Following the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany in March 1939, and the declaration of a Slovak republic on March 14, Hitler announced on March 15 the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Between 1939 and 1941 the Nazi authorities in the Protectorate carried out various anti-Jewish measures, which included the harassment of Jews and of Jewish institutions and the confiscation of property.
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On October 10, 1941, the newly appointed Reichsprotektor, Reinhard Heydrich, summoned several SS officers, among them Adolf Eichmann, to a meeting in Prague (Praha). Heydrich, who was also chief of the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt - RSHA), revealed a plan to deport 5,000 Jews from the Protectorate to Eastern Europe and in addition to expel the remaining Jews of the Protectorate to an assembly camp in Bohemia. Theresienstadt, a garrison town built in the 18th century, located about 6 kilometers north of Prague, was chosen to serve as the place for concentrating the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia.
Mass deportations of Jews from Prague and soon afterwards from other large cities began in late November 1941.
In the provincial areas the registration of Jews began in January 1942.

On February 19, 1942, a month after the Wannsee conference, Adolf Eichmann summoned representatives of the Jewish religious congregation of Prague (along with those of Vienna and Berlin) to brief them on the forthcoming mass deportations from the “Greater Reich” to the East or to Theresienstadt.

Before the deportations of the Jews from the provinces began on March 27 1942, all Jewish religious congregations in the provinces were dissolved.

Transport AAm left Olomouc (Olmütz) for the Theresienstadt Ghetto on July 4, 1942. According to archival records it consisted of 900 Jews, residents of Olomouc and several neighboring towns including Kojetin, Holice (Holitz), Prostejov (Prossnitz) and Vicemerice-Ustav. The deportees were assembled at a school building in Hodolany, a neighborhood near the local train station.

Prior to the train’s departure, several staff members of the Jewish community’s Transports Department in Prague came to Olomouc to carry out the administrative measures ordered by the Central Office for Jewish Immigration. They prepared a list of deportees, registered Jewish property, issued notices regarding the date of deportation, and assisted in packing and carrying luggage.

The Jews were transferred from the school to the train station and put on a train. After their arrival in Bohusovice, the deportees had to disembark and were forced to march the remaining 3 km to Theresienstadt.


Excerpts from Leib Leo Warenhaupt’s post war testimony about transport AAm:

“In the summer of 1942, the Jewish community of Olomouc was given orders to arrange transports to Thersienstadt Ghetto […] We remained in a school building for three days. At night we were forced to board a train and travel to Theresienstadt without food or water for 24 hours.”


Excerpts from Michal (Meod) Bar’s (Stecklmacher) memoirs:

“Four transports left Olomouc to the Theresienstadt Ghetto during June-July 1942. On July 2 1942, my family and Mrs. Wolf left house No. 9 on Sadeki Street. In Olomouce we were assembled at a school – it was the summer vacation. We lay on the floor, crowded, one next to the other. We were not used to it yet- it was difficult […] we - the children - peeled potatoes.[…] Early in the morning, actually it was still night, the Germans rushed us to the train station. We carried our backpacks and suitcases while the SS men shouted and beat us. We traveled to Therezin in dark crowded cattle cars. I was in a car with my family. During the journey I found a hole in the car’s wall, and through it I looked out at the beautiful summer scenery. I saw children bathing in a river. I envied them so much. Finally, I dared to stand on the “bridge” between two cars. I breathed fresh air again. Luckily the Gendarme said nothing […] When we arrived at Bohusovice I left my family behind, and I marched with others in a long line [….]”
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