The "Second Witness"

By Gaby Booth
There is a yellow road sign on the forecourt of Mannheim's main railway station: "Gurs 1170 km" is written on it. For the majority of passers-by, this has no meaning; they walk past without questioning the background. For Rita Althausen, however, this signpost is a symbol of extermination. On 22 October 1940, her father Oskar Althausen was deported from here to France along with other family members and many Jewish families from the region. To the "Camps de Gurs" internment camp at the foot of the Pyrenees. It was known as limbo and a stopover on the way to various concentration camps. [MORE]