Tom mothers

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Tom Mutters (born January 23, 1917 in Amsterdam ; † February 2, 2016 in Marburg , Hesse ) was the Dutch founder of Lebenshilfe. He is considered the "father" of life support. Together with parents and experts, he founded the Federal Association for Life Aid for Mentally Handicapped Children in Marburg on November 23, 1958 . V. (today: Bundesvereinigung Lebenshilfe e.V.), whose managing director Tom Mutters was for 30 years.

Life

Tom Mutters was trained as a primary school teacher from 1934 to 1936. From 1936 to 1938 he was an employee of the Nederlandse Artillerie Inrichtingen and from 1940 to 1945 employee of the Amsterdam City Council. From 1946 to 1949 he headed a Dutch film image office ( ned . : "Filmonderwijs"). A psychology degree , he recorded the 1,958th

As the UN commissioner for displaced persons  - the expression for forced laborers, concentration camp prisoners and other people who had been abducted by the Nazis - Tom Mutters got to know the misery of mentally handicapped children in the camps and in the Hessian Philippshospital in Goddelau in the post-war period . He once said: "In their helplessness and abandonment, these children made it possible for me to recognize the real meaning of life, namely by turning to my neighbor."

Tom Mutters has shaped and accompanied Lebenshilfe for decades. His vision of the inclusion of disabled people from the 1950s is reflected today in the UN Disability Rights Convention, which has guaranteed disabled people in Germany unrestricted participation since 2009 and calls for an inclusive society.

Tom Mutters received numerous awards for his life's work. On his 70th birthday in 1987 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit and the Medical Faculty of the Philipps University of Marburg awarded him an honorary doctorate in the same year . In the Netherlands he was raised to the rank of officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau . In his honor, the "Tom Mutters" foundation was set up in 1996 and numerous organizations throughout Germany bear his name. The city of Marburg renamed the street of the headquarters of the Lebenshilfe association in 2017 to Tom-Mutters-Straße .

Tom Mutters last lived in Marburg with his wife Ursula. They have four grown sons together. Son Frank has been partnered with fashion designer and television presenter Guido Maria Kretschmer since 2012 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ “A real hero” is no longer alive. ( Memento of the original from February 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Oberhessische Presse Online, February 2, 2016, accessed on February 2, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.op-marburg.de
  2. ↑ Tom Mutters obituary  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: FAZ , February 6, 2016, accessed on February 6, 2016.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / Lebenwege.faz.net  
  3. ↑ Redaktionsbüro Harenberg: Knaurs Prominentenlexikon 1980. The personal data of celebrities from politics, economy, culture and society . With over 400 photos. Droemer Knaur, Munich / Zurich 1979, ISBN 3-426-07604-7 , Mutters, Tom, p. 325 .
  4. ↑ City of Marburg: Honor for the founders of Lebenshilfe: Industriestraße is now called Tom-Mutters-Straße , November 29, 2017, last accessed: February 7, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Mothers, Tom
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch founder of Lebenshilfe
DATE OF BIRTH January 23, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Amsterdam , Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 2016
Place of death Marburg , Hessen , Germany