Joe's Violin

1/22/2026

Born in Poland in 1923, Joe grew up with his parents and siblings in a musical household where he played the violin and was happy until the Nazis invaded. Worried for their safety, his parents split up and he, aged just seventeen, and his father headed for the Soviet section from where he was sent to Siberia for the duration. Returning and then making his way to New York after the war, he acquired a violin which over the years gave him much pleasure. Now, though, in his nineties and rarely playing he felt it time to pass it on. Locally, there’s a drive to collect unwanted musical instruments that can be passed on to aspiring young musicians in the city, so he donates. Conscious of the provenance of his violin, the charity doing the distributing find a home for it in a girls school in the B