On August 27, 1944, announcements were hung on the Łódź Ghetto’s walls on behalf of the Gestapo. They declared that the all remaining Jews in the ghetto had to report to assembly areas on Czarnieckiego (the Central Prison location) or Krawiecka Streets, by Monday, August 28, at 6:00 P.M. Further, they announced that a final transport would leave the ghetto on August 29, and that those who would not come to the specified assembly areas to board the transport, would be killed.[1]
Many Jews attempted to hide in the ghetto, the majority of which, however, were tracked down and arrested through patrol searches. Sometimes, they voluntary left their hiding places, due to different reasons. An example was the Slodowski family. In his postwar testimony, Szymon Slodowski (b. October 6, 1925), recalled that his family couldn't hide, due to the uncontrollable noises of their children and baby. So when the Germans reached the courtyard of their hiding place, they just went out. Subsequently, they were brutally marched, and taken by carts, to Marysin, a northern part of the ghetto, bordering the Radegast (Radogoszcz) train station, where many people were gathered. Slodowski described the way to there:[2]
The sight on the ghetto’s streets was horrible, dead [bodies] were lying on both sides [of the street], and there was no one to take care of, or to bury them. A ghastly sight, so my father said, “Into His hands I commit my spirit”...