About one week later my parents met them one last time. At Fuldaer Berg there lived my
grand-aunt in a little house, and we agreed on a certain time of day for a meeting. Then
the Strauss’ went through that secret door at Lorengel’s out into Gartenstrasse, and up a
small alley to my grand-aunt’s home, where my parents waited for them. All the while
the SA-men were guarding the front door of Josephs house.
This happened just before they had to leave in December of 1941.
All those years after we had moved we stayed in touch with them. Back then we moved
on a Friday (1933), and on Sunday the Strauss’ already came to see us in Fulda. It really
was a close friendship. Mrs. Strauss, who really didn’t fit the stereotype of a Jewess,
used to come occasionally to Fulda to see us. Only at the very end this didn’t happen
anymore.
When we called on the Strauss’ one more time before they were hauled off, Mrs.
Wertheim presented me on that occasion with a wonderful, precious tablecloth, a real
piece of art. That tablecloth we would only spread on holidays. The elder Mrs.
Wertheim - Alfred’s grandmother - had knitted it with white, thin yarn. Unfortunately
somebody stole that tablecloth from us.
I don’t know what happened to the household contents of the Strauss’. However, I do
know that those things, that they left with us for safekeeping, were sent to America after
the war. This here open-work receptacle I received from them as a farewell present.
Back then when the Strauss’ were hauled off I said: ‘If these people don’t come back,
I don’t believe in God any longer!’ Because we knew - not the full extent of it though -,
but we knew what was going to happen. O yes, it was horrifying back then!