Transport from Amsterdam, Noordholland, The Netherlands to Mauthausen, Camp, Austria on 23/02/1941

On February 22 and 23, the Germans carried out two massive round-ups in the Jewish quarter. Approximately 600 men between the ages of 20 - 35 were violently taken by the Security Police to Jonas Daniel Meyerplein, the main square in the heart of the old Jewish quarter. The man in charge on-site was Friedrich Knolle, deputy to Wilhelm Harster, commander of the Security Police and SD (Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD (BdS), in the Netherlands. The Jewish men were assembled accompanied by beatings, kicks, insults and screams. Photos were taken and, according to historian Jacob Presser, they were also filmed. Subsequently, the Germans launched the first Jewish deportation from the Netherlands. In total, 425 young Jewish men were transported, first to the police transit camp Schoorl in the province of North Holland, and from there to the Buchenwald and Mauthausen concentration camps. The only survivor was Max (Meyer) Nebig from Amsterdam, a tailor by profession, born December 5, 1917. In April 1946 he testified to the events, beginning with the round-up at Jonas Daniel Meyerplein: "We were searched. They truly considered everything as a weapon. I had tailor scissors which were confiscated. We stood there for approximately 15 minutes when the Gruenen ("Greens") [Security Police] arrived with big trucks." Nebig was taken on a truck that had nothing but straw on the floor: "I believe we sat there with fifty other men. It was really overcrowded. Through openings of the sailcloth we could see that we were travelling to Haarlem. We considered tearing open the sailcloth to escape but this was impossible because motor police from the Gruene Polizei drove alongside and passed us all the time. We arrived at 9-10 p.m. at Schoorl, and had to leave the trucks and go directly to the barracks into the beds." Only a few sick deportees returned from Schoorl to Amsterdam....