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Garden of Righteous
May 5, 2024 @ 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Honoring the Van Damme Family from Belgium
Please join us on Sunday, May 5, at 2 pm as we honor the Van Damme Family from Belgium. This year we will welcome Laurette and Luc Matthijs as we honor their family, as well as Adas Israel member Hirsch Grunstein, who was given sanctuary by the Van Damme family in Belgium during World War II. We hope you can join us for this moving ceremony, which will include musical excerpts from the Missing Voices project, featuring soprano Lily Arbisser and French-Romanian pianist Dimitri Malignan, and highlighting works of composers who were victims of the Holocaust.
Alice Van Damme, at 22, witnessed an attack on Jews near Antwerp’s railway station. Amid the chaos, she heard of Dr. Content, who could aid Jews. Seeking to help, she connected with Mrs. Sobolski, taking in her children and aiding others. With a teacher’s help, she sheltered Hirsch and Salomon Grunstein. Alice’s family, active in the resistance, aided Jews, even after arrests. Recognized by Yad Vashem in 1996, the Van Damme family were named Righteous Among the Nations for their courageous actions.
Program will include acclaimed French-Romanian pianist Dimitri Malignan bringing his “Missing Voices” project, dedicated to Jewish composers who were persecuted in the Shoah. Dimitri collaborates with American soprano Lily Arbisser, known to the Adas community from the years she sang in the quartet for our High Holy Days. Dimitri and Lily will perform music by Mieczysław Weinberg, Sim Gokkes, Henriëtte Bosmans, Józef Koffler, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman.