Following a major corruption and embezzlement affair at the Judenreferat in Berlin (Department of Jewish Affairs) involving the theft of confiscated Jewish property, personnel changes in the Gestapo headquarters in the capital were implemented during late 1942. The pace of the deportations was too slow in the eyes of the Nazi authorities, and they decided to take a different approach, adopting the system that was successfully used in Vienna. To that end, a team from the Central Office for Jewish Emigration in Vienna, which included SS-Hauptsturmführer Alois Brunner, SS-Hauptscharführer Weisl, SS-Hauptscharführer Krell and Alfred Slawik arrived in Berlin in the middle of November 1942. During their earlier work in Vienna, these men conducted massive deportations of Jews in a violent manner.
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Brunner set up his headquarters at the Grosse Hamburger Strasse assembly camp. Following his arrival, he made several changes to facilitate larger and more frequent transports. He had all furniture removed from the rooms save for mattresses, and had straw used as bedding when mattresses were not available. Gestapo officials took residence in one section of the building. The doors to the toilets were removed, iron bars were fixed to all windows, and the basement rooms were converted to holding cells. The building was fenced with barbed wire and illuminated at night with floodlights. Policemen were stationed in the building, with orders to shoot anyone attempting escape. A Jewish patrol force was established to maintain order. From now on, the camp not only had the appearance of a prison, but the deportation procedure also became much more brutal.

Brunner required the Jewish community to appoint an additional camp administrator, Max Reschke. Like Simon Werner (the first director the Jewish community was forced to appoint), Reschke was in charge of the Jewish orderlies, sanitation, food rationing and preparation of the transports based on the lists he was given. The community officials who worked there were given the task of compiling lists and assisting deportees in filling out the Declaration of Assets form which was the means through which the Reich confiscated Jewish property. Following Brunner’s arrival, Grosse Hamburger Strasse served mainly as an assembly camp for transports to Auschwitz.

Until mid-March 1943 deportees to Theresienstadt were held in the former old age home in Gerlachstrasse 21. However, some of these deportees were first detained in Grosse Hamburger Strasse. Several days prior to their deportation, usually in the early morning, they were forced to walk from there to the Gerlachstrasse assembly camp. The sick, the infirm and the luggage were transported by truck. In Gerlachstrasse, they waited a few more days until they were deported to Theresienstadt.

In order to gather more names for the lists of deportees, Jews eligible for deportation were hunted down in the streets and in their homes.

Around the end of January 1943, Brunner and his men left, and authority over the deportations returned to the Gestapo in Berlin.

During the month of January the Gestapo launched six “small” transports from Berlin to Theresienstadt, each consisting of 100 persons.

This transport departed from Anhalter Bahnhof in Berlin on 12 January 1943 and arrived in Theresienstadt in the early evening of the same day. The transport consisted of 100 Jews, of whom 64 were women and 36 were men. The average age of the deportees was 63.9. The youngest of them was 4 years old and the oldest was aged 84. Three of the deportees were under 12, one was between the ages of 13 and 18, five were between the ages of 19 and 45, 16 were between the ages of 46 and 60 and 75 of the deportees were between the ages of 61 and 85.

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.

Usually the deportees were woken up at two or three in the morning. They received a small breakfast, and between four and five in the morning they had to leave the assembly camp in Gerlachstrasse. From there they had to walk a few hundred meters to the tram station at Alexanderplatz, where a BVG streetcar (Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe - Berlin transportation company) awaited to transfer them expeditiously to Anhalter Bahnhof located on Schöneberger Strasse where they arrived at 5:15 AM. There, through a side entrance, they were led to the platform and were ordered to board two old third-class rail cars which were connected to a regular train that left the station every day at around 06:00 for Dresden. 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/83 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, 16 deportees from this transport are known to have survived.

This was the 83rd of 123 transports from Berlin to Theresienstadt during the war that were made up mainly of elderly Jewish deportees (Alterstransporte).

