The deportations from the Łódź ghetto (Litzmannstadt) to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp complex in the course of the liquidation of the Łódź ghetto began in the first week of August 1944; our research indicates that it took place on August 4 and 5.^[1] Rumors about the deportations triggered fear and panic among the Jews in the ghetto;^[2] many refused to come to the designated deportation areas and some prepared hiding places. However, it was difficult to hide, and the German forces—Gestapo, Schupo (Schutzpolizei, or regular uniformed police), and firemen—used force.^[3] On August 22, 1944, an announcement signed by Chaim Mordechai Rumkowski, head of the Judenrat in the ghetto, was published, calling for volunteers for the next day’s transport “in order to avoid coercive measures.”^[4] The Jews were asked to report to the assembly sites at the central prison (12 Czarnieckiego St./Schneidergasse) or the nearby building at 3 Schneidergasse. The announcement also stated that food would be provided at the Radegast (Radogoszcz) train station.^[5] The Gestapo threatened those who planned to stay outside the ghetto with the death penalty.^[6]

As part of the Germans’ strategy to force the deportees to the assembly area, food rations were discontinued. In his postwar testimony, Menachem Friedrich (b. February 25, 1923) stated that he and his family had tried to hide and moved to his aunt’s house, but once the food stamps were no longer available, they feared starvation without the food supply and chose to go to the assembly area.^[7] While the deportees waited at the assembly site, Hans Biebow, head of the Gettoverwaltung (German ghetto administration), and Otto Bradfisch, head of the Litzmannstadt Gestapo, told them that they were going to work in Germany and promised that they would be safe there, explaining to the Jews that German cities were being bombed and the deportees were needed to clean the ruins. His speech did not calm the Jews; they did not trust Biebow and were afraid of the uncertain future.^[8]

Jakub Poznański and Menashe Wasercug^[9] were amongst some of the 900 Jews who survived in the Łódź ghetto until it was liberated by the Soviet army on January 19, 1945—both in hiding. In August 1944, Poznański wrote in his diary about the increasing violence of roundups executed by German policemen, usually headed by Biebow or one of his deputies, Erich Czarnulla. With the help of members of the Ordnungsdienst (Jewish police), they surrounded buildings, went inside, and dragged Jews out. Poznański described these roundups being “accompanied by the tumult of breaking doors and shattered windows.” The Jews were taken to the Radegast train station on the ghetto’s northern border by tram, by truck, or on foot.^[10] On August 23, 1944, Poznański wrote in his diary about the Jews’ roundups in Koszczelni (plac Koscielni Square, Zgierski [Zgierska] St., Baluti Square [Balucki Rynek], and Lagiewnicka [Łagiewnicka] St.).^[11] Presumably—according to Poznański’s diary—these Jews were taken directly to the Radegast train station.

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