Transport from Kolo, Kolo, Lodz, Poland to Izbica, Krasnystaw, Lublin, Poland on 10/12/1939

In the beginning of December 1939, a transport of 1,139 Jews departed from Koło to Izbica Lubelska, a village in the district of Lublin that is located approximately 430 km from Koło. The transport most likely left Koło on December 10. According to some testimonies, the Jews were rounded up in Koło sometime before their departure, as early as December 4 or 8. Mende Chaskiel, who was on this transport, stated in a postwar testimony that, within four days after the Germans had invaded Koło, some Jews were arrested, rounded up, and assembled in a local synagogue. They were ordered to leave their homes within an hour, and were allowed to take only one small hand suitcase and 50 zlotys in cash. When the synagogue was full, it was locked and the key was given to the Gestapo. After being held in the synagogue for eight days, guarded by the Gestapo, the deportees marched to the train station and were transported to Izbica Lubelska in sealed rail cars, 60 people per car. The Jewish community of Koło provided the deportees with two loaves of challah bread, coffee, and some underwear. The journey lasted between one and three days. Two women, whose surnames were Krośniewska and Szubiewska, died on the way. Upon the deportees' arrival in Izbica Lubelska, on December 11, 1939, or later, the German soldiers at the train station took away their personal belongings, including the food provided by the Koło Jewish community. The Jewish community of Izbica Lubelska had prepared a list of local Jewish families that could accommodate the deportees. Upon their arrival, they were placed with the local families, six people per family. Tuvia Tomasz Blatt, originally from Izbica Lubelska, recalled in his postwar testimony that two families, the Kominkowskis and the Frenkels, were placed in his home. Some of the Jews were sent to nearby towns and villages: 175 were transported to Zamość, and 62 to Krasnystaw, Turobin, Komarów, and Hrubieszów. The head and other members of the Jewish community of Koło sent a letter to the American Joint Distribution Committee in Warsaw in February 1940, stating that after the deportation of over 1,000 Jews to Izbica nad Wieprzem (Izbica Lubelska) in December 1939, the remaining Jews in Koło were in need of financial help. The Jewish community of Koło was liquidated in December 1941 when all the Jews were sent to Chelmno. The town of Koło became a transit camp for the Jews of the Wartheland who were deported to Chelmno.