Testimony by Richard A. Ehrlich, 02/74 (from a letter sent to his son in England)

The ‘Sword of Damocles’ of evacuation was hanging threateningly over our heads for over 1 ¼ years, and we repeatedly managed to avert our doom. Both of us, mother and I, were always pushed down the list of deportees. In October 1942, I was supposed to be deported to Poland alone (without mother) in my capacity as a retired clerk of the Jewish community. I filed an objection through the former Reich’s Association for Jewish Frontline Soldiers. During that time it was decided that veteran front-line fighters from the World War and the elderly would be transported to Theresienstadt as a benefit. We were picked up on December 27th 1942 so both of us were, at least, able to enjoy this benefit. We were already busy with packing and sorting our things, as we knew that every Jew would eventually have to come to terms with his deportation. Nonetheless, it came as a shock, as if we had been struck by lightning, when two helpers from the community suddenly informed us that we had two hours to finish packing our luggage which consisted of one suitcase, one backpack and a bedroll. We remained calm and composed, packed all the essentials with due haste, and arrived by tram to the Börse train station in the evening from where we continued on foot to the old age home-turned assembly camp at Grosse Hamburger Strasse. Immediately we became detainees of the police, cut off from every contact from the outside world. Hundreds of others accompanied us in our misfortune, and more were joining us every day. Our meals were provided by the community which were tasty and relatively plentiful. Men, women and children slept together in crowded common rooms on mattresses that were distributed and on the bedrolls we brought ourselves. It was worse when it came to the toilets, which were almost always occupied. The sanitary facilities didn’t suffice as well and the tone of voice of the Jewish administrators and some of the helpers was objectionable as they allowed themselves to partake in unbelievable violations. Other than that, medical assistance was available, as well as the opportunity to converse with more or less nice people. We stayed in Grosse Hamburger Strasse until January 7th when the news came that we were to be transferred at once to Gerlachstrasse, which meant that our deportation to Theresienstadt was assured. This was viewed as a major advantage, and again we had to pack our things with due haste. I wore two sets of underwear and two suits, one over the other. This would have been bearable, only I wasn’t used to it in the mild weather of that winter. After our group of 100 people had stood for 3-4 hours with their luggage, partly in a heated corridor and partly in a drafty gateway, we proceeded in darkness to Gerlachstrasse by means of a detour. The luggage and those assessed by a physician were able to make the way in an open truck while the rest us had to walk for a distance of one and a half hours which would otherwise have been short had we not been slowed down by the glazed frost. […] Upon our arrival in Gerlachstrasse we were served warm coffee and bread with jam, but our accommodation was not taken care of. We had to search for mattresses ourselves, and lay them down in a crowded room with no heating. Here again the Jewish camp administration with its assistants had unfortunately distinguished itself by engaging in unprofessional behavior! They did not restrain themselves from threatening us with calling the Gestapo at the slightest offense, and sometimes for no offense at all!!! The conditions here were worse. Many times we received our lunch only at evening. It was brought in large buckets from a central kitchen and it was almost inedible! through their generous gifts, our beloved relatives made sure that we would not suffer from starvation: aunts sent us enough bread and sweets. Among our large circle of acquaintances we always found more of our friends among the incoming inmates. Among them were Mr. Lewin and his wife with whom we have been friends for years […]

The days were short, time went fast and the day of our departure was set for January 12th. There was much commotion beforehand. At 02:00 we were woken up. After freshening up, we ate breakfast, we packed our things. The so-called “big luggage” had already been sent the day before. At 04:00 a group of 100 people went to the tram station (near Alexanderplatz). The tram took us to the Anhalter train station and we were seated in third-class cars. Since our backpacks were also placed within the already crowded car, there was little place to sit so many had to stand in the corridors. It was almost impossible to reach the car toilets (regardless of the fact that they were always occupied). The car doors were locked, and our journey began in 6 o’clock in the morning while we listened to the taunts of the other passengers! - Such was the Fatherland’s gratitude! The train drove to Dresden at a reasonable speed and there our two cars were detached and put on a dead-end patch of the tracks where we had to remain for many hours under the watchful eye of armed SS officers. Our journey continued in the afternoon along the Elbe through Saxon Switzerland where before, under vastly different circumstances, we would have loved to travel. Everything, save for the beautiful landscape, had made a dismal impression upon us and nothing was done to lift our depressed spirits during our journey into the unknown.

After 8 o’clock in the evening our train finally stopped at Bauschowitz station, and after a few tense moments the order was given: disembark! We were received by Czech gendarmes, Ghetto guards and Jewish helpers, men and women who were identified as such by their armbands. The physically disabled and our luggage were loaded onto vehicles. Everyone else had to march towards our new residence, Theresienstadt were we arrived, thoroughly exhausted, after a walk of one and a half hours.’
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