Has the Mendelssohn Stradivarius Stolen During World War II Resurfaced?
As cities crumbled and families were torn apart during World War II, some of history’s most valuable artifacts vanished without a trace. Among them, a rare violin, the Mendelssohn violin, crafted in 1709 by the legendary Italian luthier Antonio Stradivarius, was stolen. The Mendelssohn-Bohnke had deposited the cherished violin in a bank safe in Berlin as Nazis persecuted the Jewish during Hitler’s reign. At the end of the war, the bank was broken into as the Soviet Army attacked Berlin, and the violin vanished, presumed lost or destroyed. However, the violin was photographed in the 1930s and recognized as Stradivarius’s work from his Cremona workshop in 1709. Following the picture left behind, we may have a clue of where it is now.
Carla Shapreau, a senior fellow at the Institute of European Studies at the University of California, Berkley, has been searching for the artifact for over 15 years. She came across photos from a Stradivarius exhibition in 2018, which had prominent similarities to Mendelssohn’s violin. Although this violin was named ‘Stella’ and was said to have been made in 1707. “My jaw dropped,” Sharpeau expressed, seeing an instrument almost identical to the Stradivarius she was hunting for.
Jason Price, the owner of Tarisio, an auction house located in New York, had photographed a Stradivarius violin that passed through his auction house in 2000. After comparing the grain of the wood and location of scratches, done by experts and Price, they agree that the violins are strikingly similar. “They obviously are the same,” Price expresses, “When you look at the photographs side by side, you see the peculiarities of the wear patterns, the dings, the dents, the scratches. It is the same violin. There’s no question about that, and I don’t think anyone would have a reasonable case in saying they aren’t.”
Jean-Philippe Échard, a curator of stringed instruments at the Musée de la Musique in Paris, noted that a replica could have been made, given the similarity of the instruments, and was almost certain they were the same.
After tracking down the violin through sales records and interviews, Sharpeau believes that the violin had been acquired by Japanese violinist Eijin Nimura in 2005. Nimura plays for UNESCO, a specialized agency of the United Nations, to promote peace and security through collaborations. He has spoken out about ‘Stella’ online and at the 2018 Tokyo exhibition. But refuses to contact Sharpeau about it.
Nimura’s lawyer wrote a letter to Sharpeau where he expressed their unwillingness to discuss the violin with her. Lawyer Yoshie Tsuruta from the Peaceful International Law Firm situated in Tokyo wrote, “Mr. Nimura is a bona fide purchaser of the instrument for valuable consideration. The instrument belongs to Mr. Nimura.”
David Rosenthal, a descendant of the Mendelssohn-Bohnke family, following Sharpeau, also reached out to Nimura. Rosenthal wrote an email out to Nimura saying, “It has now been clearly established that this violin is currently in your hands, and that a completely fictitious provenance has been invented for it… The true identity of the so-called ‘Stella’ will be impossible to keep secret.”
Tsuruta wrote back saying that Sharpeau and Rosenthal should “cease and desist from any further action, conduct or behavior.”
Rosenthal expresses how this violin is more than just a material loss. He states that “The violin is part of us. Music is part and parcel of our family. We just want a resolution.”
Experts like Sharpeau and family members of the Mendelssohn-Bohnke continue to search and hunt down the violin. Until a resolution is reached, the violin remains an important part of history, whether of artistic brilliance or a family artifact.