In June 1943 Germany was officially declared “Jew-Free” ("judenrein"). According to the 1943 census, there remained in Germany 9,529 people who were defined as Jews according the Nuremberg laws. Most of them were spouses in mixed marriages, Jews of mixed ancestry and Jewish community personnel that worked in the Jewish hospital. In addition, more than 2,000 Jews still lived in hiding.
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On June 10, 1943, the Nazi authorities officially closed the "Reich Association of Jews in Germany" (Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland). All financial and property assets were confiscated.

With the exception of the “Einzeltransporte” (transports of individuals), none of the transports that left Leipzig for Theresienstadt originated in Leipzig. Rather, these trains came from places like Weimar and even as far as Frankfurt (am Main) and stopped in Leipzig en route to Theresienstadt to pick up the Jews from Leipzig and the vicinity.

The transport left Leipzig for Theresienstadt on June 19 or 20, 1943. It consisted of two Jews from Leipzig, Zilla and Dan Zülzer. As this EZ transport left one to two days after transport XVI/2, it can be assumed that these two deportees were most likely intended for the previous transport but did not make it.

The Head of the Gestapo of Leipzig, Karl Fistler organized this transport along with the forced cooperation of the Leipzig Jewish community.
The transport was likely conducted by regular train under guard. Its final destination was the Theresienstadt Ghetto, where it arrived on June 20, 1943. The transport was given the reference XVI/2 Ez 1, where the Roman numeral XVI refers to Leipzig. Ez were the German initials given to special transports of individuals (Einzelreisende Sondertransport).
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