Transport from Kolo, Ghetto, Poland to Chelmno, Extermination Camp, Poland on 12/12/1941

The mass deportation from the Koło ghetto started on December 7, 1941. Over five consecutive days, five convoys of trucks drove the Koło Jews to the newly opened Chełmno (Kulmhof) extermination camp. On December 11, 1941, the eve of the last deportation day, the remaining Jews of Koło, mostly the elderly and handicapped, as well pregnant women and young children, were ordered to gather in front of the Judenrat office at Nowy Rynek (New Market) square, renamed Theaterplatz (Theater Square) by the Germans. The procedure of the previous days then repeated itself. The names of 600 to 800 Jews were collated from a pre-prepared list. The deportees were subsequently locked inside the synagogue next to the Judenrat office. This synagogue, the largest in Koło, was incinerated by the Germans on September 20, 1939, resulting in its interior being entirely destroyed. The devastated building, nevertheless, served as an assembly hall where all deportees were detained overnight under dire circumstances, without water or provisions....