Self-portrait, Bob Hanf, c. 1920

paper, h 359mm × w 301mm More details

‘Slightly stooped, somewhat weary, the collar of his coat raised, his violin case carefully tucked under his arm,’ is how the poet Marsman described Bob Hanf’s stature. In addition to being a violinist, Hanf was a composer, a profession he felt better suited to his ‘contemplative nature.’ On 23 April 1944, he was arrested in a raid by the Sicherheitsdienst (SS Intelligence Agency) and murdered in Auschwitz on 30 September 1944.