Transport from Woldenberg, Friedeberg i. d. Neumark (Frankfurt a. d. Oder), Brandenburg, Germany to Schneidemuehl, Schneidemühl (Grenzmark Posen-Westpreussen), Pomerania, Germany on 21/02/1940

Lucie Lachmann, the non-Jewish spouse of a Jewish resident of Stettin, had fled from the city on February 12, 1940, to inform the Palästinaamt (Jewish Agency for Palestine) in Berlin and the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland (Reich Association of Jews in Germany) about the planned deportation. The Jewish officials approached the RSHA and were informed that the operation was an isolated, unauthorized incident ordered by the Gauleiter of Pomerania, SA-Obergruppenführer Franz Schwede-Coburg. By the time the order to rescind the deportations was sent to the Gestapo in Stettin, the trains with the deportees had already departed.

The brutal deportation of approximately 1,200 German Jews from Stettin to the General Government on that day was widely commented on by the international press. The event had an impact on altering the policy of the forthcoming deportations. Following protests of the governor-general of the occupied Polish territories, SS-Obergruppenführer Hans Frank, regarding the alleged overcrowding of the General Government and the bad press the last event had received beyond the borders of Germany, Reichskommissar (Reich Commissioner) SA-Gruppenführer Hermann Göring — in a meeting organized on February 12, 1940 — declared that, from then on, no transports were to be sent in that direction without prior notification of the governor-general....