Looted Caressa violin found Family return is planned

Dec 2024

France 2 traces a 1905 Caressa violin, serial number 152, recovered before an auction about two years earlier. Auctioneer Étienne Laurent checked the register of Nazi-looted property, matched the instrument's internal label and withdrew it from sale. Pascale Bernheim's research follows the 1940 theft from a Marne château and the affected musical family. The report attributes the violin to Eugène Choubry in the 1910s; Clémence Houdart describes her great-great-uncle's conservatoire success and the family account of his playing in First World War trenches before his 1917 death. Sarah Dayan plays the recovered violin. Return to the heirs in Paris is scheduled for the following day, not shown as completed. The historical ownership attribution belongs to the broadcast.

A 1905 Caressa violin numbered 152 was identified before sale at Vichy Enchères as an instrument looted in 1940. France 2 describes Étienne Laurent's match to the looted-property register, withdrawal from auction and Pascale Bernheim's subsequent family research. The broadcast attributes earlier ownership to Eugène Choubry; that historical attribution remains the source's claim. It shows Sarah Dayan playing the instrument and reports a return to heirs in Paris planned for October 7, 2026, without showing a completed handover.