Winnipeg – November 30, 2022 – An unforgettable story of friendship, hope and remembrance will be shared at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR).
Fanny Hecht was a Jewish violinist who was murdered along with her entire family by the Nazis during the Holocaust. In 1943, knowing the threat she was facing, Hecht asked her friend Helena Visser to save her violin if she was taken. Visser did just that, sneaking into the Hechts’ apartment in Amsterdam after they were arrested by the Nazis and rescuing the violin.
In the years since, Visser’s descendants moved to Canada. For many years, they searched for relatives of Fanny who survived the Holocaust. Unable to locate any, they travelled to Israel to donate the instrument to Violins for Hope. The organization restores violins and other instruments that belonged to Jews so they can continue to be played. Many of these violins’ owners were murdered in the Holocaust. Despite this, each violin is a symbol of hope: a reminder of those who were taken, and of the responsibility to fight antisemitism and all forms of hate.
The Hecht violin will be featured at a December 3 performance by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) and will then be installed in the CMHR’s Examining the Holocaust gallery for public viewing from December 13 to March 13, 2023.
A media availability will be held tomorrow, December 1, at the CMHR. The Hecht violin will be on display, and present to share the moving story behind the violin will be Janet Meagher, a member of Helena Visser’s family who helped in the search for relatives of Fanny Hecht and cared for the violin.
CMHR CEO Isha Khan and WSO Associate Director of Education & Community Brent Johnson will also be available for interviews.
WHAT: Media availability and photo opp featuring Hecht violin
WHO: Janet Meagher, CMHR CEO Isha Khan and WSO Associate Director of Education & Community Brent Johnson.
WHEN: 11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m., Thursday, December 1
WHERE: Examining the Holocaust gallery, CMHR, 85 Israel Asper Way
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Photo: The Hecht Violin
For more information, please contact:
Rorie McLeod
CMHR Media Relations Specialist
Cell: 204-299-0303
