Amnon Weinstein and David Russell set off to preserve the Jewish culture by restoring violins played by the victims of the death camps. By restoring these broken instruments, Weinstein could bring back the life of its previous owner: “And that mean that I’m walking in their footsteps, and their voice is actually heard by my playing of this violin” (David Russell Lines 24 and 25). What Russell means by this is that restoring the violins and continuing to play them is preserving the Jewish culture. This is a victory over the Nazis because Hitler’s legacy failed but the Jewish legacy did. Hitler wanted to kill every single Jew and discontinue their bloodline, but the violins are serving as a legacy to the Jews. Even if they died tragically, the violins still provide their culture. Yet, others may argue that the violins did not help the Jewish culture but hurt the Jewish culture. They may say this due to the fact that the prisoners played classicals on their violins to calm the Jews, making it easier to kill them. This is very wrong because the violins helped the Jewish culture survive and didn’t hurt it. The violin almost serves as a symbol for redemption because it is representing the Jewish culture. Many other cultures also preserved their culture by using objects as their history, food, and even clothes. Passively resisting saved the culture of manys, including the Jewish