Transport Au1 left Prague (Praha) to Theresienstadt on May15, 1942, and arrived in Theresienstadt the same day. It consisted of approx.1,000 Jews.
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Excerpt from Jan's Rocek Testimony

In May we received our summons to the transport. We were ordered to present ourselves, I think on May 12, to the great hall which used to be part of the Prague trade fair (veletrh, Messe). I remember very little of the preparations. We packed our permitted 50 kg into suitcases, two suitcases per person, with clothing and some, mostly non-perishable, food. We were given transport numbers; mine was Au1 698, which also had to be painted in large letters on the suitcases. From then on the transport numbers essentially replaced names. My parents managed to hide a few things with friends and neighbors.
(…)
With just a few exceptions, I got all of the things back after the war. I remember that relatives came to help us pack, say good-bye, and cooked a very good last meal for us.
On the appointed day some volunteers from the Jewish Community helped us carry the luggage. We went by street car. I don’t remember the reaction of other people riding with us – I have the feeling that they were embarrassed, afraid to show sympathy, and rather looked away. I certainly do not remember anybody being unpleasant or expressing pleasure to see us go.
(…)
The exhibition hall was large and there were straw mattresses on the floor and that it was the first time I came into closer – but fortunately not too close – contact with SS officers. The man in charge was called Fiedler and he carried a large flashlight (…). I have very little memory of that experience, except that I do remember one frightening moment, when a group of SS-men came to a family located close to us and started searching them. It was clearly the work of an informer – they went straight for the man’s shoe, tore of the sole and found hidden money and led him away. He did not return.


Historical Background

Following the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany in March 1939, and the declaration of a Slovak republic on March 14, Hitler announced on March 15 the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Between 1939 and 1941 the Nazi authorities in the Protectorate carried out various anti-Jewish measures, which included the harassment of Jews and of Jewish institutions and the confiscation of property.

On October 10, 1941, the newly appointed Reichsprotektor, Reinhard Heydrich, summoned several SS officers, among them Adolf Eichmann, to a meeting in Prague (Praha). Heydrich, who was also chief of the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt - RSHA), revealed a plan to deport 5,000 Jews from the Protectorate to Eastern Europe and in addition to expel the remaining Jews of the Protectorate to an assembly camp in Bohemia. Theresienstadt, a garrison town built in the 18th century, located about 60 kilometers north of Prague, was chosen to serve as the place for concentrating the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia.

Beginning November 24, 1941, a transport departed from Prague to Theresienstadt once a week. The “Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung“ (Central Office for Jewish Emigration), headed by Hans Guenther, issued deportation lists in accordance with a name file it had. Each list contained 1,200 - 1,300 names. The local Jewish community was assigned the task of choosing 1,000 people who would be deported to Theresienstadt. An announcement was distributed (usually at night) that stated the exact date and hour at which the deportees were to report to the assembly site.

The deportees were first assembled at the Trade Fair Grounds (Messepalais) located in Holesovice, a suburb of Prague. They were allotted “living space”, a tiny piece of bare ground in a group of dirty shacks, lacking sanitary facilities. Czech policemen guarded the perimeter, while SS men were stationed inside.

During their stay at this site, the deportees were required to fill in numerous forms, which included a declaration of personal assets, and to hand over ration cards, house keys, valuables and cash. During this registration process many of the deportees were subjected to exhaustive and, often brutal methods of questioning.

After three days, armed SS guards, German policemen and Czech gendarmes escorted the deportees to the Holesovice train station. Most transports from Prague usually departed before dawn or late at night. Following a three-hour journey the trains arrived at the station in Bohusovice. SS guards, Czech gendarmes, and a group of ghetto inmates awaited the deportees. Afterwards, they were forced to march three kilometers to Theresienstadt, while carrying their baggage. Deportees who were unfit to walk were driven by trucks or tractors to the ghetto. On their arrival in Theresienstadt they were brought to the absorption area known in the ghetto as the Schleuse. The deportees remained there for two to three days, during which the SS men and the Czech policemen confiscated many of their belongings. Afterwards, they were housed in the army barracks under harsh conditions.

The Nazis sought to portray Theresienstadt as an “exemplary Jewish settlement”, camouflaging their true objective of annihilating the Jewish people. Essentially, Theresienstadt served as a transit camp for the Jews. Starting in January 1942, transports from Theresienstadt were sent to Riga and, as the year wore on, transports of Jewish deportees were sent to extermination camps and murder sites, including Auschwitz, Treblinka and Maly Trostenets.
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