Marie, S and Elisabeth, L

Marie, S and Elisabeth, L

Mrs Marie Sch, (née L.), and Miss Elisabeth, L's account of the events at Frankfurter Straße 2, 4, 6, 8.

1944-02-04

1944-02-05

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Record 2

BKasselVdObmv10002

Translated from the original in German: Present are Mrs Marie Sch., née L., and Miss Elisabeth L. and make the following statement:
We – my mother Elisabeth L., née Gischler, born 8 December 1855, and my brother Heinrich – lived in no. 6. After the alarm, we went immediately to the cellar. Soon, the first incendiaries were falling and also canisters [with white phosphorous]. It didn’t take very long and everything was in flames. The breakthroughs had already been opened. People came from nos. 2 and 4 because the corner house was said to have collapsed. The prefabs were also on fire. It is indescribable how these were bent by the fire. Smoke started to develop in the cellar. We wanted to get through to nos. 8 and 10 now. But our breakthrough to no. 8 was only a manway and fairly high up. You had to crawl through on your belly. Our mother could not come with us. Everything got therefore delayed. My brother ran ahead and gave the butcher Fernau in Georgenstraße a rucksack with valuables. Then he came back.
In the meantime, we had fallen asleep. My brother then tried and fetch me and was calling for help on the Friedrichsplatz and the Schöne Aussicht. Finally he found a soldier he knew and a relative of the soldier, Private Siebert, of Frankfurter Straße 1. They came to the cellar with my brother and helped him to carry my mother and me through the breakthrough. I was brought on a handcart to the garrison headquarters on the Friedrichsplatz where I was put on a stretcher and carried to the Red Cross. That is where I woke on Sunday morning.
My mother had been put on a truck of the auxiliary service. I have been told that Mr Hochhuth of Frankfurter Straße 8 was on the same transport. This gentleman woke up on Saturday at about 11 in the deaconesses’ hospital. He had not even been taken off the stretcher, supposedly, but transported there directly. From there he was taken to the Lutherhaus in Melsungen. Only men were there. My brother made further queries but unfortunately no one showed him a list. They said they’d write later but have not done so.
I am sure that my mother did not remain in the cellar. We were rescued about 1 in the morning.
Today, Mrs. Sch., née L., returns and adds to her statement:
My mother was wearing a black dress with striped trimming, a grey cardigan and over that a black one with short sleeves, a black coat, a black scarf with a white stripe and over that a dressing gown, blue with yellow stripes, a yellow collar and cuffs and a hat.
Today I met Herr Siebert who is now in Rothenburg/Fulda. He had carried my mother and the sister from no. 8 (and also Mr Hochhuth) on a ladder, together with his cousin, a sergeant and another soldier. He had seen that my mother had still opened her eyes on Friedrichsplatz and that she had been put on an ambulance of the make Ford. She was together with five other people. Herr Siebert couldn’t say whether Mr Hochhuth had been put on the same waggon.