On 21 May 1943, Rolf Günther, Adolf Eichmann’s deputy in Department IVB4, informed all local police headquarters that Heinrich Himmler had ordered to complete all deportations of Jews from the Greater Reich and the Protectorate to the East and to Theresienstadt by 30 June 1943. The new regulations included several groups of Jews whose deportation was postponed until then. This included sick and infirm Jews, Jews who were still employed in slave labor for the war industry, employees of the Reichsvereinigung der Juden (Reich's Association of the Jews in Germany). The only exemptions were Jews married to non-Jews. The regulations also gave guidelines for the procedure of the deportation. In case of smaller deportations up to 400 Jews, special cars, connected to regular trains, were to be used.
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In June 1943 the city of Berlin was officially declared “free of Jews” ("judenrein"). 9,529 Jews (according to the Nuremberg laws definition) remained in Germany. 6,790 resided in Berlin. 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 2000 Jews were living in hiding.

On 10 June 1943, the Nazi authorities had officially closed the "Reich's Association of the Jews in Germany" (Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland) and its offices in Oranienburger Strasse and Kantstrasse. All financial and property assets were confiscated. The only exemption was the Jewish hospital, directed by Walter Lustig, at Iranische Strasse 2-4 in Berlin-Wedding and its adjacent nursing homes, which from March 1944 served as sole assembly camp, prison, children’s home and hospital.

This transport departed from Anhalter Bahnhof in Berlin on 29 June 1943 and arrived in Theresienstadt in the early evening of the same day. The transport consisted of 100 Jews, of whom 56 were women and 44 were men. The average age of the deportees was 42. The youngest of them was 2 years old and the oldest was an 86-year-old woman. Eleven of the deportees were under 12, four of them were between the ages of 13 and 18, fourty of them were between 19 and 45, twenty-one were between 46 and 60, and twenty-three of the deportees were between the ages of 61 and 85. On that transport were many employees of the Reichsvereinigung and also some people of mixed German/Jewish ancestry (“Geltungsjuden”).

Although the city of Berlin had been declared "Free of Jews", the Gestapo continued to search for and arrest individual Jews that met the criteria for deportation. The deportees were brought to the assembly site, where they were detained until a larger group of Jews was assembled and the Reichsbahn had supplied one or two railway cars for their transport.

On the day of the transport, the deportees had to leave the assembly camp in Grosse Hamburger Strasse. They were taken to Anhalter Bahnhof located on Schöneberger Strasse or to another spot along the adjoining tracks. There they were ordered to board one or two old third-class rail cars, which were connected to a regular train that left the station 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), Bohusovice (Bauschowitz) and finally to Theresienstadt. From 1 June 1943 on the trains went directly into the ghetto, as the prisoners had built a connecting railway line from Bauschowitz station to Theresienstadt. The transport was given the reference I/97 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, 31 deportees from this transport are known to have survived.

This was the 97th of 123 transports from Berlin to Theresienstadt during the war that were made up mainly of elderly Jewish deportees (Alterstransporte).

Hugo-Kurt, Lisa, Ullrich and Ruth Chotzen, two young couples who were deported to Theresienstadt, managed to write several postcards and throw them out of the car window at the stations.

First postcard, Dresden on 29 June 1943 at 3pm.

Dear Mama, dear Eppi!
We departed from the Anhalter station at precisely 6:06. 4 ladies in your age, very nice, from our room, are with us in the compartment, each with a seat. I have a white armband since I’m the contact person in that car. The mood is fabulous. Lisa’s sleeping now, her head is on my lap. Until our next message, with kind regards, and kiss Bubi.

Dear Mama!
Now you’re hopefully still in bed and rest from your hard work. Eppi will surely got o work soon, and will think of us like you do. Don’t worry for us. The food is good. But we still have the much better things you gave us. Everything went quietly. We’re sitting comfortably, enjoy the nice weather and a beautiful ride ahead of us. Just make sure you have your quiet. Take care of yourself and rest up and pay attention to your health. Say hello to Frieda, Helga and especially to our friend Hanna. I thank you very much again, and Bozka and Eppi and all the others. My regards to all of them… Ulli.

Second Postcard
Dear Mama, dear Eppi!
We’re slowly approaching Dresden. We enjoy a very lovely weather. Prerequisite for high spirits. We only think of you all the time. Rest up dear mama and don’t worry about us at all, and we’ll see you again in good health…
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