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.
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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 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 6 March, 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 not to include elderly Jews in the transports. Jews of this category would be deported to Theresienstadt. Eichmann also warned the Gestapo not to notify the Jews in advance about their deportation in order to prevent attempts to elude the transport.
On 15 May 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 the top priority. Jews of foreign nationality or those enrolled in the war industry were exempt from deportation.
Due to the Wehrmacht’s preparation for its summer offensive in southern Russia (Operation Blue), the Reichsbahn directorate in Berlin would not allocate special deportation trains with a capacity of 1,000 people during the period between 15 June and 10 July. New orders specified that Jews would be deported in a single rail car with a capacity of 50 people. The car would be attached to a regular passenger train. During 1942, small transports of 50 Jews departed only from Berlin and Munich. The deportees were permitted to bring a sum of 50 Reichmarks, a suitcase, a full set of clothes, suitable shoes, bedding, tableware and food supplies for eight days.
As in previous cases, the guidelines recommended that Gestapo units force the Reich's Association of the Jews in Germany and local Jewish communities to assist in preparing the transports.
The department for Jewish Affairs at the Berlin Gestapo, headed by SS-Untersturmführer Gerhard Stübs and his deputy Kriminaloberinspektor Franz Prüfer was put in charge of organizing the transports together with the Department of Jewish Affairs in the RSHA.
On May 31 1942, Franz Prüfer informed Philipp Kozower, council member of the Berlin Jewish community about the forthcoming deportations.
During the month of October the Gestapo launched three “small” transports consisting of 100 people each, and one large transport with 1021 Jews.
This transport departed from Anhalter Bahnhof in Berlin on 28 October 1942 and arrived in Theresienstadt in the early evening of the same day. The transport consisted of 100 Jews, of whom 57 were women and 43 were men. The average age of the deportees was 59.9. The youngest was 6 years old and the oldest was aged 84. Four of the deportees were under the age of 12. One of them was between the age of 13 and 18, eight were between 19 and 45, twenty four were between 46 and 60, and sixty three of the deportees were between the ages of 61 and 85. Twelve people on board had been previously employed as forced laborers at Radinkendorf camp, located about 90 kilometers east of Berlin.
The deportees were ordered to appear at the assembly camp in Grosse Hamburger Strasse or were taken from their homes by the Gestapo. A couple of Gestapo men, members of the Jewish desk, would usually show up, in order to round up the Jews destined for deportation. The Jews were requested to hand over the apartments in tidy form, after they had paid all taxes. The Gestapo men searched the deportees’ luggage, and the apartment, and often confiscated valuables. Subsequently they sealed the apartments. Jewish wardens who assisted the deportees in packing and carrying their belongings accompanied the Gestapo men. Trucks drove the Jews to the assembly site. This process usually took place one day prior to the actual deportation. At the assembly site the Jews were forced to sign a declaration, authorizing the transfer of their property to the state.
As in previous transports, they were woken up on the day of the deportation between two and three in the morning, received a simple breakfast prepared by the Jewish community and had to leave the building in Grosse Hamburger Strasse at approximately 04:00. They marched a few hundred meters to Monbijouplatz where a BVG streetcar (Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe - Berlin Transportation Company) awaited them. At around 05:00 they boarded the tram which transferred them expeditiously to Anhalter Bahnhof located on Schöneberger Strasse where they arrived by 05:15. There, through a side entrance, they were led to platform No. 1. They were ordered to board two old third-class rail cars, ordered from the Reichsbahn, which were connected to a regular, scheduled passenger train that left the train station every day at around 06:00 am for Dresden where it stopped for a few hours. In Dresden the cars with the Jews were connected to another regular train headed for Prague.
The train's route took the deportees from Berlin to Dresden and along the river Elbe to Decin (Tetschen), Usti nad Labem (Aussig) and finally to Bohusovice (Bauschowitz). 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 I/72 in the Theresienstadt ghetto listings where the Roman numeral I refers to Berlin. In Theresienstadt many of the elderly Jewish deportees who had arrived on these transports died of hunger and disease during the following months. Others were later transferred to extermination camps in the East where they were murdered.
According to historian Rita Meyhöfer, twelve deportees from this transport are known to have survived, but, according to historian Alfred Gottwaldt, there were 13 survivors.
This was the 72nd of 123 transports from Berlin to Theresienstadt during the war that were made up mainly of elderly Jewish deportees (Alterstransporte).
