VIDEO. Property looted during the Occupation: the incredible story of stolen pianos
During the Occupation, the Nazis are said to have appropriated nearly 8,000 pianos. After the Liberation, 2,000 were returned; some owners identified their instruments by ear, as all pianos have a sound and a soul.
It's an old family friend who almost disappeared: a piano stolen by the Nazis during World War II. Catherine Coquery, 90, is its guardian. The piano belonged to her grandfather. He had bought the second-hand instrument, a Pleyel, in 1926. A Jewish family where the love of music was passed down. But the war would turn the family's destiny, and that of the piano, upside down.
In 1943, the Germans launched an operation to plunder Jewish property, looting the apartments of 40,000 deported families. Furniture, objects of all kinds, musical instruments, even pots and pans, everything was methodically sorted. The stolen pianos were transported to the Palais de Tokyo. They were photographed by the Nazis on Rue de la Manutention, behind the palace. Up to 8,000 instruments were stored in the museum's basement. At the Liberation, the Allies recovered 2,000 pianos. To identify them, a restitution system invited owners to come forward with the instrument's serial number.
Watch the full report in the video above
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