Wave of Deportation from Klodawa, Kolo, Lodz, Poland to Chelmno, Extermination Camp, Poland on 09/01/1942

On Friday, January 9, 1942, the Schutzpolizei (Schupo, uniformed police) and the local gendarmerie rounded up the Jewish population of Kłodawa in the town's church. About 40 people, including men, women, and children, managed to escape. Among them was Uszer Taube with his wife and children, the Grunfeld family, and Golda Tabaczyńska. Shmuel Grunfeld survived the war. There is no information regarding the other escapees. On the morning of Saturday, January 10, 1942, about half of those gathered in the church were transported to Chełmno by truck in groups of 50. Each truck was guarded by two Schupo men. Three women perished during the deportation before they reached Chełmno: Sura Alszud, and Estera and Rajcze Zilberg. According to Polish eyewitnesses from the village of Chełmno, the trucks arrived in groups and lined up on the road before entering the camp. The deportees from three or four trucks at a time were taken down and led to a dilapidated building. They were ordered to undress there and then led in groups of between 30 and 60 people into a gas van. The compartment, sealed shut, would then fill with carbon monoxide that asphyxiated everyone inside. The van then made its way to the Rzuchowski forest, which was part of the camp, where the bodies were thrown into large pits. According to the testimony of "Szlamek" (Szlama Ber Winer, pseudonym: Jakub Grojnowski), who was forced to work as a gravedigger in the labor squad of the camp, the first gas van with the bodies of the Jewish people from Kłodawa arrived at the grave site in Chełmno at about 11 a.m. Gecel Chrząstowski, who had been deported from Kłodawa on January 2 and also forced to work in the Chełmno camp's labor squad as a gravedigger, recognized his townspeople among the dead....