The song is over. The Curtain has fallen.

Mordechai Santilhano was a Dutch Jewish performing artist. He was born on January 11,1905. He was murdered on in or near Auschwitz on October 12.1944. He used the artist name Max Santiel or simply Oom Max-Uncle Max.

I could say quite a lot about him, but I have decided to leave his own words tell his story of his last days. The title of the blog was taken from the last letter he wrote to his friends.

Ventriloquist “Uncle Max” wrote a last letter to the couple (“Toon and Truus”) with whom he was friends and where he had previously been in hiding. Max and Toon were both artists and had performed together – this is what Max refers to when he talks about the “business side”. There is no date on the letter. Below is a translation of the transcript.

Dear Toon and Truus!

For the first time in…