On November 27, 1941, 80 years ago, the National Socialists deported the first 202 Jewish fellow citizens from Würzburg.

  In the middle of the night, people were torn from their usual lives and had to set off into an uncertain future.

 At that time, our sister Elisabeth Wenzel was still working in the Jewish old people's home on  Konradstraße and had probably "experienced the preparations at close quarters", as Roland Flade writes in his book Dem Lebenserve. The Rita Sisters and the Würzburg Jews. writes.

Many years ago, David Schuster, the former leader of the Israelite community in Würzburg, told students at the Rita Sisters' Family Nursing School after a tour of the synagogue: "Sister Elisabeth literally said goodbye to our people." Roland Flade also writes about his life in the book, as well as about the fate of other Jewish people who knew our sisters and valued their services.

"Whether our book and the living testimony of our sisters are a small contribution to breaking down prejudices and curbing anti-Semitism? It would be desirable and is to be hoped. Today, this concern again particularly needs the life and faith testimony from us, from many in the church and in society," writes Superior General Sister Rita-Maria Käß in the foreword of the book.

It is available at the gate of the mother house and in the retreat house in Himmelpforten and is offered in various bookshops in Würzburg, Schweinfurt, and Volkach.