At the beginning of the war, the Tugendhaft family were living in Maastricht. In 1942, the situation became so dangerous that they decided to go into hiding. While his sister Trinette was taken by bike to a convent in Belgium, the resistance found an address in Limburg for the six-year-old Majer. From then on, Majer would go through life by the name of Mattie Gevers. He could never stay in one place for long, so he lived in a succession of hiding places. All that time, his parents never knew exactly where Mattie was. After a while, he went to a farm near Roermond, where he was treated very badly. When an aunt got to hear how bad the situation was, she took him away from there. After that, Mattie ended up with a foster family in South Limburg, where he did receive love and care. After the liberation, Mattie was reunited with his parents and sister. The whole family survived the war.

This evening, Mattie Tugendhaft will tell his life story. By doing so, he hopes to make young people aware of the possible consequences of discrimination and how important it is to treat one another with respect, no matter who you are. His wife Myrna, who was imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen, will accompany Mattie. Although she will not be giving a talk, she is willing to answer questions.You can find an interview with her (in Dutch) here.

After the lecture, the Kaleidoscope trio will play Jewish Vintage, by Kees Schoonenbeek.