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...The
arrest and information of the deportation was a terrible
experience for those concerned. It was inevitable that some
souls could not face this trial. There were several cases of
suicide and attempted suicide in the course of the first hours
of the Aktion. In Mannheim (with 2,500 deportees) there
were about 10 cases, and as many in Baden-Baden (with scarcely
100 members of the community). These cases of suicide -
there were others during the journey - involved almost
exclusively Jews who had moved far from Judaism, had left the
community or were baptized. The fate of these people was
tragic: the road into exile forced them back (to Judaism, to
being a Jew) where their own efforts had taken them away. They
no longer wanted to be Jews and now were forced to be Jews....
H.D.
Fliedner, ed., Die Judenverfolgung in Mannheim 1933-1945 ("The
Persecution of the Jews in Mannheim 1933-1945"), II,
Stuttgart, 1971, p. 79.
*
From a report prepared by Dr. Eugen Netter, one of the heads
of the Mannheim Community.
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