In August 1944 Münster was once again heavily bombed, leading to a further reduction of the city’s population. In early 1945, the city which at the start of the war had a population of 143,000, counted now only 23,500 residents. Despite the destruction the city council kept working as usual.
Show more On January 31, 1945 American troops entered Germany.

Although Germany’s defeat and the end of the war were in sight the deportations of the remaining Jews did not cease. On January 13, 1945 the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) issued the following decree:

“All Jewish males and females living in mixed marriages and are able to work,… are to be sent on a work assignment in Theresienstadt”…

The German authorities managed to carry out the final deportation from Münster and the vicinity despite the approching end of war. Several local officilas participated in this deportation, including police sergeant Josef B. from Velen who on February 1, 1945 led Ida Lehmann by tram to the prison in Borken. Ida´s non-Jewish husband, Franz, accompanied her there. Later she was taken to a prison in Bielefeld, from where she was deported to Theresienstadt. Franz was drafted into the “People´s Army” (“Volkssturm”) shortly after.

Most of the Jews in Bielefeld and it´s area were brought to assembly sites located at the hotel “Stadt Bremen” and the former dance hall “Eintracht”. The train departured on February 13, 1945 from Münster with 58 people and collected more in Bielefeld and other places. The journey lasted a whole week because of the distubances caused due to the proximity to the front lines.
It is known that the train went through the following stations: Hildesheim – on February 15, 1945, Halberstadt – February 16, 1945, Halle/S. – February 17, 1945, Leipzig –February 18, 1945 and arrived in Theresienstadt on February 21, 1945.

The transport was given the reference XI/5 in the Theresienstadt ghetto listings where the Roman numeral XI refers to Münster.

Nearly one and a half months later on March 29, 1945, the British army occupied Borken. Four days later on April 2, 1945, Münster capitulated to the American troops.
Most Jews from this deportation survived.

From the testimony of Margalit Hermann Ruth, who was 14 years old at the time:

“It took seven days to get to Theresienstad. Because there were bombardments, we were taken out of the train. We were in one car, I don´t know how many people there were. In the middle stood a bucket for our needs. But we were lucky that there were many bombardments that forced the train to stop and so we could go out to defecate. […] We were told that if one person went missing we would all be killed. […] We arrived in Theresienstadt, we reached Bauschowitz. It was night, darkness. They told us: leave your property, we will bring it to you. We marched to Theresienstadt […] winter, cold. Snow. We arrived in Theresienstadt and the men were split from the women […] We walked the whole time under the “Schleuse” (absorption area), where they clean you, sprinkle you with Lysol, and shave you. One cut my braids off so that we should be absolutely clean and wouldn’t bring any diseases inside. I remember – as if it was today – that it was 4 o´clock in the morning when it was over”.
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