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A letter from Kelly Campbell, parent of violin student:

“I wanted to share with you some history on the 3/4 size violin [we were renting] from the Community Music Center. I noticed that the violin says “donated by Rudi Nussbaum” who I happened to know (he’s deceased) and know his wife, Laureen. So I contacted Laureen to ask about the violins’s history.  Laureen said: 

“The violin is really a very fine 3/4 instrument. My older sister and I played it in Amsterdam in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Then Rudi’s and my son, Fred, played it while he frequented the Community Music Center in the early 1960s. He later taught cello and led student orchestras at the Community Music Center.”

Laureen and her sister are holocaust survivors that were friends with Anne Frank and the Frank family in Amsterdam. They used to host musical concerts in their home with the Frank family attending, so it is very likely that this violin was played in the presence of Anne Frank.  Laureen just wrote a memoir that talks about this, so I have purchased an extra copy of the book with the idea that it could be passed along with the violin to the families of the future students who rent it.  I know we found it to be pretty inspiring to learn this history and hope you will too!”

Photo 1: Kelly Campbell, Finn, Laureen Nussbaum. Photo 2: Finn playing the Nussbaum violin