With the outbreak of WWII in September 1939, Adolf Hitler declared his intention to deport the Jewish population from the territories of the greater Third Reich and the “Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia” (Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren). However, apart from a few feeble, halfhearted attempts, the actual deportations were postponed a number of times as a result of political and military developments.
Show more The successful outcome of early military operations during Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) and the sense of euphoria, that gripped the higher echelons of the Nazi regime, changed that. On September 17th, 1941, Adolf Hitler approved plans to carry out mass deportations of Jews from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Luxembourg. In a letter dated September 18th, 1941 SS chief Heinrich Himmler informed Arthur Greiser, the Gauleiter (regional NSDAP-leader) of Warthegau: “It is the Führer’s desire that the Third Reich and the Protectorate be cleansed of Jews as soon as possible, from west to east. I will try therefore, starting already this year if possible, to deport the Jews […] first to those territories in the east that became part of the Third Reich two years ago."
Copies of the letter were sent to SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, head of the RSHA (Reichssicherheitshauptamt - Reich Security Main Office) and to Wilhelm Koppe, the Higher SS- and Police-leader of the Warthegau.
On September 30, 1941 SS-Hauptsturmführer Alois Brunner, who headed the Central Bureau for Jewish Emigration in Vienna (Wien), notified Dr. Josef Löwenherz, head of the Jewish community in Vienna, of a plan to deport around 5,000 Jews from Vienna to Lodz. Brunner explained to Löwenherz that the reason for the mass deportation of Jews from their homes was a housing shortage, which - as he claimed - severely affected the “Aryan” German population. On October 4, 1941, SS-Obergruppenführer Kurt Daluege, chief of uniformed police, signed the order to deport 20,000 Jews from the Reich and the “Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia” to the Polish city of Lodz.
The task of compiling lists of deportees was given to the Central Office for Jewish Emigration in Vienna. As in previous transports of Jewish deportees, the Central Office distributed orders to the Jews on the deportation list, which included instructions to report at the assembly camp in a former school at “Kleine Sperlgasse 2a”, in Vienna’s 2nd district. Each deportee was allowed to take personal luggage weighing no more than 50 kg and cash in the amount of 100 Reichsmark (RM). The Jewish community was requested to take care of the deportees’ basic food supplies and essentials for the journey.
Jewish community workers in Vienna (Wien) and their families, Jews who held valid emigration papers, the blind, the handicapped, the severely ill, war invalids, decorated WWI veterans, residents of old-age homes and the families of people in forced labor camps were exempted from the deportation lists.
In many cases, Jews were brought to the assembly point by SS personnel or by “marshals”, Jews hired by the SS to assist in the deportation process. The very appearance of these Jewish marshals would strike terror in the community as it signaled imminent deportation. At the command of the SS, they blocked off streets inhabited by Jews - usually at night. Then, they forced their way into the homes of those Jews whose names appeared on the deportation list and ensure that that were ready to leave. Where necessary, the Jewish marshals would assist in packing. In cases where potential deportees were not at home, the Jewish wardens were in serious danger of being included in the transport themselves, as replacements. On arrival at the school grounds, Jewish deportees had to hand over the keys to their homes.
The assembly camp was supervised by members of the Central Office for Jewish Emigration. Sometimes as many as 2,000 people were stranded for days - even weeks - at the site, awaiting deportation. They would sleep on the floor or on bags filled with straw. The sanitary conditions at the site were terrible, as was the mood of the deportees. Some people suffered nervous breakdowns and some even committed suicide. The two doctors and nurses at the site did all they could to help. While they waited for deportation the Jews underwent a registration process (Kommissionierung), which was often accompanied by violence. The staff of the Central Office for Jewish Emigration in Vienna, along them Anton Brunner, forced the Jews to declare their property. Then they had to sign a document confirming that they transferred everything to the state. They were also forced to hand over all valuables and cash to the representatives of the Central Office for Jewish Emigration. The Jewish property was sold by the Gestapo after the transport left.
Transport number 8 left the Aspangbahnhof in Vienna (Wien) on October 23rd, 1941 and arrived at the Radegast train station in Lodz on October 24th at 5:50 PM (instead of the scheduled 11 AM). It was the third in a series of five such transports that left Vienna for Lodz. According to available records the transport consisted of 1,000 people (426 of them older than 61 years), including 67 were “not counted members of the Jewish faith”. These were gentile wives/husbands and children out of “mixed marriages”. The average age of the deportees was 56. Criminal Commissar Fuchs reported to the local commander of the security police (Inspektor der Sipo und des SD) in Posen that the transport included families and that 576 of the deportees were members of families, 103 were unmarried men and 321 unmarried women. He declared about 800 of the deportees as “fit for work”; 143 were sick, elderly or invalid. The deportees were transported in third-class carriages on regular passenger trains. Police Officer Franz Lang and fifteen armed uniformed policemen (Schutzpolizei) were guarding the deportees during the trainride. Immediately after the transport arrived in Lodz, the policemen confiscated all money and documents from the Jewish deportees and handed both over to the Gestapo. The Jews were then led to the ghetto.
Many of the Jews from Vienna were murdered between May 4 and May 15, 1942 in the Chelmno extermination camp.
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