Testimony by Hedwig Ems
Since the day when I was supposed to be picked up was set for October 22nd (the date of my parents’ engagement and the birthday of Lotte’s son Hans and Martha’s daughter, Lore), I considered it a good omen. But the date was changed at the last minute to a day later, so that I left my apartment on Thursday, October 23rd 1942. A large furniture truck with two long wooden benches on each side came by, and two men came out to pick up my things and me. They made a fuss about my room not being sealed. They slipped everything that was still edible into their pockets, and brought me to the vehicle in which many people were already seated. I knew something about the procedure, because, with a heavy heart, I had already witnessed Mrs. Frieda and Mr. Felix Freundlich being transported along with their daughter, Mary. Mr. Freundlich lay in bed because of his heart condition, and he claimed he was not capable of being transported. Nothing helped; he had to stand up, get dressed and get out with the rest.
We had a driver who was not familiar with Berlin, and so we passed by our house three more times. We arrived in the evening at an assembly camp on Grosse Hamburgerstrasse where there used to be an old age home but was now a collection point for those who were to be evacuated to Theresienstadt. Those who were supposed to go to Poland were brought to the Levetzowstrasse. Others had been waiting for us for hours. We had to go past the SS guards who watched the entrance. I shared a room with four other women. Out of all the people who I had sat with in the vehicle, and out of all those who I shared a room with, I am the sole survivor. Conditions in the Grosse Hamburgerstrasse were pretty good. I met many acquaintances and, if it weren’t for the prospect of the transport looming in the background, it would have been quite tolerable. The meals were also satisfactory as almost everyone had brought some food with them, so we were able to carry on. I stayed there until October 28th. In the meantime people were inspected, as were the things they carried on their person. The women [who inspected me] scolded me because I had worn so many layers of clothing, but somehow nothing was taken away from me. I wore 14 pieces of clothing: all my knitted vests, my two-piece dress, my wool dress, winter coat, raincoat, blouses and multiple suits of underwear. This was, however, my salvation because I never received my suitcase with my many pretty things, clothing including dresses and coats, and many more things I enjoyed. It would’ve been very hard for me in the cold winter if I had not had my pretty woollen goods from “G.F.”. Afterwards our hand luggage was searched, during which all sorts of things were taken, but still within reason. All our money, however, was taken down to the last Mark, and so were all our watches. I didn’t have any, because I was told in advance that they would be confiscated. On October 27th I and all the women in my room were told to get ready for the transport that would take place within the next few days. I became friendly with two of them so that I wouldn’t be all alone.
On the 28th, we were woken up at 2am. At 3am we received some warm food and then we were given three more sandwiches At around 4am we had to line up in the street along with our hand luggage. After we were counted several times, we were marched silently towards Oranienburgerstrasse where we had to wait for the tram. All of this was executed early in the morning so that people would not see the transports. After an endless wait in the cold, the tram appeared and took us through Berlin to the Anhalter train station. There we saw some structural damage that we hadn’t seen before, as it had been a long time since Jews were allowed to use public transport and to walk in streets such as Unter den Linden and Wilhelmstrasse. So, naturally, it was a very interesting sight to see. At the Anhalter train station we had to line up again and then we were shoved together with our hand luggage into a train car. Then the car was locked, and the journey began. Our car was attached to a train. It was probably 6-7am. Two Gestapo officers sat in the first compartment. They acted so respectably that they gave some bread to two children who were with us in the transport. There were 100 of us out of whom, according to statistics, 10 should have survived. I only know of two, and it stills seems to me like a miracle that I am one of these few.
In Dresden we were pushed onto an empty platform and had to stand there for hours. In previous transports the deportees were given a hot meal, but we received nothing. This meal was canceled some time just before our transport. At any rate, we went on with an empty stomach. For a short while, one of the cars was unlocked so that somebody could go and get some water. Around 2-3 pm we continued, passing through the breathtaking Elbe Valley, which rested in the most beautiful sunlight, and was the last thing of beauty that I saw for a long time. At around 7 pm we arrived in Bauschowitz, a small place near Theresienstadt which, at the time, was not connected by rail. During my stay in Theresienstadt, the Jews built a platform there, so that later the train was able to travel all the way to Theresienstadt . But, as I said, when we arrived this was not yet the case. We talked among ourselves saying that when we arrived in Czechoslovakia we would be in a friendly country which would unite with us in our hatred of Hitler and his collaborators. What a disappointment this was for us! The Czech hated us to the same degree that we hated Hitler, and they held us responsible for the misfortune that had befallen them. They did not see us as comrades in suffering, but only as Germans who they hated. A truck was waiting at the train station for the sick and the infirm and any luggage that we couldn’t carry ourselves. After standing around again for a long time, we had to walk to Theresienstadt over rough terrain and in darkness, as it was October. By 8 pm it was already dark. We couldn’t see where we were taken, nor could we see the buildings that we passed by. Never before and never since have I had so much trouble marching, what with the luggage in my hands and gnawing hunger as we had hardly eaten the entire day. I was happy when we finally arrived in Theresienstadt after 9 pm as I and many of the people with me really couldn’t march any more. We arrived at the barracks and there was the “Schleuse”’.
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