Family hope for violin tainted by Nazi history

A VIOLIN that belonged to a Jewish musician forced to play for propaganda purposes while in a Nazi concentration camp has been brought to The Repair Shop for restoration.

- MARK JEFFERIES

The prisoner's harrowing experience at the hands of the Germans scarred him for life and when he was freed, he never touched the instrument again.

It ended up dried out, cracked and with its strings hanging off.

Violin restorer Becky Houghton, who will fix the piece, said: "I don't think I have ever held anything in my hands with such a poignant and sad history. I'd like it to have a really happy future."

The battered instrument belonged to musician Siegmund Feitl. He was born in 1876 in Vienna and entertained crowds in nightclubs around the city.

However, when the Germans invaded Austria before the Second World War, he was taken to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in what is now The Czech Republic.

EMOTIONAL