Nejiko Suwa

Nejiko Suwa (諏訪根自子^?) (23 January 1920 – 6 March 2012) was a Japanese violinist who first rose to prominence as a child prodigy during the inter-war period, and was most active prior to the 1960s. She is most noted today for having been presented with what was claimed to be a Stradivarius by the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, and the controversy surrounding the gift.

Suwa was born as Nejiko Oga in Tokyo in 1920 and was recognized as a violin prodigy by the age of 10. Her first teacher was Nakajima Tazuruko, but she soon progressed quickly enough to study with his teacher, the Russian violinist Anna Bubnova-Ono. Suwa was introduced to Efrem Zimbalist while on his second Asian tour in 1930. Her performance of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor impressed him enough that the meeting made headlines. He recommended that she study abroad and offered his assistance. While she did not take up this offer and continued to remain in Japan for six more years, she did decide to study under another Russian violinist, Alexander Mogilevsky.

Having relocated to Brussels in 1936 to continue her studies with Mogilevsky, she moved once again to Paris, in 1938, to study with Boris Kamensky. She gave her European debut in the Salle de Chopin there on 15 May 1939. Although World War II broke out several months later, Suwa continued to stay in Paris to further her studies even after the Nazi regime occupied Paris. Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, at this time, were united by the Tripartite Pact, and this military alliance allowed Suwa's career to flourish: she was allowed to give concerts to wounded German troops to strengthen the alliance. Yusuke Fukada wrote a book about the early part of her life in Europe which was made into a TV film for TV Asahi in 1985 in which the Japanese violinist Mariko Komuro played the role of the young Suwa.

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