Historian details Nazi seizure of Jewish pianos in France
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Archivist Caroline Piketty researched the organized theft of pianos from Jewish families in France during the Nazi occupation.
Beginning in September 1940, and continuing until the liberation of Paris, the Nazis systematically confiscated pianos from homes across the city, targeting both wealthy and modest residences.
Piketty discovered details of this effort while working at the National Archives, noting that the confiscations mirrored the broader goals of the Holocaust and were carried out with a dedicated “music commando.” Piketty explains that pianos held a special place in Jewish homes, serving as a source of family life and lasting memories. The Nazis kept records of musicians and used this information to identify homes to raid, mirroring their approach to seizing other valuables.
After the war, pianos were recovered from storage locations like the Palmarium and the Palais de Tokyo, and returned to surviving owners. Approximately 1500 pianos have been returned from the 8000 stolen, a significant number considering only 4000 of the 75,000 Jewish people deported from France survived the concentration camps. Piketty detailed her research in the essay Harmonies volées (Stolen Harmonies), published by L'Archipel.
