Transport from Kozminek, Ghetto, Poland to Goluchow, Murder Site, Poland on 29/11/1941

From November 26, 1941, the ghetto was surrounded by gendarmerie. Each morning, Gestapo and a special SS unit (Rollkommando) commandeered by Göhler ordered the Judenrat to help prepare the deportations for the following day and to distribute notes to people who were supposed to be evacuated. They were allowed to bring one parcel of personal belongings. The Judenrat informed the households concerned that the deportees had 15 minutes to report to the square next to the local synagogue. At first, the deportees were told that the ghetto was being turned into a labor camp. Therefore, anyone who was not yet employed, specifically the children and the elderly, would be "evacuated." The younger ones would go to a children's home and the elderly to a sanatorium. Göhler stopped providing pretexts after the first deportations. On November 28, approximately 80 people reported to the square. Göhler read out loud the names of the victims. He was usually drunk, and humiliated and tormented the attendees. With the help of 15 SS men, he separated the elderly, the disabled, the sick and the weak, and children under 14 from the rest of the Jews who had escorted their relatives. There were babies among the victims. When parents resisted, the Germans tore the children from their arms, and if this did not produce the desired result, the resisters were shot. Concurrently, searches was undertaken for those who were in hiding and had not turned up at the square; anyone found was shot. The exact number of those murdered during the selection procedure is not known, but the court in Stuttgart sentenced Göhler for personally having killed at least ten victims. The group had to leave their belongings behind and were locked in the synagogue without provisions. They stayed there overnight....