Author Grego Collins and “Art of the Heist” Screening || JC3

The Jewish Cultural Center (JC3) presents

Gregor Collins
author of
The Accidental Caregiver: How I Met, Loved, and Lost
Legendary Holocaust Refugee Maria Altmann

Preceded by a screening of the movie
Art of the Heist: Woman in Gold

Sunday, March 3
11:00 AM

The Jewish Cultural Community Center (JC3)
Calle de Las Moras #47 at the corner of Cinco de Mayo

$250 pesos advance purchase at the JC3
$300 pesos at the door.

The Jewish Cultural Community Center (JC3)

Calle de Las Moras #47 at the corner of Cinco de Mayo

$250 pesos advance purchase at the JC3

$300 pesos at the door.

The JC3 Presents International Lecturer and Author Gregor Collins

By Carole Stone

Gregor Collins, author of The Accidental Caregiver, will present a lecture at the JC3 on Sunday, March 3. Collins is a professional actor and international lecturer whose warm and generous presence has captivated audiences world wide. Before his presentation, we will screen the documentary movie, Art in the Heist: The Lady in Gold, because Collin’s book, and his talk, are about his remarkable relationship with Maria Altmann, the woman who eventually won her legal battle with the Austrian government for ownership of the famous Gustav Klimt painting of her own aunt. The painting had been stolen by the Nazis.

Through a series of circumstances, Collins became the caregiver for Maria Altmann during the last three years of her life, and their relationship is a most astonishing and heartwarming love story. It is the meeting of two destinies that transcend age and that rise above cultural, historical, and religious backgrounds. The two of them have a chemical affinity, what the French call avoir des atomes crochus, a marvelous expression which simply means that, as we are chemical beings, our atoms may “hook” or not with the atoms of another human being. Their atoms “hooked.” Collins was 32 and Maria, 92.

Collins is able to convey, beautifully, the multifaceted experience of love. His presentation promises to fill us with beauty, smiles, sadness, joy, horror, awe, and a wry sense of humor, humor that saved Gregor from falling into despair as Maria lay dying. He describes her as transforming herself “from a red Ferrari to a brown Volvo.”

For Gregor, his relationship with Maria was a life changing experience. “It was the first time in my life I cared for somebody besides myself. I fell in love at first sentence. I was hers forever.” Maria was a woman of elegant sensuous cashmeres, silk scarves, glamorous eyeglasses, Scrabble, Bourbon, and Placido Domingo’s arias. She had a sparkling intellect and effortless wit, and she loved gossip. But she also talks about escaping from the Gestapo in Austria and how her husband Fritz was miraculously liberated from Dachau.

Join us at the Jewish Cultural Center on Sunday, March 3. The movie will be shown at 11:00 followed by a break with snacks, and then the sure-to-be captivating talk by the most charismatic Gregor Collins. Tickets are available for $250 pesos ahead of time, at the JC3, Calle de Las Moras 47 at the Corner of Cinco de Mayo, or at the door on the day of the event for $300 pesos.

The Accidental Caregiver is available for purchase at the JC3.

There will be a book signing after the presentation.