Transport from Dabie, Ghetto, Poland to Chelmno, Extermination Camp, Poland on 18/12/1941

Starting on December 14, 1941, the Nazi Mayor Fellenberg informed Josef Dyament that the Dąbie Ghetto would be liquidated and the Jews would be sent "to the East." German Gendarmerie forces rounded up about 900 Jews in the market square (some 200 escaped) and locked them inside the local theater and the Catholic church where they were beaten and humiliated. The next morning only six healthy- and strong-looking Jews were deported to the Chełmno extermination camp in order to dig additional mass graves for the Jews of Koło of whom the last ones had been gassed on December 12. All the other Jews were released and sent back home without explanation. Three days later, on December 17, 1941, the procedure repeated itself. The German Gendarmerie forced the Jews out of their homes and herded them into the local theater and the Catholic church where they spent the night without food or water.

The next day, early in the morning, on December 18, 1941, trucks arrived with ramps pulled down to the entrance of the former theater. The Jews were deported in groups of 60 to 80 together with Dąbie's last rabbi Jakub Auerbach to Chełmno (Kulmhof) extermination camp. The Jews who had been locked in the church remained there and were deported the following morning, on December 19, 1941. The deportees had to leave their belongings behind....