Hans: Back then, they were searching for disabled people to sort
them out
and take them to a so-called health check. You had
to be careful, my
mother knew that it was dangerous…
Monika: Once we had to hide in the
cellar. Yes, exactly, in the wine cellar. There were a lot of women,
and I was a baby at
that time, embraced by my mum. Suddenly, the door
was pushed open, the Russians entered and wanted to assault women…
Peter: Inside the deaf community there were uncomfortable
feelings,
because all of a sudden it was not allowed to use sign
language
anymore. It became safer not to use it. Why? Because observers of the
SS were everywhere searching for deaf and
disabled people to sort them
out. You would have been deported to the concentration camps and that
would be the end. Then
I realized: Well, we must retreat. We used sign
language only at home, secretly, under the table… We were hiding the
signs.
It was like an underground movement.