Elvira_Manthey_testimony part 2 of 3
given at the Foucault Tribunal, Berlin 1998
for more info: www.foucault.de
“Outside the door there was a small cart with two wheels and two pull-handles. Sometimes there were several children lying on it. We saw the undertaker everyday,

And then they said that my sister would be taken away as well. It was terrible. I hugged her one last time and then she was gone. I thought: "Now you are going mad. Now you can't cope with it anymore. I sat down. I cried. But I couldn't cry anymore; I just sat and stared. A week later my sister had been taken away on the day before her fifth birthday. We, the 8 remaining children in the home were told a week later that we were going to be taken away. They brought us to another building. There was a stage and many chairs. Thats where we had to sit down and wait. Then someone said: "Get out everybody! Children first!" In front of the door there were 4 busses with windows that were painted dark blue from inside. So you couldn't look outside and you couldn't look inside. 

There had been 8 children in that home. I can't quite remember if there had already been other people when we got on the bus or if they had entered later on but when we left the bus there were 35 to 40 people. I tried to scratch a little hole into the paint with my fingernails in order to look outside but it was too difficult. I had to do it very far below to make sure no-one notices. The bus stopped, drove into a building. We had to get out and I was the first again. There was a very narrow hall, not much wider than a door. At the end of the hall there was open door and they had turned on the lights although it was day. I entered the room and I felt immediately: there is something wrong; it is dangerous in here. 

So I entered the room; it was a very small room and in the first wall of the room was the entrance; right in the corner. Then there was the second wall with an iron door in the middle, which led to the gas-chamber. Then there was the third and fourth wall and in the corner there was a table which led to the middle of the room. Sitting at the table there were four people sitting in white coats: three women and one man. Next to the table there was a pile of clothes and a pile of shoes. I stood between the table and the pile of clothes.

The woman who had accompanied on the bus shouted at us: "'Take off your clothes! Hurry up! Put your shoes here and your clothes there!" She had taken the youngest child; torn off it's clothes; carried it on the arm - the child must have been about 4 years old; maybe younger.”