Towards the end of November 1941, the Nazi authorities began to deport the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia (the Protectorate) to the fortress city of Theresienstadt, about 60 km north of Prague. The city’s 18th century fortress now served as a ghetto. Thousands of deportees were housed in the army barracks under terrible conditions. By depicting Theresienstadt as a "model of Jewish settlement" and thus concealing its role as a transit camp for Jewish deportees, the Nazis were able to camouflage their true objectives and policies namely, the mass annihilation of the Jews.
Show more
Commencing in January 1942, transports began to leave Theresienstadt for Riga. Later, some of the transports were sent to extermination camps and murder sites, including Auschwitz, Treblinka and Maly Trostenets.

At the Wannsee Conference on January 20 1942, Head of the RSHA (Reich Security Main Office) Reinhard Heydrich announced that Hitler had authorized the evacuation of the Jewish population in Europe to the East. Heydrich added that the evacuation of the Reich’s Jews would be given top priority because of housing problems and other socio-political considerations. Jews over the age of 65, war invalids, or Jews decorated with the Iron Cross would be sent to the newly established “old people’s ghetto” – Theresienstadt.

On March 6, following Heydrich’s announcement, Adolf Eichmann, Director of the Department of Jewish and Dispossession Affairs (Department IVB4) in the RSHA, convened a meeting of Gestapo delegates from all over the Reich to discuss the measures necessary to carry out the deportation of 55,000 Jews from Germany and the Protectorate. Eichmann stressed that elderly Jews were not to be included in the transports. Jews belonging to this category would be deported to Theresienstadt. Eichmann also warned the Gestapo not to notify the Jews in advance of their deportation in order to prevent attempts to elude the transport.

On May 15, 1942, Department IVB4 issued new guidelines signed by Gestapo Head Heinrich Müller regarding the deportation of Jews to the “old people’s” ghetto in Theresienstadt: The evacuation of the residents from old age homes was cited as a top priority. Jews of foreign nationality or those enrolled in the war industry were exempt from deportation.

Due to its function as a trade and garrison site, the Royal Air Force declared the city of Münster as a target relatively early on. In 1940 the city was already being bombed from the air. Over the years the number of air raids increased, but in 1943 the organization of the deportations was not affected by damage caused by the bombings.

On May 12 1943 a realtively small transport with 40 Jews from Münster left for Theresienstadt. The Jews came from Münster, Bielefeld, Bochum, Dortmund, Minden, Witten and Unna.
The deportees were selected according to criteria set down by the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) that were issued on February 20, 1943, namely: those who were older than 65, wounded in World War I, those awarded honorary medals, or other “privileged” Jews. Only six Jews from this transport survived.

Albert Daltrop, a 57 year-old lawyer and a former reserve officer during World War I was deported together with his wife on this transport. In 1965 in a trial against former Gestapo members from Münster and Bielefeld, he testified that he thought the heads of the Department for Jewish Affairs in Münster and Bielefeld, Brodesser and Pützer, had both prepared and accompanied the transport.

In contrast to previous transports the Jews were permitted to take only 25 kg of luggage per person (including equipment and food supplies). As in previous deportations the Gestapo searched the deportees and confiscate items that had been declared illegal such as money and personal valuables, forbidden foods like Chocolate, and other personal documents aside from those permitted.

In Bielefeld the Jews were gatherd at the assembly area located at the “Eintracht” dancing hall the day before deportation. From this collection point they were brought by the Gestapo to the freight depot and then to Theresienstadt by passenger car provided by the Deutsche Reichsbahn. Testimonies written by Jews prior to their deportation show that some of them knew that the route of the train to Theresienstadt goes via Leipzig and Dresden.

The deportees were taken off the train at Bohusovice station and forced by the awaiting SS personnel and Czech gendarmerie to walk the approximate 3 km to Theresienstadt, carrying their backpacks. Only people who were unable to walk were taken in trucks.

The transport was given the reference XI/2 in the Theresienstadt ghetto listings where the Roman numeral XI refers to Münster.

Most of the deportees were sent later to Auschwitz where they were murderd. Other died of hunger and disease.
Show less