Author of book about violins and the Holocaust visits Birmingham
The author of "Violins of Hope" visited Birmingham on Sunday in advance of the Violins of Hope event scheduled in April 2018. (Karim Shamsi-Basha / Alabama NewsCenter)
The story of the Holocaust is disturbing, in part, because of the instruments of death used to kill millions.
But there were other instruments associated with those lost that have inspired a movement of remembrance and a book by James Grymes.
“The one thing I learned from writing ‘Violins of Hope’ is that the Holocaust is not a story of 6 million deaths, it’s 6 million different stories,” Grymes told more than 300 gathered at Temple Emanu-El in Birmingham on Sunday.
Grymes was in the Magic City to kick off the campaign that will bring the historic violins to Birmingham for a concert and educational opportunities next year. Violins will be in Birmingham April 10-15 along with Amnon Weinstein and Avshalom Weinstein, the father and son who restore them.
Author James Grymes prepares Birmingham for Violins of Hope exhibit coming in April 2018 from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
Ann Mollengarden with the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center is the education chairwoman for the Violins of Hope event. She was touched by the stories Grymes shared.
“Next spring, 16 of the violins will be coming to Birmingham for a performance at the Alys Stephens Center,” she said. “They will echo the voices of those Holocaust survivors. What I took away from the event on Sunday is that there is still a lot of interest in learning about the Holocaust, the personal stories, and the people impacted by the events of the Holocaust. People are interested in making a change in the future.”
Grymes said he became familiar with the violins through his job. He teaches at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The university brought 18 of the violins of hope to the city in 2012. It was the first time they had been on display anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. He became inspired by the project and took a trip to Tel Aviv and spent a week with Amnon Weinstein.
“The violin that touched me the most is Feivel Wininger’s violin, who went on a death march in Romania through the rain and the snow. They had a 16-month-old daughter named Helen, and at the time I was writing that chapter about Feivel and how he used music to save his family, I couldn’t help but to think of my own daughter, who is also named Helen and was 16 months old as well,” Grymes said.
“James did a wonderful job giving us a glimpse of what’s to come to our community next April,” said Sallie Downs, Violins of Hope project coordinator. “The lessons from the Holocaust are more important than ever, and we are to learn by never repeating the mistakes of the past. As horrific as photographs are, nothing has the power to teach us from the inside out like the music made by the violins of hope.”
Like music, Grymes hopes the “Violins of Hope” book will resonate with those who read it.
“I want this book to tell people that music can always give us hope,” he said. “It’s the most human of expressions and has the power to give hope to humanity even in the darkest of times.”
For more information about the book, visit, http://www.jamesagrymes.com/about-violins-of-hope/
