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The
Memorial to the Deportees was established at Yad Vashem as a monument to the
millions of Jews herded onto cattle-cars and transported from all over Europe to
the extermination camps. An original cattle-car, appropriated by the German
Railway authorities and given to Yad Vashem by the Polish authorities, stands at
the center of the memorial site. It stands on an iron track which juts out from
the slopes of Yad Vashem into the Judean hillside. The cattle-car is perched on
the edge of the severed track, paused on the brink of the abyss. Although
symbolizing the journey towards annihilation and oblivion, facing as it does the
hills of Jerusalem the memorial also conveys the hope and the gift of life of
the State of Israel and Jerusalem, eternal capital of the Jewish people.
"Over 100
people were packed into our cattle car...it is impossible to describe the tragic
situation in our airless, closed car. Everyone tried to push his way to a small
air opening. I found a crack in one of the floorboards into which I pushed my
nose to get a little air. The stench in the cattle car was unbearable. People
were defecating in all four corners of the car... After some time, the train
suddenly stopped. A guard entered the car. He had come to rob us. He took
everything that had not been well hidden: money, watches, valuables.. Water! We
pleaded with railroad workers. We would pay them well.. I paid 500 zlatys and
received a cup of water-about half a liter. As I began to drink, a woman, whose
child had fainted, attacked me. She was determined to make me leave her a little
water. I did leave a bit of water at the bottom of the cup, and watched the
child drink. The situation in the cattle car was deteriorating. The car was
sweltering in the sun. The men lay half naked. Some of the women lay in their
undergarments. People struggled to get some air, and some no longer moved...The
train reached the camp. Many lay inert on the cattle car floor. Some were no
longer alive." (In a cattle car to the death camp-testimony of a survivor).
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