Transport from Katowice, Katowice, Slask, Poland to Nisko, Nisko, Lwow, Poland on 20/10/1939

The second transport to Nisko out of seven left from Katowice in occupied Poland two days after the first on October 20, 1939. It was ordered by Eichmann and organized by the Central Office for Jewish Emigration in Ostrava, a branch of the head office for the Protectorate in Prague (Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung in Prag, Zweigstelle Mährisch-Ostrau). Although Katowice had been annexed to the Reich and became the capital of the newly created Upper Silesian Province, the initial expulsion of the local Jews was not executed by the Kattowitz Gestapo. According to a memo issued by the head Office in Prague dated October 6, the Gestapo chief in Berlin, SS-Oberführer Heinrich Müller ordered the Central Office in Ostrava to organize the expulsion of the 70,000 to 80,000 Jews who lived in the Katowice district at the time. The document mentions that this action was meant as a pilot for all mass deportations to follow and underlines the possibility of initiating the deportations from Katowice together with those from Ostrava and its periphery. The distance between both towns is approximately 100 km.
Eichmann’s deputy SS-Sturmbannführer Rolf Günther who served in the Central Office in Prague and in Ostrava, organized the allocation of the passenger and freight cars for the first and the second transports through the transport command post of the Reichsbahn in Oppeln (Opole). On October 11 he was assured that the cars had been reserved. On October 16, it was confirmed that a train with 22 third class passenger cars, two second class passenger cars for the guard units, and five boxcars would be ready for use in Katowice as of October 19. Günther travelled from Ostrava to Katowice on October 18, the day the first transport left Ostrava, in order to finalize the preparations and supervise the deportation of the Jews from Katowice and other east upper Silesian towns. The Jews from those parts of the Silesian province that had belonged to the Reich prior to the occupation (cities such as Gleiwitz, Beuthen, and Hindenburg) were not affected. That same evening, Günther sent a teleprinter message to Eichmann who was in Krakow at the time stating that the transport would include 374 Jews from Katowice, 198 Jews from Chorzów (Königshütte), and 457 Jews from Bielsko (Bielitz) who were ready for deportation from Katowice. He announced the departure for Friday, October 20 between 6 and 8 am.
The Jewish communities of Katowice, Chorzów and Bielsko were forced to convene 1,029 men for October 19. They were assembled in Katowice at the riding school on Raciborska Street (Ratiborerstraße) close to the railway station. Each deportee was allowed to take 300 Reichsmarks and personal effects weighing up to 50 kg...